Sculpted front grille with prestigious badge

Coming safely at speed onto  a 405 on-ramp in the new Acura TSX I thought I'd put the luxury sporting sedan's  handling abilities to the test on some seriously baking, steeply tilted asphalt.

Never going above a safe speed but with my foot planted pretty near the floor, the TSX   strained, struggled, gnawed, bit, and  did everything in its tech-laden power to grip the road tighter than a Lindsay Lohan ball gown and, try as I might, I couldn't coax it into oversteer or understeer.

Pictured near the Queen Mary, Long Beach

Which kinda sums up Acura's lot: the Japanese carmaker has to work hard, very hard, to succeed.  But usually, if not always,  it does very, very well.

Aside from the masterful way it handles on LA's tough road conditions, you get the picture a bit more when you consider what Honda's premium  marque is up against, ie, the Germans.  And the company's fellow country folk at Lexus.  It's hard, gerd-dam hard in that company, but I believe  Acura is more than up for any speed-bump its competitors, and the road ahead, can lay in its path.

Undeterred by a road surface on which you could fry an egg   indeed a full English breakfast the Acura proved red-hot in cornering, and in other notable ways which we'll get to later.

All of which adds up to a carmaker that's pretty much on top form right now, as shown by Acura's decision to break ground on a major new $15 million design center  in Torrance a coupla months ago, which celebrates 20 years of premium motoring and looks to the future by cementing its presence in pretty much the biggest market for its cars globally, in which, of course, Acura was the first Japanese luxury marque to bed down.

The current model TSX has been around for a few years now, introduced in 2004, and is basically a badge-engineered Honda Accord (though the European-market one not the US model) underneath it all. Which, really, is a pretty good place to start.

The body shape is sleek yet stoic, lending an air of solidity and fluidity almost at once, and manages to escape the blandness that is sometimes associated with Japan's big two.  I happen to like the shape and design of Honda's range, though many disagree. You may, however, see Honda taking a real good look at its outer shell in the wake of the new Lexus !S series tested here a couple of months ago.

Classy lines that signal quality

Some wheels keep going round

Upgrades for 2006 include a revamped engine to take that testy complaint that many have against Honda: that its cars are underpowered.  The TSX now boasts a   2.4 liter four cylinder  VTEC engine that spits out 205hp quite a feat for anything with fewer than six cylinders.

It's not too quick off the mark taking a shade under seven seconds to hit a mile a minute but once in the freeway flow, the TSX begins to settle into what prospective owners bought it for:  to move quickly and smoothely in a compact sedan that seats four/five without the front seat passenger having to eject the cabin for the kids to climb in the back.

And it's luxury inside that will sell this car. The indented leather seats front and back ooze class  as soon as you step in the cabin, and that leather-clad steering wheel positioned in front of those indulgently 8-way powered and heated seats above the TSX-emblazoned floormats that hove into view once you've taken your eyes off that massive touch-screen sat-nav screen.  All  of which reminds you that you are in seriously upscale territory.

After all, with a price tag pretty near the $30,000, the entry-level TSX  sits beside the Bimmer 3-Series at  and the Lexus IS250 in its class, taking it pretty much out of the new-first-car realm and into one that'll maybe, in a couple of years, be passed down from mom to (lucky) offspring.

Add-ons which will undoubtedly please mom, dad or teenager on the test model included power moonroof with tilt, 17-inch alloy wheel, wraparound Xenon HiD headlights (which ape BMW's from the side), satellite radio, dual-zone AC and all the other dibbings expected for the class.

Also, don't forget the six-year, 70,000-mile powertrain warranty, and safety features that include ABS, airbags for both front-seat occupants and side-curtain safety inflatables all round back and front.  This car scores very, very well in government crash-test ratings, too, with five star frontal safety ratings, and a combination of four and five stars for safety in the back.

Seat-belt pre-tensioners in the front, thankfully, were not tested, but remain to lend an air of security, knowing that when the car "senses" a collision, you will be pulled back into your seat hopefully  out of harm's way. 

Gas is good for its class at 22mpg and 31 in town and highway respectively, which also entices beyond the TSX's on-the-road price of $30,505, with all the add-ons.

Which means that though Acura clearly has its work cut out for it, you, the prospective buyer, have a very easy choice ahead of you indeed.

Lovely, leather-clad interior

Ergonomically sound interior