the 2009 Acura TSX swells by a parking space filling three inches in width and 2.4 inches in length. It's now wider, taller, heavier and way roomier than the original Acura Legend. At least by building half the body structure out of high-strength steels (up from 39 percent), the curb weight balloons only by about 150 pounds. This happens with almost every model redesign, but this time I'm taking it personally because we just added a present-generation TSX to the family fleet precisely because of its smallness. Why can't a small luxury car stay small?
The company line is that similar supersizing of key competitors like the Audi A4 (length: +4.6 in., width: +2.1 in) and BMW 3 Series (length: +2.2 in., width: +3.0 in.) forced Acura's hand, but loosen the lips of company insiders and you'll learn that the European market (which accounts for well over half of TSX/Euro Accord production) drove this decision. Honda's high-tech new 2.2-liter clean-diesel powertrain packages wider than the 2.4-liter gas motor, and squeezing it in required either broadening the beam or brooming the slick-handling control-arm front suspension in favor of struts. We like the suspension and we'll love the fuel-sipping diesel when it arrives in early 2009.....
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