2011 Acura TSX Sport Wagon: First Drive

Wagons are back, wagons are on the way out--the 24-hour-news cycle has nothing on the auto industry when it comes to churning old memes into new content.

So which one is it: is the 2011 Acura TSX Sport Wagon a herald of a new crossover-free day to come, or is it a latecomer to an exclusive party with only a few European brand names on the VIP list?

It's neither, of course. Wagons never went away, and our appetite for SUV-ish caricatures guarantees they're not making any big sales comeback. What it is, simply, is our favorite Acura because of its innate Honda-ness--compact, light, responsive, reeking of efficiency. And it's neat shorthand for the nebulous idea of "near-luxury."


Acura flew us to the Bay Area, assembled a fleet of all but identical TSX Sport Wagons, and plotted a path to Bodega Bay--where Tippi Hedren had her famous run-in with some birds and set back the whole idea of cruelty-free poultry about fifty years. Up the 101, down the 101, curling around Lucas Valley Road and Nicasio Valley Road, the TSX Sport Wagon didn't distance itself from the TSX sedan much at all. Cheers to that, since that four-door made TheCarConnection's short list for "Best Car to Buy 2011," and earns an overall rating of 8.5 out of 10. That's a winning formula to leave alone.

The Wagon's trim body comes from Europe, and on looks alone, it's the most pleasing Acura. It underplays the warrior-shield grille that's been excoriated all over the Web, as it's applied to the RL and TL sedans, and you don't quite get the same "it's Miller Time!" urge to open bottles under the logo's calipers. It's a European, of course, and even if it's a Honda Accord sold over there, the TSX Sport Wagon lifts nicely with a form-first taper with almost Subaru slimness.

Inside, it's never ruthless in its efficiency, even though grey plastic of a few textures and tones completely misses the wood-trim cliche boat. An arcade of silvery plastic hones some of the visual weight from the dash, and the touchy bits never let on any lower-rent vibes.

The TSX sedan has a new V-6 implant as an option, but the Sport Wagon keeps complexity low by offering only a 201-horsepower, 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine and a five-speed automatic transmission, without an all-wheel-drive option. Brash? No, but the four-cylinder winds very smoothly up through the gears, with a noticeable drop-off between fourth and fifth that leads the charge to the Wagon's 22/30 mpg EPA fuel economy rating. Long uphill passes aren't the best idea, but a lightly laden Wagon can handle more than the pedestrian numbers (about 8 seconds to 60 mph) will read. It's a toss-up, but the thrumming of the TSX's tires and the volume of the four at full thrust may actually be more of a concern for "near-luxury" shoppers.

The fanboys' lament--"no manual? Bah!"--is founded pretty well here. Honda builds some of the most easy-going, sweet-shifting manuals in existence, and it's baffling from a cost perspective that the same drivetrain in the TSX sedan isn't available in the TSX Sport Wagon. The automatic at least has paddles for shifting in Sport mode, which has to be safer than pulling a hand from the wheel to move a shift lever right and left, or up and down.


The "Sport" in Sport Wagon comes from some of that Honda essence we talked about back on page 1. Heavy cars with massive horsepower convey one kind of sport; lighter, tighter vehicles with lower ride height do it in a different way, by tethering you a little more implicitly to the road.

That's the TSX Sport Wagon's campground. Sure, it's outfitted with the car nut's current whipping boy--electric power steering--but the sensations coming from the long-telescope steering wheel create one of the better driving simulations out there. The Wagon's ride noise may be amplified by its built-in, back-end resonator but the ride comfort is swell, a fine mix of taut control through the suspension and a good amount of give and take from the passive all-season tires.

Better-than-average dynamics pits the TSX Sport Wagon squarely in the set of haulers including the BMW 328i Sport Wagon and the Audi A4 Avant. In terms of interior room, it's another horse race. The Acura's front seats match the others for space and comfort, if not on firmness. The back seat should be reserved for people under 5' 10", though. The rear doors open to a middling amount of knee room, and the standard sunroof pushes the headliner down deeply into passenger head room. It's a trim package, compared to the large bigness of the current U.S.-built Accord. It's a size-wise container that fits our idea of what Acura should be, and at the same time, never would play well in the mainstream battle between the Accord, Camry, Malibu, Sonata, Mazda6, Legacy, Altima...did we forget any?

Even at 7/8ths scale the TSX Sport Wagon still is loads easier to load into than a ridiculous ZDX, and with the back row up, some 25.8 cubic feet of cargo space will accept a few roll-on suitcases, or Costco boxes, or at least a couple of iMac boxes stacked flat. It's up to you to decide how much utility is offered by the shallow bin under the cargo floor, but its natty cover can be folded into a divider to keep the hostile truce between your eggs and your milk from going post-nuclear.