This car is a BARGAIN at 27k, it has EVERYTHING standard except nav. Leather, moonroof, xenons, heated seats, very well tuned suspension, and nice 17" rims. You also have honda reliability and acura service, two things that I personally am very interested in, as I'm coming off a nightmare lease with my VW (horrible reliability, and even worse dealerships).
People who say "get a 3-series or G35 the it'll be just a bit more money" don't seem to realize that if you put all the options the TSX comes with into one of those cars, you'd have a 32-33k G35, and 35k 3-series, easy. Whereas you can expect this car to be leasing at or below $350 with almost no money out of pocket at signing, the G35 and 3-series go for mid 4s. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the G35 when I drove it, and I'm always a fan of the 3-series, but with the disparate pricing of the cars, you really shouldn't be comparing them.
This car should be compared to the A4 1.8t FrontTrak, and it would have to be base, because they want stupid money for A4 leases....have to seperate it from the passat somehow. This means cloth, soft suspension, 15" rims. Or the Nissan Maxima. To me the choice is pretty simple there. The audi would be a stripper, which I could live with, but it would handle poorly.....not that it really matters, since I will never own another VAG product so long as I live unless its a lambo

. The maxima.....they have completely ruined with this redesign, its hideous. Not to mention that my brothers 01 (or is it an 02?) with only 250hp has crazy torque steer, I can't imagine what its like with an extra 15hp. The other car I hear coming up a lot is the Mazda 6.....a tremendous car for what it is meant to fight against. I would reccomend it over a Jetta, Passat, Altima, Camry, or Accord any day of the week, and twice on sunday. However even in its nicest trim I feel it would be a stretch to call it luxurious (and yes, I have driven it). The engines (both of them), are a bit on the rough side, and the interior is nice, but can't compete with the more expensive sedans (and the point is.....it isn't supposed to). Its a king amongst the low 20k crowd, but once you creep up the 20s, its out of place. Anyway, now I'm going to just paste the post I made on the vwvortex now about how I felt about the TSX when I drove it. Here goes.....
I just got back from my test drive, like Jettavr666, I had to drive the auto since the only stick they had sold this morning Going back when they get a 6-speed into drive.
VERY nice car, felt very well controlled around the on-ramps and corners I took it through very hard. The engine was a bit of a let down, didn't seem even as powerful as the accord that I drove, very smooth though. I'd say the biggest problem was that the auto seemed to have a hard time figuring out what gear it should be in for what I wanted it to do (forgot it was a manu-matic....whoops). I'll have to drive the 6-speed before I really pass judgement on it.
I loved the interior, some people might think its a bit bland without the navigation system in there to liven things up (except for the instrument panel, which I think most people would agree is very nice). But, the materials were very good, felt nice to the touch, and it was, of course, put together very well. The seats were comfortable, and I was able to adjust them just like I like them (I'm finding fewer and fewer cars that let me do this).
The exterior (specifically the front) looked much better in person than it does in pictures. When I was looking at pics, the girll seemed awkwardly big for the car, but in person it works. The side and rear angles I always felt came across well in pics, and that was confirmed in person. The rear is especially nice finished off with the twin exhaust.