I'm going to put my cards on the table right now: I loved this car. Not in a pros-and-cons, this-would-be-a-sensible-purchase kind of way. I just loved it. It absolutely perfectly fit, and made me feel I could do something bizarre and out of character, like go out and buy a brand new vehicle made by a non-domestic manufacturer.

There's been a ton of ballyhoo about how hideous the current-generation Acura front grille treatment is. And yes, I too have noticed those parrot-beaked SUVs of theirs and wondered why anyone would buy one. But on the petite TSX Sport Wagon, I kind of liked the Acura family face. It's different. And it's a wagon. And different-looking wagons are how I roll. But do you need to have that special capacity to love ugly things to become completely besotted by the TSX Sport Wagon? Not in the slightest. Read on...

The Sport Wagon is an elegant little package, and unlike a lot of the ungainly vehicles that stuff themselves into the crossover segment these days, it doesn't try to be a lot of things that it's not. It's not a Honda CrossTour (thank God), it doesn't have AWD, it's not a V6-powered rocket, and it doesn't have a proper manual. But what does, it does really well.

For one thing, it's got the only set of paddle shifters I've ever gotten along with. As you know I'm a staunch defender of the manual transmission, but these paddles were so intuitive, and their shifts so crisp, that I didn't even miss the stick. Loved them! They were fun and functional enough that they'd easily end up being your default shift method rather than a gimmicky novelty or occasional break from the automatic: I found that the only time I used the regular boring old "Drive" mode was when I was balancing a cup of coffee. The only nanny interference with the paddle shifters was that the computer would sometimes block a little too aggressively when it didn't want you to shift up a gear while coasting slow, as if afraid that you'd lug the motor.

The paddles are subtle: you can see the + and - just barely peeping over the elbows of the steering wheel.

Speaking of that, the little 2.4L i-VTEC powerplant has plenty of getup and go. It's the smallest motor available in the regular TSX, and with only the automatic offered, there will be complaints that it feels light on power. Again with the paddle shifters, however, you can punch it up to speed in no time or kick it down to make a hard pass, and I freaked out more than a few pedestrians and puttering motorists when the VTEC kicked in. Fanboys and -girls accustomed to the sportier options of the regular TSX will bemoan the lack of the V6 and 6-speed, but I found the 201hp was sufficient for what it was. The 24 combined mpg I was clocking sweetened the deal some, for sure.

The Sport Wagon handles small: it's nimble in traffic and the steering feedback is just right. I haven't driven the standard-issue TSX, but with the way the wagon handles you'd hardly know you were hauling around all that extra sheetmetal and glass. It's got a bit of roll but not enough to stop you from wanting to throw it through the corners; the car is a little tall for a non-AWD car and I'd probably lower mine a touch, but even in its stock configuration it takes the turns just fine. The cargo capacity is more than decent for a small-sized wagon, by the way; Rob took it one afternoon and used it to pick up a small table and four chairs. Having that long roof makes all the difference, and with my frequent need to haul stuff I can't even imagine owning a sedan as my only vehicle. The TSX's rear seats fold down nice and flat, and it's got plenty of tie-downs as well as additional hidey-holes under the floor covering.

From the driver's seat, the car feels like it has just enough of everything you need, without a lot of fluff and clutter. The cluster was just beautiful, with a kind of floating multi-dimensional effect to the gauges when illuminated. Gauges included tach and speedo with smaller analogue dials for temp and gas. There's an info screen in the center of the speedo but it doesn't force itself on you, and keeps politely quiet until you push the info button. "Polite" is a theme that actually carries throughout a lot of the car's interactions with you: the various warning chimes and beepers are discreet and almost melodious. The TSX doesn't scream or squawk at you like so many modern cars.

My only major gripe about the TSX is its lack of optionability. The one available option is a tech package, which adds about $4K to the $31,000 base price and includes the nav, voice command, backup camera, upgraded stereo, power tailgate, and related whizz-bangery. I would do just fine without all that stuff, but it's kind of weak that the entire "package" is the only thing you can toggle on or off. Unfortunately, modern car optioning is kind of going the way of TV cable bundles: to get the couple of channels you want, you have to order a whole heap of channels you don't want. On top of the single engine choice, the lack of a true manual, and the unavoidable leather interior (an overwhelmingly smelly one, too: I would have to spend the first year of ownership driving with all the windows down), it kind of makes you wish there were at least a few things here and there that you could tweak. But the Sport Wagon is basically a take-it-or-leave-it prefab, and if there's any deal-breakers in there for you, it pretty much means you'll be buying a different car.

Still, this sparseness makes sense from Acura's point of view. Manual-equipped vehicles account for only 2% of sales even on the regular TSX, and wagon-seeking customers are expected to demand it even less. That's fine. The Honda-badged edition of the Sport Wagon, the gorgeous Tourer, has been available overseas since 2009 with the option of a diesel and a 6-speed manual. (Lucky!). But with the TSX version, it feels very much like Acura is offering its best, testing the waters, and seeing if American consumers will bite. Will they?