The Acura RSX is a car marketed by Acura in the United States (and offered as the Honda RSX in other markets) as the replacement for the Acura Integra coupe. It is available in two trims: base and Type-S. It is sold as the Honda Integra in Japan, Europe and Australia.
The Acura RSX coincided with Acura's efforts to move its products upscale. Designing an entirely new platform shared with the Honda Civic, rather than an incremental re-engineering of the previous mechanical lineage of the previous Integra/Civic platform, Honda engineers built a more luxurious car than the Integra, Acura's previous offering in the compact near-luxury coupe segment.
The RSX suspension employs MacPherson struts in the front and wishbones in the rear, an engineering decision which disappointed some Honda fans who had come to appreciate Honda's previous philosophy of employing double-wishbones for both front and rear suspensions. However, the K-series engine proved to have significant potential for tuning, a trait shared with the B-series engines previously employed in Integra and certain performance-oriented Civic models. The K-series engine features intelligent VTEC or (i-VTEC), which electronically adjusts valve lift, valve timing and cam timing, giving the 2.0 liter engine a flatter torque curve and smooth power transition relative to previous VTEC implementations which only adjusted valve lift and valve timing.
The base RSX has the K20A3 motor with a specific output of 160 hp (119 kW) and is offered with either an automatic or a five-speed manual transmission; and the Type-S has a 200 hp (2002-2004) K20A2 or 210 hp (157 kW) in 2005 K20Z1 motor and a short-throw 6 speed manual transmission.
The Honda Integra Type R, sold in Japan, has a 220 hp (164 kW) K20A engine, as well as a limited slip differential (LSD) and stiffer springs and shocks.
Awards
The RSX was listed among Car and Driver magazine's 10 Best list for 2002 and 2003.
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