Finally. I think it was going to be either this or the Audi A4 Avant for my wife.
Hopefully this is what she ends up wanting.

Hope this finally has an A-VTEC engine or a vastly improved internal combustion engine... mated to a six-speed auto or dual clutch transmission system.

I want a damn i-dtec 2.2L turbo diesel in this and the sedan, then I will be happy!

It's a car the size of an accord powered by a 4 cyl.....

I always chuckle when I see them, and think "Why?"

Congratulations to you over there...
This is actually a very good car. I rented one two years ago and had it for a couple of weeks. When driving at illegal speeds, I averaged 0.74 litres / 10 km. (That's 32 mpg for you anti-metric people.) City driving yielded a little better figures (34 mpg), mostly because of lower speed. The car was also extremely roomy and comfortable. The wife used it for a week and she was a little scared in the beginning using such a comparatively large vehicle in the city (she named it "the Space Ship"). After a week she didn't want to return it...

I am sure Acura will slap that ugly buck tooth chrome grill on it and that will make it less appealing.

@ Brian:

My guess is you've never heard of the 280HP 3.5L V6 in the TSX, right? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight? Furthermore, this is smaller than the US Accord, which is a freak of nature.

On topic: I'll take this over the Crosstour.

Well I'll be...

Didn't know someone wised up and actually put the V6 in the TSX... Well at least that puts it on a level playing field with everyone else.

But I don't get the fact Acura has only 3 engines for it's car base. The TSX gets the 4cyl and 3.5 V6. TL, 3.5/3.7 V6, and RL 3.7 V6...

From a performance perspective why buy up? You get the same power in the base TL as the V6 TSX without the extra weight... And the RL is even worse for having slightly less power than the 3.7 TL...

At least the Euro luxury cars have larger options as you move up in car size...
(It is nice you can get a 3 series BMW with more power than an entry 5 series if that's what you want.)

@ Brian:

I see the point you're making, although I'm going to play "devil's advocate" and say that the TL is larger than the TSX, as it is based on the US Accord (it truly is...which means the US TECHNICALLY has 3 Accords to choose from.) As for the RL, it's larger than the TL. By the way, have you ever driven or been in those cars? Truthfully, I wouldn't want to get caught dead in a current Acura, but as you go upscale, the luxury amenities and comfort also go upscale. Euh...

Too bad it's such a boat. The previous TSX was a 'right size' vehicle, but I guess the buyers have been larding up and so has Honda. A wagon the size, and with the cleaner styling, of the previous generation would be fantastic.
I guess you could buy German, but then you would not get Honda reliability. Too bad there is no perfect match...

@lotsofTRidiots:

That's one of the reasons I would see people moving up in the Acura line. The other and possibly more realistic is their preception that more expensive means better/more exclusive.

I'd have little issue with Acrua line if they'd offer the RL with at least a supercharged V6 option 350+hp. (The 1st gen TSX only had the 4cyl option.) That would at least put it more powerful and give it similar performance as the upper end TL.

That and get rid of the can opener grill...................

But seriously, after they killed the RSX it seemed they were narrowing the line for a very specific customer. I'd be curious to know how much the Acura brand has grown in the last 5 years.

@ Jeremy: I concur. They'll muck it up with the grill.

@ an_individual: I concur with your sentiment. I liked the previous TSX's proportions and clean lines.

@Brian: Good last paragraph. Regrettably (?), Infiniti and Acura killed their entry-level cars (Infiniti did it back in '03 to the G20), which could (did?) have brought in some upwardly mobile people and establish brand loyalty.

Exactly. I don't see how Honda/Acura expects people to take them that seriously when they have nothing in the performance department. (At least the RSX-S was pretty high in it's class before turbo became the big thing, SRT-4/Cobalt SS).

Hell, even GM has the CTS-V.
And bland ass Toyota has the IS F.
(or the LS with a 4.6L V8 that makes 380hp...)

I guess it's like Ford/Lincoln. What the hell is the point of Lincoln other than to rebadge Ford products, and to be sold to old people?

@ Brian:

"But seriously, after they killed the RSX it seemed they were narrowing the line for a very specific customer. I'd be curious to know how much the Acura brand has grown in the last 5 years."

My sentiments exactly (as well.) BUT...didn't Honda bring up this topic half a decade (or more?) ago when they decided to drop the "Type R" moniker? Something about doing away with the "boy-racer" connotation and moving its demographic up in age and income...? In other words, no more semi-luxo-sport; "full-on" luxury. Euh, Honda is still behind the Germans, I'd say.

I could understand that type wanted to distance Acura from the import tuner crowd fine...but the current Acura line up is weak compared to just about everyone else.

BMW/Volvo/Audi all offer more choices in total number of cars and powertrains.

And if I'm going for full on luxury it isn't going to be an Acura, possibly Toyota, but more than likely a CTS-V or something European..

(As a side note, I do understand the rational behind limiting the engine options to what Honda already makes. Toyota/Lexus does seem to push their higher end stuff with things that aren't offered in the Toyota line. But I suspect this comes at a cost to the profit per vehicle, which might be made up in sales, don't know. I think the least Honda could do would be to give the Type S badge back to Acura and go the ecoboost way and add boost to the TL and RL to make it on par with their European counterparts. I just don't know if SH-AWD could handle that or not....)