Posted in General on 07/10/2001 09:44 pm by kat
Yesterday was rough. I hadn’t gotten much sleep and I had to deal with annoying people through work and on top of it all, I got to take Sam to the vet (you know the cute one that turns into Satan at the site of the vet). Sean called me up in the morning while I was trying to multi-task too many things at work and told me that there was going to be a family gathering at the end of August in Washington. Did I want to go? Just to note, the end of August also is when classes start, LinuxWorld San Jose is, and DragonCon directly follows LinuxWorld. Talk about a rough decision.
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Posted in General on 07/10/2001 03:38 pm by Sean
Ahhh, the first two reviews on this web site. Yesterday I had the opportunity to drive both the Acura RSX Type-S and the Honda S2000 (S2000 review to be on the next post). Now for those of you in the know the RSX is the replacement for the Acura Integra. The RSX comes in two flavors. A standard 160 HP DOHC engine with 141 f/lb of torque. The Type S version has a 200 HP engine and 142 f/lb torque mated to a 6 speed manual transmission. Ever since I have had my Integra I have always thought that it needed one more gear. Highway cruising can be a bit loud in 5th gear.
The first thing you notice is the brand new body style, it is a nice wedge shape with the same overall dimensions as the Integra it replaces, but once you sit down inside you can see a world of difference. First of all are the seats, they are leather like my current seats (I do wish there was an option for cloth on the type-s) but they are a huge improvement from the Integra. There is a great improvement in lateral support but the shoulders felt a bit wide for my tastes, leg support is also good. They are patterned after true racing seats, and I would not be surprised if they were just covered and padded Recaro seats. Looking around the cabin there is a lot of silver plastic pieces. They try and make them a brushed aluminum color and sort of succeed, but not quite. The silver pieces come out looking a little cheap; real aluminum pieces would have made a huge difference. For the price of the car it would have been nice. Now, not to say that I did not like the interior, things are much more driver oriented. The dash and radio controls are much better placed and there are a total of 5 cup holders placed around the car. The steering wheel feels a bit smaller but the leather wrapping is a nice touch. Overall, the cabin feels much roomier although headroom seems the same. One big improvement is with the rear seats having a flat floor. This is nice for the people who have to cram back there on occasion.
OK, enough about the aesthetics, let’s move on to performance. As a comparison my current Integra has a 170 horses under the hood. Upon driving I can see a huge difference in the drivability. When VTEC kicks in on my car you can really hear the characteristics of the car change, and feel mind you. In the RSX it is much more subtle, much smoother although it is still there. Overall the car is much quieter, I think that is partially due to more padding inside the cabin. I could not feel any change in the suspension, even if they did go to a McPherson strut system over the double wishbone mine currently has. Of course I did not get a real chance to try it out since we were just traveling on mundane city roads. But, needless to say, I do believe that the improvements made were for the best and that I would defiantly consider this as my next car. The big debate is weather or not to get the Acura RSX or the Subaru WRX since they are both priced within a few hundred dollars of each other.
