When you're sitting in the perforated-leather racing-style seats of our 2006 Acura RSX, there's little question as to the car's intended purpose. Clean black-on-white main gauges with zeroes in the six-o'clock position, a meaty leather-wrapped three-spoke steering wheel with inviting bulges on the rim mark the RSX as a driver's car. The heart and soul of the 2006 Acura RSX are its engine and transmission. Honda's latest intelligent i-VTEC system makes the engine feel as though it conjures power out of nowhere. With its ability to optimize many engine operations across a wide range of engine speeds, i-VTEC takes an otherwise pleasant car and makes it a treat to drive. It wrings 201 horsepower (hp) from two liters of displacement without the aid of forced-air induction, for a most impressive specific output of more than 100hp per liter. In practice, the motor provides a tempting and self-reinforcing combination of low-inertia revviness and the reward of a nice shove in the back for exploiting it. This performance doesn't come at the cost of comfort, however, since the RSX retains the light controls, the supportive seating, and the good visibility of its predecessors