2012 Acura TSX Sport Wagon Overview Change Vehicle

This 2012 Acura TSX Sport Wagon review explains changes for the model year, provides a summary of the 2012 TSX Sport Wagon, and includes Acura TSX Sport Wagon safety, reliability, and fuel economy ratings.

Basically, the 2012 Acura TSX Sport Wagon is the Honda Accord station wagon sold in overseas markets, luxed up and equipped with Acura badges for American consumers. It competes favorably in a niche luxury station wagon market that includes the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, Cadillac CTS, Infiniti EX35, and (for now) Saab 9-3.

The TSX Sport Wagon debuted last year, and changes for 2012 are limited to the replacement of the compact spare tire with a new tire repair kit that helps create a much larger storage well under the rear cargo floor. If you were hoping for a V6 engine, you’re out of luck.

Acura likes to keep things simple, and the TSX Sport Wagon is offered only with a four-cylinder engine, an automatic transmission, and a single option package.

Because it wears a luxury nameplate, the TSX Sport Wagon includes a long list of standard features. Beyond expected features like power windows, power door locks with remote keyless entry, power heated side mirrors, cruise control, and a trip computer, highlights include contrast-stitched leather seats, dual-zone automatic climate control, a power moonroof, Bluetooth hands-free calling and music streaming, and a premium sound system with a CD player, satellite radio, an auxiliary audio input jack, and a USB connection. Heated front seats with eight-way driver and four-way passenger adjustment, a tilt-and-telescopic steering wheel, a HomeLink universal remote transmitter, and a multi-information in-dash display are also included in the base price, along with 17-inch machined-finish aluminum wheels, high-intensity discharge (HID) automatic headlights, and fog lights.

The only option is the Technology Package, which contains a power tailgate, a reversing camera, a hard-disc navigation system with real-time traffic and weather reports, an Acura/ELS Dolby Pro Logic II premium audio system with hard-disc storage for 3,500 song files that can be accessed through Song By Voice technology, and a GPS-linked, solar-sensing, dual-zone climate control system. Additional extra-cost accessories are available through Acura dealers.

While the Acura TSX Sedan is offered with a choice between a four-cylinder and a V6 engine, the TSX Sport Wagon is only available with the smaller powerplant. That’s an odd choice for a station wagon.

The smooth-revving and refined 2.4-liter four-cylinder makes 201 horsepower at 7,000 rpm (just 100 rpm short of redline) and 170 lb-ft of torque at 4,300 rpm. The only transmission choice is a five-speed Sequential SportShift automatic with rather optimistic F1-style paddle shifters on the steering wheel.

As you might imagine from those peak power figures, to access the merely adequate oomph you’ve gotta rev the motor. Good thing the transmission is geared to make the car feel lively even if you don’t, and also includes Shift Hold Control programming to make the TSX more responsive when driven with gusto as well as Grade Logic Control software for holding a gear when climbing hills.

Fuel economy ratings are 22 mpg in the city and 30 mpg on the highway. Premium fuel is required.

For a luxury car, the TSX Sport Wagon is surprisingly bereft of safety technology. Aside from six airbags, traction control, stability control, antilock brakes with electronic brake-force distribution and brake assist, and an Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) body structure design, there’s not much to discuss in this regard aside from the reversing camera that comes with the optional Technology Package.

Oddly, Acura has gone out of its way to provide pedestrian injury mitigation design features including a hood, hood hinges, and windshield wiper pivots that easily deform if the TSX hits a person.

Crash-test ratings are incomplete. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) gives the TSX Sport Wagon a 5-Star rollover resistance rating, and nothing more, indicating that the government agency hasn’t tested the car.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) gave the 2011 TSX the highest rating of Good in its offset frontal impact, side impact, and rear impact assessments, but it’s unclear whether these scores pertain to the TSX Sport Wagon in addition to the TSX Sedan. Neither model has undergone roof crush strength tests.

Surprisingly, Consumer Reports predicts nothing better than average reliability from the Acura TSX Sport Wagon. That’s strange, considering that aside from an unimpressive track record for problems with the braking components, the TSX has enjoyed quite good reliability since the original TSX debuted for 2004. Based on ratings from last year, J.D. Power and Associates expects the TSX Sport Wagon to provide better than average dependability over time.

By replacing the conventional compact spare tire with a tire repair kit, Acura has added 5.7 cubic-feet of additional storage space under the TSX Sport Wagon’s cargo floor, bringing total cargo capacity up to 31.5 cu-ft with the rear seat in use and 66.2 cu-ft with the rear seat folded.

If you opt for the Technology Package, you’ll benefit from a Traffic Rerouting feature that works in 130 metropolitan areas in the U.S. and Canada.

Also included in the Technology Package is a Note function for the Acura/ELS premium sound system. If you hear a song that you like on a satellite radio station, you can record up to 10 seconds of up to 30 different songs, capturing the song title and artist in the process. Later, you can download the music and then transfer it to the Acura’s 15-gig music storage hard-drive.

We’re fans of the station wagon, and the Acura TSX is a good car, so we give the 2012 TSX Sport Wagon a thumbs-up. It sure would be nice to have a turbocharged engine option, or even the excellent V6 that Acura offers in the TSX Sedan, and while we think Acura is falling a little bit behind the times in terms of safety and technology features, there’s something to be said for simplicity.

-- By Christian Wardlaw