West Brother's Top 5 Sport Sedans of All Time

For as long as our blog has been around, I can't believe we've never done a Top 5 or Top 10 listing. Why not start now? Let's begin with a vehicle class near and dear to my heart: the luxury sport sedan. My brother and I have driven quite a few sport sedans over the years, and have both owned at least one in our driving careers. So what are my top five luxury sport sedans?

Let's start by first defining what I classify as a sport sedan. Of course we have the classic definition of a sedan: four doors, standard trunk. The vehicle should have some kind of upgraded engine, suspension components, and anything that makes it capable of hanging with dedicated sports cars in a similar price range. This doesn't mean I'm going to be writing a list full of cars like the M3 or the CTS-V. I classify those cars as Super Sedans; a sedan that will decimate most sports cars of equal price. Plus, I've driven less than five super sedans so far, so that wouldn't make for much of a list. What do you say we get started?


#5 - Infiniti G37S

Back when I was in college, the Infiniti G37S was THE sport sedan to have. The second generation of Infiniti's G sedan was also my first real foray into sport sedans. Having not had much experience with sport sedans at that time, I went purely off looks and power figures. Sleek and stylish looks along with its 3.7 liter VQ37 V6 making 330 horsepower made it the car that I wanted right out of college. When I finally graduated back in 2008 and entered the workforce, I made it a point to go and take a look at the car that all my college buddies raved about.

I will say that the looks, power, and performance was exactly what everyone had talked about. This thing was quick and it looked the part too. But despite its fast looks and matching performance, the interior left quite a bit to be desired. This was supposed to be an Infiniti; Nissan's luxury and performance arm. What happened to the luxury part of the equation? Sadly, 12 years and a naming scheme later, it appears Infiniti still can't really handle the luxury part of what Nissan wants it to be (you can read my first post of our long term Infiniti QX50 here to see what I mean).

#4 - Cadillac CTS V-Sport

This car isn't what some of you think it is. It is definitely not to be confused with the Corvette powered CTS-V. That thing is what I define as a super sedan, and feels like you're driving a freaking sledge hammer (in a good way). This is one (big) step down from the CTS-V. It's essentially the equivalent of BMW's M-Sport line or Lexus' F-Sport line, just with added performance instead of a bunch of lame cosmetic stuff.

I got a chance to test drive the CTS V-Sport back in 2016 during the LA Auto Show. I was lucky enough to get into the car early in the morning so I didn't have to worry about the horrors of Downtown Los Angeles traffic. Aside from being one of the absolute best looking sport sedans on the market at the time, the CTS V-Sport had the grunt to go with it. Powered by a 3.6 liter twin-turbo V6 making 420 horsepower, this thing could absolutely haul ass. Magnetic shocks meant if you needed the car to handle, it could do it, but if you needed it to be comfortable, it could do that too. And the best part? Unlike the CTS-V super sedan, which definitely tries its hardest to look the part, the CTS V-Sport was far more subtle in its looks. This was a definite sleeper. The phrase, "not your granddaddy's Caddy" definitely comes to mind.

Unfortunately, and this was an issue across Cadillac's entire lineup at the time, the interior was...not great. Yes, it basically suffered the same issue was the G37S above, but unlike Infiniti, Cadillac knew what its brand identity (or at least what it wanted to be) was. It made no qualms about being available at car rental lots across America. So despite having an interior that left much to be desired, I still have to rank this car above the Infiniti simply just because Cadillac understands where it is in the market.

#3 - Alfa Romeo Giulia 

I honestly never though I would ever get to drive anything Italian in America that wasn't a Fiat. Getting the opportunity to drive a Ferrari or Lamborghini is unlikely given I'm not a member of the automotive press, and I don't know anyone that owns one. I did get the chance to test drive the Maserati Ghibli at some point, but I was very unimpressed. Enter Alfa Romeo. Alfa's first two cars in the US market were the 8C super car and 4C sports car, both of which were basically out of my reach. In an effort to win the US market back, Alfa decided to launch itself into the compact luxury sport sedan market. Boy was it quite the interesting effort.

The Giulia, by and far, is THE best sport sedan I have driven to date. Fast, responsive 2.0 liter turbocharged four cylinder, incredible handling, and looks to die for. Even the interior, while not great, was still better than what some other luxury manufacturers were working with. So why, despite calling it the best sport sedan I've driven, is it not in the number one spot? Reliability. There's an old joke among car enthusiasts that unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo, you aren't a true enthusiast. This is because Alfa Romeos are notorious for breaking down and just having issues. It's probably one of the reasons why the company left the American market the first time. With its re-introduction to the American market, you'd think that Alfa would work on the reliability. If you did think that, you're oh so very wrong. I guess being unreliable is just an Italian automobile trait because the Giulia, despite the heaps of praise from automotive press, just keeps falling apart. Reports of car after car after car going into dealers for warranty repairs, automotive press having cars simply stop running during testing, all were bringing back bad memories of the Alfa of old. The most notable breakdown occurred when an automotive magazine, I forget which one, was testing the high performance Giulia Quadrifoglio against the BMW M3 and Mercedes C63 AMG. Early into the track test, the Giulia just straight up stopped working and went into limp mode. If I remember correctly, Alfa sent a replacement car and even the replacement gave up at some point. The BMW and Mercedes performed all the tests flawlessly.

As I said in my review of the Giulia, I love the way the car performs and looks, and if money were no object, I'd get a Giulia. The problem though is that I'd much rather have a car that I can actually drive instead of one that will spend most of its life sitting in a dealer service bay waiting to have warranty repairs performed. 

#2 - Acura TL Type-S

We're definitely a bit Honda biased here, and I recognize it. So you thought a Honda or Acura would be in first place, right? Well you thought wrong! But that's not to see the third generation Acura TL Type-S is bad. Oh no, in fact, it's a fantastic car. Just that something else was a little bit more fantastic.

In 2008, both East Brother and I actually had TL Type-S'. His was a silver one with the six-speed manual, and mine was a white one with the five-speed auto. The third gen TL Type-S was an absolute fantastic looking car, was extremely quick, and handled like a dream, all despite being front-wheel drive. 286 horsepower (though rumor had it that it was probably closer to 300) from a 3.5 liter V6 being routed solely to the front wheels would usually spell trouble. Yet some how, the TL Type-S could keep up with the best in its class. I remember from an old Road & Track article comparing the TL Type-S against the Lexus IS350 and Infiniti G35S, the TL wasn't the fastest on paper, but actually beat both the Lexus and the Infiniti on track. Even the Drift King himself, Keiichi Tsuchiya, test drove the TL as was incredibly impressed.

In short, the third gen TL Type-S is an absolute amazing car. If I could find one with a six-speed manual today, I'd probably try and buy it. There is, however, one sport sedan that left a bigger impression on me...

#1 - Volvo S60 T6 R-Design

...and yes, it's a Volvo. Back in 2016, East Brother and I attended an event held by the Rusnak Auto Group that featured performance cars from all of the luxury brands in its dealer group. In the sport sedan segment, there was one car that not a lot of people touched, purely because of its badge. In a group with other makes like BMW, Maserati, and Porsche, most non-enthusiasts probably wouldn't even bat an eyelash at the Volvo. Boy were these people missing out. In the sport sedan group, the S60 T6 R-Design was easily the best handling, the best looking, and the quickest of the group. Around the short test track setup by the event organizers, the Volvo hauled ass. Its 3.0 liter turbocharged inline-six didn't make the most power, but its AWD system definitely utilized its power the best. To this day, I still remember how big the grin on my face was after getting out of that car.

The funny thing is, I still want a Volvo. I've always been a big fan of the V60 Polestar, and despite lacking a manual transmission, would still love to get my hands on one. There's just something about having a fast wagon that could blow the doors off of a lot of sports cars that really gets me going.

And these are my Top 5 Sport Sedans of all time. My brother may have a different list of his own, so don't take this list as our joint opinion. Let me know what your top five sport sedans of all time are in the comments below!

Long Term Test: 2016 Volvo V60 T5 Drive-E Platinum post #1

So we finally did it. After all of my effusive praise heaped upon it and the many test drives, we finally have a Volvo V60 as a part of our long-term test fleet. Our recently acquired V60 wagon comes in a stately Savile Gray Metallic paint job and packs Volvo's very impressive Drive-E 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine with a well-sorted Aisin 8-speed automatic transmission driving the front wheels. In the Platinum trim level, the V60 comes with nearly every single available widget the Volvo offers: blind-spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control with low-speed follow, lane departure warning, forward collision warning, and on and on. The alphabet soup of driver assist features combined with the potent Drive-E engine and Volvo's downright phenomenal seats makes for what should be an excellent long-distance touring car. Add to that the storage capacity to hold luggage for the whole family and the V60 will likely find itself serving road trip duty at least a few times during its tenure with us.

Of course, the eagle-eyed among you will likely notice a few missing features that made me offer up my prodigious praise of the V60 in my prior reviews. The sport package with its gorgeous diamond-cut 19-inch wheels was not on the table because availability with the package and color options was pretty much non-existent. Somehow, when we were ready to finally grab one for ourselves, there were simply no cars in the area that could provide the right mix of trim level, packages, and color that we ideally wanted. Since this would not be my daily driver, I had to ultimately defer to the desires of the person who would spend the most time with it. Still, the standard wheels work well with the understated choice of paint color and give the V60 a dignified appearance.

Even so, the V60 is an exciting (yes, an exciting Volvo!) addition to our long-term fleet. It is also the second vehicle in our long-term fleet to come packed to the gills with driver assist systems, giving us an opportunity to compare how two different manufacturers implement these systems and to test how well they work in real world conditions. With autonomous cars marching ever closer to the consumer market, these interim steps of current generation driver assist systems give us a taste of the autonomous future to come.

We have a full three years with the V60 to find out if it really is as good as my test drives led me to believe.

Editorial: 2016 Detroit Auto Show illustrates the future direction of American motoring

Before it happened, this year's Detroit Auto Show was thought of by many as a real dud. Many of the usual auto journo channels had largely written the show off due to a lack of major announcements and those few announcements that were anticipated were vehicles that nobody thought would actually catch anyone's attention. Yet, this year's Detroit Auto Show ended up revealing a surprising amount of technology that seems to foreshadow the future direction of the automobile in America. There were a few alternative fuel vehicle announcements, a few autonomous vehicle reveals, and a whole lot of focus on turbos and horsepower.


Key among the alternative fuel vehicle reveals was the production version of the Chevy Bolt, the first expected electric vehicle with a 200-mile range, the Bolt is a 180-degree turnaround from the company that killed off the first commercially viable EV that it itself produced. Using battery technology from LG Chem, the 60-kWh battery pack fills the floor and works in conjunction with a set of electric motors to deliver solid performance in a passenger friendly package. It is unfortunate that Chevy has chosen to design the vehicle as a tall CUV style small car. The proportions are almost Seuss-ian in nature, appearing somewhat comically tall with a shortish wheel-base and wheels that look too tiny for the height. The design is trying too hard to hide its odd proportions by using tapering side windows and lots of surfacing and character lines along its flanks. Many may see the appeal of a tallish small car, but as an EV, the increased frontal area is a serious sacrifice of aerodynamics.

Comparison: Mid-Size Luxury Mayhem

Over the past few weeks, we have looked at a total of seven different mid-size luxury sedans. Our criteria for these sedans were that they needed to be two-wheel drive (primarily for fuel economy purposes), have no more than 250 horsepower, and should have equipment similar to a Honda Accord Touring (leather, navigation, LED or HID headlights, back-up camera, etc.). Pretty much every luxury car manufacturer has a mid-size vehicle that fits this criteria, but we chose these seven as they are often considered to be the most popular in this segment. Seven enter, but only one will emerge the victor.

Click below to read each vehicle's individual review:

Acura TLX 2.4 Tech
Audi A4 2.0T FWD Multitronic
BMW 328i
Cadillac ATS 2.5
Lexus IS250
Mercedes Benz C300
Volvo S60 T5 Drive-E

Editorial: These Auto Manufacturers Wants to Make It Illegal to Work On Your Car

Image courtesy of Eric Peters Autos

For most gear heads, one of the best parts about owning an automobile is the satisfaction you get from working on it with your own two hands. Whether it is doing something as simple as changing the oil, or something far more complicated like an engine swap, nothing beats the feeling you get once you have completed working on a project on your car. As cars get more and more advanced technologies though, working on them has proven increasingly difficult. More and more, cars are controlled by complex networks of computers, managing every aspect of the vehicle including how the engine performs. Even the level of sophistication continues to increase for even the most amateur of mechanics, it does not mean gear heads cannot learn to adapt and find ways to modify the car's computer.

Image courtesy of  Tricks Guide

Unfortunately, there is a group of auto manufacturers that do not want gear heads to be able to work on their own vehicles anymore, and to make tampering or modifying your vehicle a punishable offense. How do they plan to do this? Because cars are so computer dependent now, this group of manufacturers want to declare modern cars as "mobile computing devices." So these manufacturers want to basically call cars rolling computers, but how does that prevent us gear heads from working on our own cars? By using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA for short. Sounds insane, right? This group of manufacturers wants to declare modifying a car's computer software or anything that could have an effect on the car's computer a violation of the DMCA. I understand that there are safety issues involved in working on a car, but as the owner of the vehicle, should not that be owner's problem to worry about?

It gets worse though.

Test Drive: 2015.5 Volvo S60 T5 Drive-E

 MSRP: $39,600
 As tested price: $41,270

A few months ago, East Brother and I attended the "Rusnak Driver's Challenge" held by the Rusnak Auto Group. Out of all the cars there, we had the most fun driving the Volvo S60 R-design. To me, this meant that Volvo is indeed capable of building cars that are more than just safe and conservative. The S60 R-design was an absolute hoot to drive! It did get me thinking about the rest of the S60 line-up though. If the S60 R-design was so much fun, then the more basic models should not be too bad either, right? I decided to head into the local Volvo dealer to find out if my theory was correct.

News: Volvo and Jaguar-Land Rover introduce car safety tech to protect cyclists

It warms my heart when I see automakers doing things to make cycling safer. As cars and bikes continue to increasingly share space on public roads, the addition of new technologies to allow the two modes of transport to coexist. Many of these technologies simply focus around awareness, making drivers more aware of the presence of bikes in their immediate vicinity or cyclists more aware of upcoming cars. Primarily, Volvo and Jaguar-Land Rover have created new tech that they hope to incorporate into future cars to help drivers and cyclists to be safer together.

Volvo's approach is a two-way communication system that requires both technology in their cars as well as technology in cyclist's helmets. By allowing the helmets to communicate with the cars, it is possible to make drivers aware of the presence of a cyclist, helping to reduce accidents that result from drivers failing to notice a cyclist in their blind spot. Additionally, since the communication happens in both directions, the helmet will also warn the cyclist of the presence of a nearby car. The technology relies on Volvo's cloud network that links their vehicles in order to feed the data to the cars or apps which the smart helmets would be linked to, so it is likely that some kind of subscription may be required. And while this technology sounds like it has great potential, the relatively small number of new Volvo cars on the road today in the US means that we will likely see limited effectiveness of this technology unless other manufacturers also begin to adopt it.

Jaguar and Land Rover, however, are taking a totally different approach. Instead of relying on a two-way communication system, JLR's setup, known as Bike Sense, uses the various sensors already in the car for various existing safety tech and adds a layer of notifications on top specific to cyclists. For instance, if a cyclist is nearby, the car will notify the driver by playing the sound of a bike bell through the audio system. If a cyclist is detected in the blind spot, the car will use the air bladder in the shoulder bolsters to tap the driver on the side that the bike is approaching from. In addition to audio and physical cues, visual cues are incorporated as well using a series of LED lights hidden in the pillars and upper door panels that change color as a a cyclist approaches. And in a stroke of absolute genius, JLR has also incorporated door handles that vibrate if a cyclist is approaching, helping to reduce incidences of dooring. Best of all, the tech is calibrated to work with not only bicycles, but can apply to motorbikes as well.

While this kind of technology is still fairly rare, it is great to see that the automakers are recognizing the importance of their 2-wheeled compatriots on the larger transportation landscape. This kind of technology investment, especially as cars become increasingly aluminum intensive, and thus more costly to repair, should help cyclists be better protected, but should also help car owners to protect their investment as well. Plus, the added bonus of making our roads safer for everyone is a reality that cannot be ignored. As an avid cyclist, I am excited to see how this kind of technology continues to develop and hope that the increased awareness by drivers can lead to even bigger systemic changes in the future.

Click past the jump to read more about these exciting new safety technologies.

Events: 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show

2014 marks the first year in a while that East Brother and I were able to attend the Los Angeles Auto Show together. With two people at the show, we were able to cover much more of the cars and test drives that I ever was able to do on my own. We arrived at 9am, right as the doors opened. East Brother went in to cover the new cars while I started on the various test drive events. Here are some highlights from this year's Los Angeles Auto Show.

Events: Rusnak Auto Group Driver's Challenge

When the invite arrived in my inbox, I could scarcely contain my excitement. It has been a while since I have had the chance to attend one of these events that offers the opportunity to drive a variety of different manufacturer's products back to back. I reached out to my brother and we quickly got ourselves signed up to participate, opting for a group that would allow us to have plenty of fun while driving a selection of cars that gave us plenty to chat about.

On the day of the event, we hopped into West Brother's S2000 and headed up to Santa Anita Race Track (that's horse racing, for those not familiar with the LA area), which has an enormous parking lot that was not only housing this event for Rusnak, but also the homecoming dances for several local high schools. We checked-in and promptly jumped into line, just in time to be regaled by the sound of the dealership porters running a lap before they put away the cars from the last group on the small, but well-designed, track.

Test Drive: 2014 Bike Month Wagon Comparison

During the last couple of weeks, we have taken a look at each of the individual contenders in our bike friendly wagon comparison. You can click on each of the following links to take an in-depth look at each:

2014 Acura TSX Sport Wagon
2014 Audi Allroad Premium Plus
2014 BMW 328i xDrive Sports Wagon
2015 Volvo V60 T5 Drive-E Premier
 
These long-roof cars offer tremendous versatility, but try hard not to sacrifice the driving dynamics that make them fun for the driving enthusiast. Each vehicle won at least one category and the difference in score between the winner and the runner-up was just a few points and only one point separated second and third. The gap that separates the last place contender from the rest of the pack is a fair bit larger. Overall, there were several categories where it was so close, I felt it best to declare a tie. However, none of these is cars is terrible at all. In fact, I can honestly say that there is not a single bad car in the group and that the winner was decided largely by a matter of degrees.

Test Drive: 2015 Volvo V60 T5 Drive-E Premier

Update: See how the Volvo did against its competitors in our Bike Month Wagon Comparison Test.

While Volvo has long had a reputation for making great wagons (the V70Rs of the last two generations come to mind), it has been many years since they had a proper wagon in the US. The last true wagon, the V70, was well received by the press and Volvo fanatics, but the general public just is not interested. The result was for the wagon to go on hiatus. Volvo continued to produce the SUV-ified Cross Country (XC) branded vehicles like the XC70, but there was not traditional wagon. But now, with an infusion of cash from its new Chinese owners, Geely, the wagon is back and it is better than ever. Best of all, Volvo's reputation for safety remains intact as well, but they have not forgotten how to have a little fun.

Long Term Test: 2012 Acura TSX Special Edition post #1

Update: Click here to read post #2.

The day our beloved 1999 Mazda Miata MX-5 10th Anniversary Edition was stricken ill was a dark day for my wife and me. From the day they b
rought it home, that car had been the pride and joy of my wife's parents and she had set her sights on it becoming the first car that she would own, which did eventually happen in 2006. When we relocated from the suburbs into the city, we consolidated down into a single car, and the Miata was the car we kept. As you can imagine, there were many years of sentimental value attached to the little blue convertible.

So when it came time to find a replacement, we had a long list of requirements and a lot of compromises to make. We knew we needed something more practical than the Miata (a criteria which just about any car would satisfy) and be able to carry our friends and luggage and potentially a pet. That meant that something with 4 seats would be required, at a minimum. My wife, who is very environmentally minded, wanted a car that put up decent fuel economy numbers. I wanted a manual transmission, which narrowed the available options to a tiny handful of cars. Fun to drive, comfortable, relatively maintenance free, and moderately well equipped with modern necessities such as Bluetooth hands-free calling were all a given. Pricing needed to be reasonable as we were losing an income for a couple of years and knew we wanted to keep our expenses under control.

2012 $30k Mid-size entry luxury sedan comparo

As my daily driver, I own a 2012 Acura TSX Special Edition. Often regarded as a 2nd-tier entry against some of the more established (read “European”) competitors, the TSX often gets overlooked by buyers who believe that the competition offers something that the TSX does not. This past week, I had the occasion to spend a fairly extended amount of time with two of the competitors in the same class as the TSX and decide whether or not I made the right choice.

To be fair, the comparison will not be exactly 1-to-1 as my TSX is fitted with Acura’s fantastic 6-speed manual transmission instead of an automatic like the two test cars. This obviously colors the driving involvement, but given that both the Volvo S60 and Mercedes Benz C250 are fitted with advanced automatics with at least as many gears, there is not too much of an advantage offered to the TSX.

Acura TSX Special Edition

2012 Acura TSX Special Edition

I have now owned the TSX for approximately 6 months. It is mine and my wife’s only car and we got it brand new from a dealer in the DC area. The car was not available with any options so we have to do without a built-in navigation system or any kind of color display for managing the features in the car. That said, the car does come very well equipped right off the bat: leather and suede seating surfaces with memory for the driver’s seat, power passenger seat adjustment, HID headlights, Bluetooth hands-free and streaming audio, USB and aux inputs, dual zone climate control, 60/40 split fold rear seat, and much more. At an as tested price of $32,405, it is by far the least expensive car of the bunch, but still feels like it fits well within the group.

Volvo S60 T5

2012 Volvo S60 T5 FWD

The next car in our test is a 2012 Volvo S60 T5 that I had for a full week and just over 200 miles behind the wheel. This car, fitted with the Premier package includes the power moon roof, leather seating surfaces, and the keyless drive system (which incidentally was not functioning correctly) carries an as-tested price of $34,845. However, the car is clearly ahead of the TSX when it comes to the cars infotainment setup as the S60 has Volvo’s very large and well sorted SENSUS system with its large color screen, though the instrument cluster sports the same type of lower resolution single color screen as the TSX. Bluetooth hands-free and streaming audio are standard along with a USB port under the center console armrest. The car is fitted with Volvo’s torquey turbo-charged 2.5L inline 5-cylinder motor and 6-speed automatic transmission.

Mercedes Benz C250 Luxury

2013 Mercedes Benz C250 Luxury

The third car in our test is a 2013 Mercedes Benz C250 Luxury fitted with MB’s all new 1.8L turbo-charged inline 4-cylinder and 7-speed automatic transmission. This car was about as base as one can get for this vehicle and yet, still has an as-tested price tag of $38,945. The only options on this particular test vehicle were the heated seats and the Becker Auto Pilot navigation system. This was the only car in the test to not have real leather, though one would barely notice it as the interior felt sufficiently premium. The car came with the standard 5.8-inch infotainment screen with the same controller used with the COMAND system.

User interfaces

Slightly button happy center console of the TSX

The three cars take very different approaches to user their driver and passenger interfaces. The TSX is the most focused on driving, with a small radius steering wheel and controls that can easily be used without taking your eyes off the road. The only screens are small and relatively low resolution with minimal information outside of immediately useful info. Everything falls comfortably to hand exactly where you expect it, but it does take a fair amount use to get fully comfortable with the location of the rather plentiful array of buttons.

Volvo's now standard waterfall center consolde

Volvo, on the other hand, has taken their traditional waterfall center console that has become a staple of their interiors and added the SENSUS system to it, providing a vivid high-resolution screen on all S60s, including those that do not have navigation. The center stack is simple to use, but some of the small buttons do not fall to hand easily due to their small size, especially the number pad that is used for virtually all of the radio functions. The instrument cluster has two small low resolution dot matrix screens, similar to the one on the TSX.

The slightly busy but premium looking MB

The MB definitely shows where the extra money they are asking gets spent. The screen in the center stack is high resolution and the one large screen built into the speedometer is impressively colorful and provides a useful variety of information, though not all at the same time, annoyingly enough. The COMAND interface’s knob is easily within reach, but the entire system is hard to use without taking your eyes off the road and not particularly intuitive. Additionally, the audio system is probably the worst to use from an interface perspective. It was the only vehicle that I could not figure out how to access Bluetooth audio without reaching for the manual.

Driving Impressions

Each car carries its own unique driving characteristic that is reflective of the reputation of its maker. They each have areas where they exhibit the greatest strength and areas where they feel the weakest, but, surprisingly, there is little overlap in these areas.

Lack of polished exhaust tips cheapens the look of the Volvo

For sheer thrust, Volvo’s turbo-charged 5-cylinder in combination with the 6-speed transmission is king of this hill. Drop the hammer and grab the wheel with a death grip because the torque steer when the turbo boost arrives is downright shocking. Once the front wheels are pointing straight again, stay on the throttle and the car just lunges forward, the turbo’s slightly shrill chirp punctuating the deep intake roar that fills the cabin. This is a fun car to drive on straight flat roads, but introduce some corners and the composure begins to slip away quickly.

While the steering feel is good and seems relatively precise, the limits of grip get reached very soon and the car begins to slide around mid-corner before the stability control kicks in and reins everything in before things start to get even a little exciting. Volvo’s reputation for safety still reigns supreme as any effort to have fun in this car is sternly put down by the computer, its virtual finger wagging at you as if to reprimand you for doing anything even slightly foolish.

The MB is a bit plain but with good road presence

The Mercedes, on the other hand, disappoints greatly with the newly introduced turbo-charged 1.8L inline-4. The specs, on paper, for this motor should make for a lot of fun and coupled with the 7-speed automatic, should return fantastic gas mileage. Sadly, the case as the motor felt flat the whole way through the rev range and returned fuel economy that was sadly the worst of this bunch. Where the Mercedes shines is the complete smoothness with which it goes about its job. Absolutely nothing could upset the motor and transmission and it shifted smooth as butter at all speeds and all throttle openings. However, the downside to this is that the throttle lag saps any directness out of throttle inputs and frustrates all attempts at precision, making fun driving an exercise in futility.

This is disappointing because the body structure of the MB feels like it is hewn from a solid block of granite. Add in the fact that it is the only RWD car in this comparison, this chassis has the potential to be the stand-out driver’s car. The grip is easily the highest of the group and the steering feel is good, but where this car really disappoints is the ride. For a car that is starting to get up there in price and does every other aspect of isolation so well, it is sad that where it falls flat is the inability to provide a smooth ride, especially over low speed bumps. Several potholes encountered and speed bumps sent such jarring reverberations through the cabin that I had to recheck the badge to make sure I had not mistakenly taken some dressed up Geo Metro by accident. I even checked the tire pressures just to make sure that was not the problem and the tire pressures were correctly set to factory spec. This is extremely unfortunate because this car could have been great fun.

Slab-sided and chiseled, this is one of the better angles of the TSX

By far the most balanced of the group is the TSX. Despite sporting on paper what should be the weakest motor, the sensation from behind the wheel is that the 4-cylinder is surprisingly spry with impressively linear power delivery and is accompanied by a throaty intake roar. Fitted with the rifle-bolt precise shifter of the 6-speed manual, the TSX is an absolute joy to drive and feels the most like a true extension of the driver’s senses. Even the electronic power steering that I had previously hated on in the earlier years of the 2nd generation cars feels great in comparison to the Volvo or the MB. Sure it is still not quite as good as the direct feel in the 1st generation cars, but it is a significant improvement from when the car was introduced for the 2009 model year.

The general sensation from behind the wheel of the TSX is that everything feels very balanced. The suspension is tuned to be stiff without being harsh. The car is easily steerable with the throttle though still exhibits understeer at the limits though would benefit greatly with from a limited slip differential. Grip, however, is a bit lacking as the tires fitted from the factory are pretty terrible. With nothing more than a tire swap, this would be an even better car as it would also cure some of the tire noise that penetrates the cabin while under way.

In the end…

As I stated earlier, each car is a reflection of its respective manufacturer’s values. The Volvo feels safe but unfinished, the MB feels solid but staid, and the TSX feels balanced but dated. There is much to like about each car, but at the end of the day, they appeal to different segments of the market. For my money, the balance of the TSX combined with the availability of the manual transmission and a great value trumped all other factors.

The TSX is by no means without fault. It certainly has developed a few odd noises that are intermittent and come and go with the temperature fluctuations. It also is on the loud side, in large part due to the tires fitted to the car from the factory. Also, Acura could stand to fit the car with a better looking and larger diameter set of wheels that better complement the look and handling capabilities of the car. These are ultimately minor quibbles in the grand scheme of things, but can easily influence a buyer's decision. And finally, the look of the front end is still an acquired taste, just to be kind.

However, if I were to abandon my addiction to shifting for myself, I believe the choice would have been much more difficult. The Volvo combines a lot of things that I genuinely need with some of the most comfortable seats I have ever experienced in a car. It is likely the car that would give the TSX a run for my money.