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Hatchbacks Acura RSX Acura RSX vs. Scion tC
102 messages, Last post on Oct 06, 2007 at 5:20 PM
You are in the Acura RSX Forum. Your Host is pf_flyer
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I would NEVER call you cheap! My hope would be that everyone buy the car they like best. 
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Have had no luck finding a tc so I need to ask all of you - I fit ok in an RSX - I'm tall(6'4) and my leg does not get stuck between the steering wheel and the center console. I drove an Si and my knee would bump into the dash/console when I would shift (really like the placement of the shifter in this car by the way). I'm wondering how the tall drivers are doing in the tC. From all the pics it looks like it might be tight for me between the steering wheel and center console. Thanks |
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Its time to replace my vehicle (truck, none Honda) with a nice, energy efficient vehicle. I have a bias towards Honda since buying a Acura in the eighties. I test drove the regular RSX and the tC. Heres my opinion. The regular RSX ride is bouncy and road noise is tiring. Its stereo has knobs but is not MP3 capable. The back seat is good for very short trips. It has auto climate control and the dash as a whole is very nice. The Acura name comes with bragging rights. The tC seems a little quieter and its torque happens sooner than the RSX so it feels funner. The tC's extra 5" of wheelbase eliminates the bouncy feeling noticed on the RSX. The longer wheelbase also means more leg room for the back seat. Also, when the back seats are folded down longer items will fit. The stereo is MP3 capable and you can add a sub. The tC dash surface is coarse, but the instrument gauges are as good as the RSX. The dash is functional and none tiring. Trust me, I've owned tiring dash boards. The Scion is a new/hip brand. Which vehicle to choose. In 1987 I owned a new/hip brand, a Acura Integra. What a difference 18 years make. The RSX is made in Japan just like the tC. The RSX comes with 16" wheels, the tC with 17". The Acura raises my insurance by $180.00 every six months, the tC will lower it by $35.00 every six months. The Acura cannot be personalized like the tC, at least not at the dealer. The tC comes with zero price haggling. The tC configured with $3,400.00 in added options is less than the RSX. Side air bags are a wanted option not found on the RSX. The new/hip wins again. I'm for the tC. 
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side airbags are standard on the RSX. The RSX does five points better on average in fuel economy, which will save you about $250 a year ($2.50/gallon, 15K miles per year), not quite offsetting the insurance increase you mentioned above. Those low profile 17" tires are going to cost you a good $100 more per set to replace every three years, maybe $150 (RSX's 205/55/16 is a VERY conventional size and has been for four or five years, so tire prices in that size are coming way down), There goes another $40 or $50 per year, and you can see we are almost offsetting those insurance costs. Obviously, YMMV, and I am just making the point that when you start to analyze numbers that small in a new car purchase, "behind the scenes" factors begin to play a bigger role too. To my mind, what one cannot overlook between these two cars is the $3500 price gulf. As I said in my post a few pages back, that additional $3500 is easily worth it for me in terms of better performance (handling specifically), better interior, and one or two more amenities like the ACC. But those things are going to hold a different value for everyone. And one of the criticisms above is all too true - the RSX has a lot of intruding road noise at highway speeds.
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Replying to: nippononly (May 08, 2005 2:55 pm) Anyway, your points are noteworthy. Unless you're at a race track the performance difference you claim is not a issue in stop and go traffic. Its nice to see a vehicle division that causes others to change. Don't you?
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actually, it is my understanding that the RSX gets such high insurance rates because the previous generation Integras had such an abysmal record of being stolen or vandalized all the time. And of course it doesn't help that it is a two-door sport coupe. goose, it is my turn to agree with the points you make, except one: "Unless you're at a race track the performance difference you claim is not a issue in stop and go traffic" The thing is, I wasn't referring to timed runs, I was referring to handling that is so much better that it makes the car more fun to drive even in everyday trafficky situations. The one thing I do very little of, however, is stop and go on the highway, where the car's better handling would obviously make no difference at all. But it turns corners on the street more quickly and with less body roll, and is more responsive in quick lane changing, and 100 other little differences like that. Now as for Acura causing other manufacturers to change, I am not sure they have, but if so I applaud it!
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Replying to: nippononly (May 08, 2005 10:00 pm) When comparing cars in the class of the tC, RSX, et al, I don't think you'll find that significant diffrence evident. (even considering the 'little' things) What diffrences you'll find when really pushing these cars is paid for by a less compliant ride the other 98% of the time your driving. I think you really have to go beyond this class of "sporty" cars to get into a real "sport" car tuned suspension that would impress a true enthusiast (and at a much higher cost). I hear and read a lot about the great handling of the RSX, Mazda3 and MINI when compared to the tC but even if one is to concede an advantage, there certainly isn't enough difference to justify the thousands of dollars more in cost. I appreciate the insight to analyze cost of insurance, replacement tires, etc., but much of that can be minimized by choice and one could go on forever comparing the cost of every component of these cars. I think it is rightly stated that even with all trhings considered, it is tough to overcome and justify a price difference of over 3 grand among this class of cars. If I were willing to pay 22k or more in this class of vehicle based on handling, I would rather move up in class to a used, real, sports car. |
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06 tC gets knob on the unit and steering wheel stereo controls which RSX lacks. Despite having shorter wheelbase RSX has HUGE turning radius rivaling some full size SUVs like Navigator. RSX stock Michelins make the car downright scary to drive in rain. In contrast, tC Yokos are very predictable in foul weather. RSX gets stolen far less than Integra, even thieves realize the current Civic isn't worth modding.
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happened to be at the Acura dealer the other day with my kids. Decided the RSX can not serve as a "family" car. Just not enough leg room in the back seat, plus it is a pain to get in and out (the seat doesn't seem to have a lever at the top that lets it tilt and slide, nor does it have a memory). Very inconvenient to get the seat out of the way, than you have to readjust the whole thing. Seemed to have less headroom too. Overall, my kids confirmed that while the tC is OK for them, the RSX wouldn't be. But, if I never (or rarely) planned to use the back seat, I did like the front seats of the RSX better. haven't drvine one in a long time, so can't comment about that aspect. |
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Replying to: irnmdn (Jun 27, 2005 3:39 am) Thank goodness - there is such a thing as clutter - important to avoid in a small car. "RSX stock Michelins make the car downright scary to drive in rain" Extremely overstated - have you actually done this? Not scary at all. Do I love the HX MXM4s? No. "RSX gets stolen far less than Integra, even thieves realize the current Civic isn't worth modding." Actually, it is because the RSX is the first Integra to have a standard perimeter alarm system and an immobilizer chip in the key. The stock stereo in the tC is a messy sea of little buttons, and a volume knob (long overdue) will not change that. Nor will it change the large swath of cheapish aluminum-painted plastic that glares at you from the center stack, or the silly little door over the stereo that sticks out of the dash two inches whenever you actually want to use the stereo (which for me would be.....all the time!). Maybe I am just getting old - the interior of the tC is very obviously designed to appeal to younger tastes.
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