Here is my personal review of the RSX Type-S. Kudos to Epinions for finally posting it - I've been itching to write this for a couple weeks now.

I went to the local dealer and they had a "desert mist blue" RSX Type-S sitting out front. It was their demo model and had nearly 1400 miles on it already. Thankfully the car was already broken in, because I would feel bad about driving a new one the way I drove this one.

First impression, as the salesman drove it off the lot to a place away from traffic - the interior is absolutely NOTHING like you've seen Honda do before. It is very "futuristic" looking, and the automatic climate controls are an interesting touch (although they are sorta tough to read and figure out at first). The dash and instrumentation almost reminds me of a Ford Focus and a PT Cruiser combined, but we'll forgive that for right now.

Cruising along, it turns a mere 3600 rpm at 80mph on the highway - very nice and quiet for long highway drives. The
engine is buzzy, however, especially when you get it over 4500rpm or so. While riding in the passenger seat,
it appeared to be a rather "torquey" car, for a Honda. But little did I know, the salesman was actually pushing the throttle pretty deeply to get it to do that at the lower revs. The car is just like any typical Honda (torqueless),
even though it has 142 ft/lbs @ 4000rpm (you just don't feel the torque).

Getting behind the wheel, the seating position is typical for any Integra and most other Hondas. A clear view of the road, but the dash is a bit large, making you think that you're in a Camaro or something of that nature. But overall, a great field of vision. I drive off, the clutch is
easy to modulate right off the bat, the shifter has nice short throws, about like a GS-R, if not a little shorter. The brakes are very responsive - almost 'touchy' (barely touch the pedal and the car STOPS). Driving it some more, I start to notice that the steering effort while driving almost feels like that of a car with a manual steering rack. It feels a bit like a CRX in that respect.

One of the next things I noticed about the car was that you have to keep it over 5000rpm to get any kind of response out of it. After the test drive, it is obvious why this is the case - look at the collector pipe for the exhaust at the back of the engine and you will see the diameter of the pipe is tuned for serious top end power. One thing I could not figure out was around 6000-6500rpm at WOT, the car would
suddenly "SURGE" and then kick almost like a turbo spooled up. I could not figure out if this was a VTEC switchover point, or if it was the A/C compressor cycling off at that particular RPM (hey, I had to run with A/C on -- it was 100 degrees outside at the time!).

While I was gently driving the car, getting familiar with where everything was, doing a few double-clutch downshifts, feeling the steering responsiveness, etc... I asked the salesman if he got scared easily, and he told me not at all. So I told him that I was warning him that I was
going to take the car on an extremely twisty challenging road, and he had no problems with it. So off I went to one of my favorite roads that I have driven literally hundreds of times.

Beginning to push the RSX harder, I noticed that the tail squatted and stuck pretty well while on the throttle going through high speed sweepers, so long as they were smooth. It felt very much like the previous generation Integra in that respect. However, the RSX lost all of my respect while braking hard and setting up for some tight turns. The brakes were terrific, but the tail end of the car would get VERY unsettled over bumps in the road and actually stepped
out on me a few times. The salesman had an absolute death grip on the door handle and was bracing himself for the turns, and although he TRIED to tell me he was okay, I knew he was thinking to himself, "Just don't crash this thing with ME on the test drive!" Anyways, I commented on how I didn't like the tail stepping out on uneven pavement while under braking (it was a VERY VERY slight curve in the road that I was on, too). I also made a comment about how the car 'bounced' uncontrollably on a few hard U-shaped sections in the road (where the road would go down a STEEP
hill, bottom out, then climb right back up another hill -- almost like a rollercoaster). Taking these roads at 70mph in my CRX does not upset the car's suspension at all, compared to the RSX.

Anyways, after this twisty 7-8 mile road, I pulled into a parking lot at the end of it, opened the door, and could REALLY smell the brakes. They had been working hard, but showed NO signs of fade or sinking of the pedal. Kudos to Honda for making the brakes NOT suck in stock form.

Cruising back to the dealership via the highway, I realized this is a car that REALLY encourages you to speed. Looking down at the speedometer, I noticed myself around 85mph on several occasions. The car has less road noise as the previous generations of Integras, but it is still no "luxury car" in the road noise department.

For being a Focus/PT Cruiser wrapped in Toyota Celica skin, it wasn't too bad, but I wasn't seriously impressed with it. The car needs better tires from the factory, although the stock Michelins held their own without much complaining at all (they were a bit too easy to squeal from a standing start, accidentally). The car would really benefit from a limited-slip differential as well. Maybe they can put that into a "Type-SR" model or something.

So for a bottom line, I was disappointed in the RSX after
driving it. After all of the rave reviews the car has gotten over the last few months, I was expecting a LOT more out of it. It felt like an unstable GS-R with less power in the low range. The interior was VERY un-Honda-like, and the instrumentation, radio and climate controls would take some getting used to. The standard stock in-dash 6-disc changer was a very nice feature, though. Honda made a smart move getting the exhaust manifold away from the A/C compressor and condensor coil and all that, but I have yet to determine if the serpentine belt setup was a good or a bad
move. The timing CHAIN is a nice improvement over the commonly breakable timing belts.

I'm thinking the extra engine noise is what makes the automotive journalists think that this car is fast, because I got the opposite impression after driving the car. Just like other Hondas, it's torqueless, and in the grand scheme of the automotive world, it is not a fast car.

Honda is quickly losing my respect more and more after each passing day. Why can't they go back to the terrific
engineering that they had back in the late-80's and early 90's. They were SO far ahead of their time back then, but now they just seem quite "mediocre."

Perhaps they'll do better with the new Civic hatch. My hopes won't be very high.

Amount Paid (US$): 23,000
Model Year: 2002