2006 Acura Tsx Base Sedan 4-door 2.4l. on 2040-cars

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Is your new-car warranty good at the race track?

We've all heard the horror stories. Your buddy knows a girl that was dating a guy whose best friend's brother once broke his brand-new, recently purchased performance car while making runs at a drag strip or laps at a track day, and the manufacturer wouldn't cover the repair under warranty. True story? Urban legend? Complete crap? Yes, no, maybe. One thing's for sure: Automotive warranties have always come with caveats. In 1908, an ad in the Trenton Evening Times clearly stated: "All Ford Cars Guaranteed for One Year." Although it changed over time, by 1925 the Ford New Car Guarantee only covered 90 days on material and 30 days on labor, and it clearly stated that that there was "No guarantee whatever on Fan Belts, Glass, Bulbs, Wiring, Transmission, Bands, Hose Connections, Commutator Shells, Rollers, Spark Plugs or Gaskets." Whether or not Ol' Henry would pay to fix your Model T if you broke it shaving a tenth off your lap time at the local board track seems to be lost to history. We're guessing no. But what about today? Do new-car warranties in 2017 cover cars when they are driven on race tracks? We researched the warranties of 14 auto brands to find out, and the answer is yes, no, maybe, depending on the brand, in some cases the model, and whether or not your car is modified from stock. Acura has been out of the high-performance car game for a number of years, but jumps back into the party in 2017 with its hybrid-powered $173,000 NSX supercar. And Acura's warranty, as well as Honda's, clearly states that it does not cover "the use of the vehicle in competition or racing events." View 33 Photos So we asked Sage Marie, Senior Manager of Public Relations for Honda and Acura. "If the car is stock, the warranty covers it on a track just as it does on the street. No question," he told us. "However, if the car is modified, say with slick tires or other components that would put higher stresses on the vehicle's parts and systems, then we would have to investigate the circumstances further." Marie went on to say the same would be true for any Acura model or Honda vehicle, including the new 2017 Honda Civic Si. This became a common theme. Chevrolet actually started this practice with the fifth-generation Camaro on the high-performance ZL1 and Z/28 models.

Acura NSX owners receive custom short teaser movies of their personal car

In a neat bit of fan service for those who've ordered Acura's new NSX halo car, the company will make a short film that reflects the way the car's been configured. Those films are on their way to future owners as you read this. In addition, they'll get a 1:18 scale custom model of their own car, reflecting every appearance option inside and out. That's neat. So neat, in fact, that we decided to commission our own video. We got together and configured a car in the lovely Nouvelle Blue Pearl, and sent our build over to Acura. They put together a video that's mostly representative of what an owner would see. You can see our build plate (hint: it says "Autoblog – Precision Crafted By Performance Manufacturing Center" on it), and that's "our" car on the dyno starting about 22 seconds in. If you want to check out someone else's film, you can compare our build to Jay Leno's. The reason Acura can do this is that there simply aren't that many available configurations for the NSX. This is at the root of one of the main criticisms some of our editors have about the car. An NSX starts at darn close to $160,000, and there are eight paint options (not too bad), four interior color options, and three seating options. All well and good, but compare that to the 16 paint and 12 interior color/material choices in a 911 Turbo, for example, choosing a similarly high-performance car at a similar price range. And there's a further wrinkle: Porsche will paint your car to match a sample you provide, so in reality the ability for an owner to make the car uniquely theirs is infinite, if you don't mind paying for it. See also the BMW Individual program, or McLaren's MSO one-offs. We're not just talking about the MSO Defined options, but the MSO Bespoke program itself, which will basically do anything you want to the car as long as it's road legal and your check doesn't bounce. We've been to MSO, and they're not kidding: they'll build anything. So yes, these custom videos are nice fan service, and they'll certainly jazz up the buyers who've already ordered one of these dynamically impressive cars. It's a move that builds loyalty, and certainly doesn't have much of a drawback. But for us, already a bit sensitive to Acura's conservative option list for the NSX, it serves to highlight the gap between Acura and the more established brands in catering to well-off customers' desire for bespoke range-topping creations.

2021 Acura TLX outed in European patent images

Acura brought its Type S concept to last year's Monterey Car Week as a glimmer of what we could expect from the all-new TLX coming next year. Since then, we've had better glimpses of the sedan in unintended leaks, the first in Acura's own infotainment system, now in patent images from the European Union Intellectual Property Office. Discovered by French forum Worldscoop, the details in the grayscale drawings match the color image from the infotainment software, giving us another look at hotly anticipated sedan that will infuse much-needed excitement into Acura's lineup. Even though the images show rear bumper cutouts plenty large enough to house quad pipes, the patent is presumed to show the standard TLX trim, not the Type S trim we know is coming. Even so, we can see plenty of Type S concept influence even with the less aggressive bodywork, such as the narrower upper grille and more pronounced lower grille, the garnish on the lower intakes, the side mirror design, and flared rear fenders. The rear end in the patent shows the same taillamps and decklid shutline, aero vents in the bumper, and the reshaped license plate holder moved from the trunk to the bumper.  The bodywork will sit on a new platform, and the bulk of betting money has Honda's 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbo four-cylinder from the RDX as the base engine. That mill making 272 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque in the RDX, compared to the 2.4-liter four-cylinder in the current TLX that makes 206 hp and 182 lb-ft. The Type S is expected to inaugurate a brand new 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 developed specifically for Acura with more than 350 hp, a meaty bump beyond the 290 hp and 267 lb-ft in the present range-topping 3.5-liter V6. The TLX comes in two standard flavors now, so the question is whether Acura will give the 2021 model another engine or output option between standard and the Type S. The MDX Sport Hybrid crossover fits a 3.0-liter V6 powertrain producing a combined 321 hp and 289 lb-ft. On the 2021 TLX, a 10-speed automatic will manage shifting duties, sending power either to the front wheels or to all four through Acura's Super Handling All-Wheel Drive.  The automaker had planned on debuting the car at the New York Auto Show, and the rescheduled debut will come online and is likely not far away. If Acura doesn't show the Type S at the same time, an unveiling of that should come by early next year. Related Video: