The temperature was ~86deg out and humid, so that will affect the power felt. But since my car is being driven in the same conditions, it’s still valid to compare them. Both cars were being driven with the AC on. The only difference was that in the RSX, we had the 6’6” salesman in the back as ballast. It was kinda funny to see him crunched in back there.
Appearances: It doesn’t look bad, but then the appearance doesn’t jump out at me either. It was obvious that they raised the height of the car though. From the side, it reminded me of a stretched out Honda CRX. Wheels are OK looking, nothing spectacular - but not ugly either. The wheel gap was kinda big though. I would definitely put a new shock/spring combo on it and lower it at least 1.5 inches. One thing that was kinda strange, although not necessarily bad, but just new to me, was when I was examining the front suspension and I could see all the way to the other side of the car. Because of the new suspension and engine layout, I could literally see the car next to it by looking at the wheel gap. The rotors and calipers are noticeably larger. I looked at the rear swaybar and it didn’t really look any bigger than the stock Integra’s 14mm swaybar. The hood is shorter than the Integra and the engine compartment seemed tighter. The air filter box is now slightly to the right of the center of the engine bay. I don’t know where it actually sucks air in from, but I hope it’s not just from smack in the center of the hot engine bay. And it’s going to be a lot more difficult to install a header now. It’s now located at the back of the engine bay and down low. You probably have to get under the car to get to it. I didn’t listen to the car stereo, but I do have to say that I like where they put the sub. It’s in the spare tire and outta the way. But I have to say that one of my hobbies is high end stereo, and so I think Bose sucks. So I don’t expect much from the Bose system though. The seats and interior are really nice. That pinhole dimple look rubber on top of the dash matches the cloth on the ceiling. I bet that rubber on the dash absorbs or prevents vibrations from being transferred though the plastic and reduces noise too. I like how that hatch cover piece is now attached to the hatch now. You don’t have to worry about forgetting to close the cover piece before slamming the hatch down on it and getting those white scrapes (you all know what I’m referring to). That cover piece is nicer than that rattley piece we have also. So the interior is much improved over my ’97 GSR.
Driving: The clutch is really light. Honda clutches are kinda known to be light clutches, but this clutch is really, really light. I don’t know if I like that. I really wanted to feel that 6-spd shifter that everyone has been praising. It feels smooth, and it does feel shorter a shift than in my GSR. But I still kinda felt that my shifter has better feel. Maybe it’s because the RSX has a cable actuated shifter instead of the solid rod that the Integra has. Or maybe because I have that fake Type-R metal shift ****. I did notice that my shifter had more solid feedback when I swapped that big rubber stock shifter (’97) for the metal ****. In my car, I can almost feel the gears engaging when I shift. I guess the RSX **** combined with the cable actuated shifter could absorb some of that feel that I like. The steering wheel felt really, really good. It’s smaller in diameter and thicker. It felt like it was made for me. There must be a lockout on the reverse when moving, since I kept getting caught in the Reverse path when playing with the shifter when idling. And I had no problem getting into 5th when driving. Brakes feel stronger than the stock GSR, but mine has Carbotech Panthers so my brakes felt stronger. But I’m positive that the RSX brakes would be stronger if they had the same pads. The car didn’t really roll as much as the stock GSR did on turns even though the swaybar looked about the same size as a stock GSR. Although I haven’t been stock for awhile so I don’t remember exactly how stock felt. It was kinda hard to tell how much more power the car had since we had three people in the car including the large salesman. So there must have been an extra 350lbs in the car not including me. So it didn’t feel really fast to me, but I have to say that it pulled better than my car would have with an extra 350lb in the car and the AC on. So I’ll extrapolate and say that there is more torque down low. The salesman didn’t know where the high cam kicks in, so I downshifted and floored it. Then I told him, it’s definetly ~6000rpms. You definetly hear the change in the note and feel it pull hard. The high cam is when you definitely feel the difference in power between the two cars. Wind noise has been reduced greatly. So has road noise. When I was driving, my friend, who has ridden my car many times, felt that my car has a more “violent” pull in the midrange.

Conclusions: I kinda felt that down low, the RSX is stronger – more torque. In the middle, it felt almost the same, hard to say. But at about 6000rpm, the RSX is definitely stronger – a real Jeckyl and Hyde transformation. Interior makes mine seem outdated and crappy. The RSX is great for someone who is looking for a new carnow, but not so much better that it made me fall in love with it and want to trade my perfectly good car in for one. If my car was totaled or I had only my wife’s Civic LX to drive, that would be a different story.

 

The intake sucks air from the front of the car. Under the airbox is a tube that loops back towards to the front of the car. It has a small air horn at the tip of it.

The stereo is nothing spectacular. It sounds nice when cranked up, but has no boom to it. We were just listening to the radio, so maybe that is why the bass was lacking. Overall, it was a better sounding stereo than what I have now.

And I agree that the car has a Jeckyl and Hyde to it. It got really loud in the car after 6000 RPM. And it pulled very nicely.

 

It's not just the radio. I brought along a CD to test when I drove the RSX-S this weekend, and the low-end of it's dynamic range is really lacking. I don't even know why they bothered with the subwoofer, it does nothing for the sound. Perhaps a better amp would have been a good idea.
I agree, while shifts are nice on the -S, the GSR has a more solid feel, even though it requires slightly more effort, I like it that way. I agree on the smaller steering wheel too, although it takes a moment to get used to.
One thing the salesman (and the brochure) told me is that one of the biggest things about reducing noise was the new rear-view mirror design. It has some small bumps on the mount going up against the window that supposedly reduce noise. I also noticed there's insulation on the inside of the hood too (which works, though I wonder how long it will last).
By the way, there's also an optional set of wheels you can see if you go to Acura's website...I liked them a little better than the standard ones.