The Crank: Is Acura’s new TSX Sport Wagon good enough?

By John LeBlanc We—as in myself and many of The Crank faithful—appreciate a good sports wagon like wine lovers enjoy a good pinot noir. Either as a slightly more practical alternative to a more confining sports sedan, or a more fun-to-drive diversion from the cute-ute herd, sports wagon fans, there are many. In fact during the presentation last week at the New York auto show of Honda premium brand's long awaited wagon version of its Acura TSX compact sports sedan, officials claimed the sport wagon market in North America is set to grow by 40 per cent. Hence, it makes sense that Acura wants part of that action that, up until now, has mainly been taken by the BMW 3 Series Touring and Audi A4 Avant and more recently the Caddy CTS Sport Wagon. Let’s get something straight, though: The “new” 2011 TSX Sport Wagon isn’t exactly new. As the TSX is based on the European Accord, so is the wagon, which has been on sale abroad since 2002, the latest generation arriving in 2008. And the way the car has been specced for North American buyers, unfortunately, Honda doesn’t seem as committed as its rivals to the sport wagon genre. All the Acura’s established rivals offer AWD. But the TSX hauler will come putting its power down at its front wheels only. And that “power” is limited to the 201 hp 2.4-litre four-banger, compared to the 230 hp straight-six 3 Series, or the CTS, that starts with a 270 hp 3.0-litre V6, then the 304 hp 3.6, and finally the 556 hp V8 CTS-V wagon that also debuted here in NYC. Plus, whereas the BMW and Audi offer a clutch pedal, the Acura comes only with a slushbox. So… we applaud Acura for jumping on the sport wagon bandwagon, albeit late. But is the new Acura hauler good enough? Or does Acura need to offer more power (hey, what about a clean diesel?), traction, and a stick to get real sport wagon fans on board? [Source: Honda]

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