2007 Acura TSX

Click the image above for over 30 high-res pics. Within ten-minutes of our Alabaster Silver Metallic Acura TSX tester being delivered, our bags were in the trunk and we were out the door. A much-needed respite was in order after a long summer, and Lake Tahoe beckoned. Wait. We fed the cat, right? %Gallery-6832% After making sure our Russian Blue had sufficient food to survive the weekend, the fiancée and I were underway, headed up 680 and then onto I-80 through Sacramento. Friday's Northern California traffic hadn't hindered our progress until we hit the State capital, where the Acura's balanced clutch engagement and gloriously smooth stick were working overtime through 20-miles of start-and-stop traffic. Fortunately, the interior of the TSX is a pleasant place to be, with thoughtful switchgear, comfortable seats, well-padded armrests and a bevy of aural selections – all well executed in minimalist fashion. When our iPod wasn't jacked into the auxiliary input, the XM-equipped stereo was normally stuck somewhere between Real Jazz and a live stream from Lollapalooza, 'cause we're bipolar that way. And while August in Nor Cal normally doesn't necessitate the use of the standard heated seats, once we got into the higher elevations, and the sun fell beneath the mountains, there was little doubt that they would soon be set to "scorch." The only two options that our TSX tester was equipped with were the aforementioned "Navi" ($2,100) and the silver trim ($359) that subsected the dash and then tapered into the door panels. Both were nice, but if we had to choose between the two, our money would go towards the faux aluminum. Anyone who's familiar with Honda's navigation system can attest that it works magnificently 80-percent of the time, while the remaining fifth tends to cause foreheads to meet the top of the steering wheel. The turn-by-turn directions and the large display are top notch, but the system's insistence that it knows what you're trying to spell better than you do (it removes letters from the touch-screen keyboard as you type) causes bulging veins from the neck up. We can count on at least one hand the number of times we referenced the Google Maps app on our phone over our three-day excursion, which isn't what you want when spending two-large on a sat-nav. Once traffic cleared, the cruise was set at 70 for the next 30-miles as we made our way through the farmlands that make up the Central Valley. Toddling in the TSX is exactly what you'd expect from Acura's entry-level sedan, with most road imperfections easily muted through the double wishbone (front) and multi-link (rear) suspension. The ride could never be accused of being numb or uncommunicative – you know what's going on beneath you, but you're not troubled by it – and although the steering is a speed-sensitive rack and pinion setup, there's no question about how it will react to inputs. After dawdling around at freeway speeds for far too long, we were finally greeted with the …
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