I've got the RSX in the shop for a few things today, so they gave me this 2009 Acura TSX to drive around in today.

I like it. It's a new car, what's not to love, right? I think I like the Acura TL better, but that's a higher price tag. If money were a factor, I'd go with the TSX because I don't think there's a huge difference between the two and you save like $5k or more.

The TSX has 201 horsepower versus the TL with 258 horse. So there's a power difference and that is one thing that I noticed. I think my 2002 Acura has 160 horse standard, although mine is probably around 170 horse with the K&N filter. The RSX is also manual transmission, so that seems to give it more get up and go power - or at least make it more fun.

The TL that I drove had the feature where you can go into a quasi-manual mode and shift gears yourself. This TSX does not have that feature. Maybe it's available or maybe that's just available in the TL. I'd either want that feature or I'd actually prefer a manual transmission.

But it has all the nice, luxury features that you'd expect in an Acura like power seats with memory, a nice stereo with command center like consol, dual auto climate control, etc. etc.

So I'm enjoying it. I'll have to go out for lunch here and "test drive" it a little more. :-)

-T

What else? Oh, it has a USB power port, which is cool and it heated seats... plus some other buttons which I have no idea what they're for - I didn't want to get ejected out of my seat, so I didn't push them. :-)

-T

You should get them restored and cleaned (it's actually on the outside of the lense although it looks like it's on the inside) so that your car looks better and so you get better visibility out of your headlights, making driving safer. I see some cloudy headlamps on cars and wonder how they can see the road at night. It can be pretty bad. You need clear headlights to drive safe.

There are a few ways to fix cloudy headlights. I even did it myself and I have pictures below showing before and after.

1. Go to a car wash that actually has people at it. I don't know what kind of car wash you call this but it's one that's not all automatic but has real people there. Two here in Madison care Octopus Car Wash and Mermaid Car Wash. They should offer this service. I don't know how much it is but I guess $50 per light or something like that.
   
   
2. Buy a kit. The one I bought over at Advance Auto Parts is by a company called Permatex (this link is to a video that shows how to use the kit). I think it was about $15 or $17. Not bad. Here's another kit that's about $16.
   
   
3. Do it totally yourself. You'll need what comes in that kit I mentioned but it might cost less. Here's how to do it on Wiki How: How to Clear Foggy Headlight Covers. You'll need sandpaper and car wax along with some water and some gloves.

It took me about 5 minutes per light with the less fine of the sandpaper. As I went to more fine, it took only 3 minutes per headlight. I kept dipping it in water. Once you're done with the sandpaper, they may still look a little dull but that's where the car wax or polishing liquid comes in. That reall shines it up and you may have to do it 3 times, like I had to.

But they came out really nice and look pretty new. The whole process only took about an hour. I figured that if I'd take it to Octopus, I'd have to wait around an hour anyway, so why not just do it myself? :-)

While my RSX was in the shop today, I got a nice loaner from Zimbrick Acura. It was a 2008 Acura TL.

I liked it. It had a lot of nice features inside - more than my RSX. Power seats, dual climate control, trip computer, XM Radio. leather interior, heated seats and a few other things. It handled nice. My RSX has better pickup when you tap the pedal but the TL had more horses. It had an automatic transmission but it also let you go into manual drive mode, which was fun. The stereo was good. I liked the satellite radio. The instrument display was very nice and fun to look at. It would have been cool to drive it at night and see how things looked.

I think any car I drive has to at least have a sun and moonroof. The TL did, of course.

The color is nice, too. I don't like silver cars much but they don't show dirt. I would think that this color wouldn't show much dirt either and it isn't silver. I'd have to tint the windows to the legal Wisconsin maximum if I'd get one, though. :-) 

So it was fun. I didn't expect to get a loaner but I don't go to the dealer much and being an Acura dealer it seems like their customers would actually expect loaner cars. I'm sure I paid for it somewhere in there, but it came in handy since I had a few appointments today to get to.

I'll give it a 4 out of 5 since I'm a big Honda/Acura fan.