2003 Acura RSX Type S review from North America

Vanity mirror covers on both driver and passenger side broke off, and the covers are presently held to the sunscreens with rubberbands.

Broken backlight access cover in trunk.

Broken trim (tie hook) in trunk.

Rear glass washer nozzle semi-clogged.

Both front headlight plastic lens cover yellowed / fogged.

Great gas mileage - 28 mpg avg. (modified intake and cat back exhaust, and 225/50R16's).

Car handles well, but my previous Del Sol with double wishbone up front ran on rails; RSX is not on rails, but very good (may be due to additional power and speed). RSX is noisy on rough roads, it rides smoothly overall, but is jarring over speed bumps.

The owner's manual recommends manual transmission oil replacement every 60,000 miles or 3 years for severe service, but as with my previous Honda MT experience, the RSX MT oil should be replaced every 20,000 to 25,000 miles (25k should be absolute upper limit), otherwise I'll get notchy shifting, down-shift and rapid-shift problems, and get-into-1st gear problems at stop-lights without frequent 2nd-to-1st pre-shifting while at rest; has anyone gone the 60,000 mile change without a busted-transmission?

Finally, can anyone make bleep-in plastic headlights that won't yellow or fog?