With so much suspension adjustability, some monkey could have really screwed this car up. AEM didn't, but it hasn't exactly tuned it perfectly either. It did lower the car and delivered it to us with the struts set a bit softer in the front than the rear. AEM said its own testing showed the car handled best with this combination.
During our testing, however, the car felt unbalanced and tough to drive smoothly through the slalom and on the road we would have liked a bit more rebound control in the front.
On the skidpad, those sticky Yoks made up for a lot. The AEM RSX turned a very respectable .94 g around our 200-ft. circle. But in the slalom, where chassis tuning really comes into play, the car was hard pressed to beat the 68.2 mph turned by the stock RSX. It took most of the day, but Jacquot finally squeezed a 69.7 mph run out of it.
Part of the problem was the prototype adjustable Konis. Nobody at the track, including the AEM crew, knew what the adjustments would do. At one point we tightened the front struts, thinking we could settle the car and pick up some time. Wrong. The car slowed, so we stopped messing with it. Had an expert in prototype Koni adjustable shocks been on hand, maybe we could have tweaked things for the better.
The car's handling woes were forgiven at the dragstrip however. Even with temperatures above 100 degrees Farenheit and the car suffering from a worn second gear synchro, it ran from 0 to 60 mph in 6.9 seconds, and through the quarter mile in 15.3 seconds at 92.6 mph off the nitrous. To put that in perspective, a stock RSX on the same day ran from 0 to 60 mph in 8.4 seconds and through the quarter mile in 16.1 at 88.8 mph. The Type-S doesn't like hot weather.
Ho hum, you say. Hold onto your box of Gummi Bears.
With the nitrous system activated, the car passes the Christmas tree like it has an afterburner. Zero to 60 mph time dropped to 5.9 seconds and the quarter mile was done in 14.2 seconds at a very fast 104.4 mph. With a good second gear and a cooler day this is easily a high 13-second car.
For brakes, AEM bolted on Goodridge stainless-steel brake lines and its own prototype big brake system and performance brake pads. The rotors measure 13.7 inches in the front, and 12.25 inches in the rear, and the pads are made from a Kevlar ceramic compound.
The combination works. Stops from 60 mph were accomplished in 134 ft. That's with the ABS hooked up and a very aggressive -2.5 degrees of camber in the front suspension.
For looks, AEM went with the Acura Accessories body kit, graphics from Modern Image and a Kaminari carbon-fiber hood.
Inside it added an Acura billet shift knob, and Auto Meter Ultra-Lite carbon-fiber fuel and oil pressure gauges, which are mounted smartly in the air conditioning duct locations on the left and right of the steering wheel.
AEM also ditched the sound system and bolted in Sparco Milano seats, which are so narrow only Don Knotts and Karen Carpenter could drive this car comfortably.
Overall, AEM put together a nice package. The car is a pussycat around town, and it rode better than many tuned RSXs we've tested. But here's the thing: Once you drive this car with its nitrous system on Go, there's no enjoying it off the bottle. Driving it without the nitrous system activated is like watching Jenna Jameson do her thing in grandma panties. It's still good, but.
We say Jenna should be naked.