My New Baby!

[Zot09]

NEW PICS ON PAGE 2


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



As a few of you have known, I have been in the market for a new car for a while. I had a 2006 Nighthawk Black Pearl Acura TSX 5AT Non-Navi, but found out that I would be giving my car away to my younger cousin. After searching around and doing some test driving, I had narrowed my choices down to the 325i, IS250, and another TSX w/ Navi. Well, it came time to get a new car last week, and I decided on...








































Another TSX! :D What can I say, I love this car! It has enough power for me where I won't get myself into trouble, and it handles pretty well for a FWD Sedan. Not to mention, you really can't beat the price. I was very close to purchasing an E90 325i, which is a freaking awesome car, but realized I didn't need a 40k car at my age; I should be, and am, happy enough with a 30k car. My mother, uncle, and I headed up to Sunnyvale Acura on the 16th of December to get the new car. We were thinking about getting a 2007, until we saw the last 2006 on the lot. It was a Alabaster Silver Metallic w/ Ebony interior 5AT Navi TSX. We went inside and talked about a deal, and they offered us 4.2k off MSRP for the 06, so we took it. I had my mind set on another Nighthawk Black Pearl or a Carbon Grey Pearl, but the more I look at my ASM TSX, the more I like it. Plus, I really don't feel like washing the car every week! :lol:

I was supposed to have a photoshoot with my friends E46, but he couldn't do it because a service engine light came on in his car. So I went out today to take some quick shots; I'll have a better, more professional, photoshoot soon(w/ a cleaner car lol :oops: ). So here are some of the quick pictures!

First, the custom shot of course:
http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/4552/img9820mz2.th.jpg (http://img186.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img9820mz2.jpg)

Here is a shot of the Multi-Information Display right when I was about to drive her home from the dealer(she had 13 miles on her when I got there, and I put 7 on her during a test drive).
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/8210/img9804mv1.th.jpg (http://img407.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img9804mv1.jpg)

Here she is right outside the dealership. I'm about to drive her home =) (The Xenons appear pretty yellow...I think it's because of the flash)
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/2659/img9802ng9.th.jpg (http://img185.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img9802ng9.jpg)

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/7240/img9807sn9.th.jpg (http://img185.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img9807sn9.jpg) http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/5548/img9808pm9.th.jpg (http://img406.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img9808pm9.jpg) http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/3678/img9809re5.th.jpg (http://img105.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img9809re5.jpg)
http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/9230/img9810ni1.th.jpg (http://img100.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img9810ni1.jpg) http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7230/img9811fu4.th.jpg (http://img132.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img9811fu4.jpg) http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/5614/img9826we9.th.jpg (http://img406.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img9826we9.jpg)

Just a random shot of the navi-screen while at Chevron...I love it! hahaha
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/5678/img9818gd9.th.jpg (http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img9818gd9.jpg)




Mods? Well, I just bought the Harman/Kardon Drive + Play iPod system for my car, so I will be installing that soon. I'm also thinking about a tint, perhaps 35% on all the windows except the windshield. I will also mod my two piece key into the brand new 2007 Acura TL flipkey. I'm also thinking about getting a Valentine 1 w/ Invisicord. Then what else...hmmm, oh yeah, a UC Irvine license plate frame...lol That should easily take a whole second off my 0-60 time.

What else I would like to do, but won't do soon, is get a set of Tein Coilovers w/ EDFC, 18" Volk or BBS rims, and an Injen Intake.

I've had her for a little over a week, and I already have around 570 miles on her lol

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays/Happy New Year everybody!

[sameerrao]

Looking good! I would have loved to have such a car at 19!

[ARMAN]

Nice car Zot09 :) Congratulations

Man I envy you buying a brand new car :P i mean the fact of buying a new car... new car's interior smell, untouched paint etc. if I'd have to choose I am not sure what car would it be thou :bah:

Btw its a Honda Accord here :)

[Zot09]

Looking good! I would have loved to have such a car at 19!

Thanks a lot! And I would love to own a Ferrari at 32! :wink:

[Zot09]

Nice car Zot09 :) Congratulations

Man I envy you buying a brand new car :P i mean the fact of buying a new car... new car's interior smell, untouched paint etc. if I'd have to choose I am not sure what car would it be thou :bah:

Btw its a Honda Accord here :)

Thanks a lot Arman! Your Bimmer is not that shabby either, it's an awesome car!

And yeah, I know it's just a fixed up/rebadged Honda Accord :oops: lol

[sameerrao]

Nice car Zot09 :) Congratulations

Man I envy you buying a brand new car :P i mean the fact of buying a new car... new car's interior smell, untouched paint etc. if I'd have to choose I am not sure what car would it be thou :bah:

Btw its a Honda Accord here :)

Thanks a lot Arman! Your Bimmer is not that shabby either, it's an awesome car!

And yeah, I know it's just a fixed up/rebadged Honda Accord :oops: lol

Isn't is funny, the difference between a Euro Accord and a US Accord. One's an interesting car to drive and the other (the latter) is a fridge on four wheels - snoozeville! The TSX I can even contemplate buying. An Accord never!

[T-Bird]

well the TSX actually shares most of the mechanical bits with the Type-R version of the Accord especially in 6MT trim. I would however be careful with the TEINS because we had one in the shop that blew both rears on his 05 with the setup you mentioned. I would recommend dropping the Vtec from 6K to maybe 4.5 or even 3k (makes a world of difference) and for an intake I would recommend either the V2 or the Comptech (they sound better and perform better). Just my opinion though :wink:

[5vz-fe]

Hey T-Bird...dropping the Vtec to 3k wouldn't it affect the fuel consumption by quite a bit?

[Zot09]

well the TSX actually shares most of the mechanical bits with the Type-R version of the Accord especially in 6MT trim. I would however be careful with the TEINS because we had one in the shop that blew both rears on his 05 with the setup you mentioned. I would recommend dropping the Vtec from 6K to maybe 4.5 or even 3k (makes a world of difference) and for an intake I would recommend either the V2 or the Comptech (they sound better and perform better). Just my opinion though :wink:

It would be pretty awesome dropping the VTEC a bit. How would I go about doing that? I know Hondata has an ECU remap that drops the VTEC to 4.5k, but wouldn't that void my warranty?

[T-Bird]

well fuel consumption would drop but not by too much because under normal driving the car would shift before that in the Autocars. And the Hondata reflash would be very hard to find out about. The technician would have to actually get into the computer to do that, so as long as nothing major goes wrong with the car you will be fine. We have let people get away with alot of things in my shop hell we warranty one guys car that has every bolt on imagineable including a VAFC, complete exhaust minus the cat he deleted and an intake manifold and V2 intake. The VAFC is another way of changing the Vtec point on demand and it controls the Air Fuel mixtures and you can always unplug that and then bam ECU is stock again. to be honest with you I really don't think you would have any trouble with a reflashed ECU.

[ae86_16v]

Zot, quick question for you, this is the same car as your old one why did you replace it again?

[T-Bird]

well the full EDM conversion is quite easy including the lights and badges/grill I actually plan on doing it when it gets the K23 in it. As for the lights they are quite bright already and I wouldn't recommend messing with them since they have problems burning out the inverters already.sadly it is still using only Xenon lows and halogen highs.

[TopGearNL]

Very nice car! :D

[mit5005]

Congrats man, very nice car. My aunt has one of these and I love it.

[Zot09]

Zot, quick question for you, this is the same car as your old one why did you replace it again?

My younger cousin just got his license, so we decided to give him my car and that I would get another car. I chose the TSX again because it is just a great, well balanced(price and performance wise) car.

I was going to test drive the A4 just like everyone suggested, but I didn't find the time to do it. I really do like the design of the car, the quattro, etc. It really is a great overall car, it is just that I heard a few bad things pertaining to Audi's reliability. Besides that, it really is an awesome car.

The IS250 was another nice car I was considering. It was super comfortable, and well designed but the handling was a bit too soft and the auto transmission's manual mode was practically another auto mode, unlike in the TSX where the car will not upshift for you, only downshift when your RPM's get too low.

The 3-series was another car that I considered. Like I stated earlier, I came pretty close to getting a Silver 325i w/ ZSP, STEP, Adaptive Xenons, and Leather at the BMW dealership in Fremont, but backed out after giving it some thought.

If I were to have got a car over 35k, it would have been the 3-series for sure. But Like I stated earlier, the TSX is just a great balance of price, features, and performance and that is why I chose it again.

[Zot09]

Nice car :)

What are the engine specs?


Things I would certainly do, debadge the rear of the car (the acura and tsx letters i mean, logo can stay). And place euro headlights if they fit, no more ugly orange ;) About the xenon, OEM they are mostly 4300k. Replace'm with 6500k's ;)

Thanks!

The engine is a 2.4L DOHC I-4 w/ i-VTEC. Using the new SAE standards of measurement, the car makes 205hp(153kW) at 7,000 RPM and 164 ft.-lb.(222Nm) of torque at 4,500 RPM. It really is not all that powerful, but it's definitely fast enough for me at this point in time.

I'm definitely planning on debadging the "ACURA" and the "TSX" in the near future. EDM headlights would be pretty damn cool, but we'll see. Maybe if you send me a pair Thamar. lol As for the xenons, I probably would go to a higher Kelvin rating if my current 4,300K weren't blue enough, but they actually are. Acura's are known for their blue/purple HID's, just like BMW and Mercedes-Benz, so I'm happy with them. I do want to change my fogs to yellow though, either using yellow bulbs(if I'm cheap which I'll probably do) or go for some 3000K fog light bulbs(if I feel like spending $500 on fog lights, which probably won't happen).

http://www.automotive.com/2006/12/acura/tsx/specifications/index.html

[Stoopie]

Congrats, nice car :D

[Zot09]

Get some PIAA lights for the fogs, just the bulbs. Little more expensive then the normal makes but they are worth it.

But I would make all lights the same color...

Definitetly, I heard PIAA makes some awesome bulbs.

As for making them the same color, I'm still not 100% sure what I want. I want yellow because I really like the looks of the first gen IS300 with their yellow fogs, but xenon-like fogs also look pretty good...hmmm... :?

[ViperASR]

Cool car, I like those TSXs, trying to talk my parents into buying one. They seem like they are alot of fun.

[gis]

^^^ is that the one used on a best motoring episode,if so i love that car,lol

congrats ont he Acure,have fun with it.great car for your age :D

[gis]

ah in that case no it wasnt,but it looked very similar to that,think it was tuned by spoon.

[Zot09]

Thanks for all the compliments everyone!

Dani, it would be pretty damn awesome if I could tune my baby. We will wait and see, but as of now, I probably won't do much for the next year.

Gis, is the car you're talking about blue/yellow?

[Zot09]

Cool car, I like those TSXs, trying to talk my parents into buying one. They seem like they are alot of fun.

Thanks! I don't think your parents can go wrong with this car. It is comfortable, it has some sophistication to it, it has a bit of sport in it, it is safe, it is reliable, etc.

[gis]

Gis, is the car you're talking about blue/yellow?

no it wasnt,it looked same as the one in the pic,all white.may not have been spoon then.it looked great though and you need to make yours look like it,lol

[Zot09]

Gis, is the car you're talking about blue/yellow?

no it wasnt,it looked same as the one in the pic,all white.may not have been spoon then.it looked great though and you need to make yours look like it,lol

Maybe it was Mugen? lol

[T-Bird]

what I think would look great on your car besides the blacked out lenses (EDM and JDM) would be the mugen grill, I think it looks very agressive.

[Zot09]

So I thought it was time to post some new pics of my baby! It's been a little over eight months, and I'm still in love with her(I have around 14.3k miles on her already!). I haven't done much to her since I got her, except I got my windows tinted a little over a week ago. I got limo in the back, and "medium" in the front(I was planning on 30% on the front, but the tint shop I went to didn't have percentages, only different levels of darkness). But I'm happy with it! Since I recently got a part-time job at a pharmacy, I plan on saving up money for mods. First things first(besides de-badgeing, getting white LED license plate bulbs(like the new Lexus's) and yellow fog light bulbs) is an Injen CAI, and Tein coilovers(not sure if I'm going to get Basics or Type Flex w/ EDFC). Then I'm thinking about a Hondata ECU reflash, and if I can ever save up enough money, 17" or 18" black Volk TE37's w/ Eagle F1 tires. Mmmmm Volks... :drool:

TE37 Time Attacks Mmmmmmmmm!
http://www.z1auto.com/images/te37timeattack.jpg

Here are some pics before I got my windows tinted(a few by me, a few by my friend with the E46)

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/8738/img2009lc5.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2009lc5.jpg)http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/4637/img2013sr0.th.jpg (http://img329.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2013sr0.jpg)http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/5121/img2014qr6.th.jpg (http://img329.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2014qr6.jpg)
http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/3539/img2015aq2.th.jpg (http://img165.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2015aq2.jpg)http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/3109/img1549qp9.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img1549qp9.jpg)http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/5096/img1558222ov1.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img1558222ov1.jpg)

And here are the shots after I got my windows tinted:
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/1028/imgkr7.th.jpg (http://img171.imageshack.us/my.php?image=imgkr7.jpg)http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/8836/img2076yf4.th.jpg (http://img170.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2076yf4.jpg)http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/9361/img2080of8.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2080of8.jpg)
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/4079/img2082yk5.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2082yk5.jpg)http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/4337/img2085ef2.th.jpg (http://img292.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2085ef2.jpg)http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/9556/img2086gp9.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2086gp9.jpg)
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/3492/img2088fg6.th.jpg (http://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2088fg6.jpg)http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/1097/img2092ng3.th.jpg (http://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2092ng3.jpg)http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/7461/img2096mm5.th.jpg (http://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2096mm5.jpg)
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/967/img2097qu3.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2097qu3.jpg)http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/8712/img2098bb8.th.jpg (http://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2098bb8.jpg)http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/3042/img2100ud4.th.jpg (http://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2100ud4.jpg)
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/7121/img2102fv6.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2102fv6.jpg)http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/7687/img2103iu7.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2103iu7.jpg)http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/6315/img2106pq6.th.jpg (http://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2106pq6.jpg)
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/813/img2107nc4.th.jpg (http://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2107nc4.jpg)http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/6928/img2110gt2.th.jpg (http://img292.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2110gt2.jpg)http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/4046/img2113rr7.th.jpg (http://img292.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2113rr7.jpg)
http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/8201/img2118hf7.th.jpg (http://img329.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2118hf7.jpg)http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/8527/img2120no6.th.jpg (http://img329.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2120no6.jpg)http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/9643/img2126ff9.th.jpg (http://img292.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2126ff9.jpg)

[Zot09]

You should have gotten the IS250 :P

lol I really like the looks of the IS, but it's too disconnected from the road. As stated earlier, it came down to the 3-series and the TSX.

But who knows what I'll get in the future(I kind of want a sporty roadster like a S2K, or a sporty coupe like the 335i).

[Zot09]

yeah my buddy that sold me the supra got himself an s2k and he misses the supra but the car is def. more sporty than the supra and lighter too. :wink:

335i ftw :P

335i w/ PROcede ftw! lol

But seriously, I plan on keeping this baby for a while, I love her. If I could, I'd keep her forever. If I'm lucky(which I already think I am for being able to have a car like this), I'll get a new car when I graduate. No biggie if I don't though :D

[ae86_16v]

Awesome picture:

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/5096/img1558222ov1.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img1558222ov1.jpg)

[ARMAN]

Nice Beem... oh sorry :oops: :mrgreen: jk :wink: I ment Acura, looks very clean :P

Forget all the tuzing stuff and deffenitly get those black wheels they will look very good on your Acura! :P

Just out of curiosity - why did you tint your windows? I dont really understand that when people do it as you cant see sh*t in the night and it have to be a nightmare if its raining in the night :?

[Zot09]

Awesome picture:

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/5096/img1558222ov1.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img1558222ov1.jpg)

Thanks! It's actually my current wallpaper! :D

[Zot09]

Nice Beem... oh sorry :oops: :mrgreen: jk :wink: I ment Acura, looks very clean :P

Forget all the tuzing stuff and deffenitly get those black wheels they will look very good on your Acura! :P

Just out of curiosity - why did you tint your windows? I dont really understand that when people do it as you cant see sh*t in the night and it have to be a nightmare if its raining in the night :?

Haha thanks Arman! I'll definitely try and get those wheels, but I'll need to save around 3k :(

As for why I tinted the windows, I like the look and the privacy. Especially b/c I can just leave stuff, like my camera, in the back of my car and people won't be able to see it. It was a bit hard to see stuff at night at first, but you get used to it. I plan on getting some wide-angle mirrors for my side mirrors to help with lane-changing at night and I hope I don't have to deal with rain that often .

[Zot09]

About the leaving stuff, here they just trow your window in if they can't see what's in the car (if you're parked in the wrong neighbourhoud).


And privacy, we have a theory for that. But it's one people with tinted windows don't like to hear, so I'll shut up right now ;)

Haha I'd actually like to hear it Thamar.

[Zot09]

So I know these "mods" that I'm doing are pretty lame, compared to the likes of RC's awesome engine-drop, etc. But I like them. :D I spent four hours today detailing/debadging my car. I think it looks much cleaner without the "acura" and "tsx" emblems on the sides. Here's a quick shot I took 10 minutes ago.

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/4673/img2129wx2.th.jpg (http://img523.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2129wx2.jpg)

[undien717]

335i w/ procede is pretty crazy. But imagine a 135i w/ procede :shock: