Take the engine out of your bigger car and drop it into your smallest, cheapest car and viola, you have yourself an instant hot rod. While this little trick was invented in Detroit back in the 60’s, the manufacturers using it today are mainly European manufacturers. Just look at cars like the C63, XF R and the M3 and you will see my point. In this game of less weight and more power, Japan does not want to be left in the dust. Lexus was the first one to take this trick and apply it to the Ginza with the IS F. While a stunning achievement, it misses the point of being a ‘cheap’ car.
Enter our friends at Acura. They have been sitting on the sidelines looking at all this and thinking if they could get a shoehorn and squeeze, they could probably get the TL’s 280 hp V6 into the cheap and cheerful TSX. The numbers don’t tell a very compelling story about the TSX V6. You only have a 55-pound weight and a 79 horsepower advantage over the front wheel drive TL. In size, the difference is 3 inches in all but length. So we are not talking about a much bigger, faster or heavier car.
After about 5 minutes behind the wheel of the TSX V6, you are all too happy to forget the numbers for the time being. Perhaps the 280 hp V6 pulled the “its not you, it’s me line” on the TL but the chemistry is just there in the TSX model. To all those non-believers out there, this all happens without a big helping of torque steer. The good news: the rest of the car is standard issue Acura. That translates into a great build, quality, and a good amount of kit as part of the standard package.