Review: 2008 Honda Accord EX-L V6 Coupe
10-06-07, 07:44 PM
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Review: 2008 Honda Accord EX-L V6 Coupe
A review of the new, redesigned 2008 Accord EX-L V6 coupe.
http://automobiles.honda.com/accord-coupe/
In a Nutshell: The best drivers' Accord yet........and competitive with some BMWs.
This new Accord coupe, especially V6 models, seem, even brand-new, to have a lot of potential appeal.......I received a number of requests, both publically and privately, to review this car. And I apologize for the wait.......I planned it for a couple of weeks ago, but just finding an available, untaken one has been a chore....even with the people in the sales buisness that I already know. In fact, most of the ones on order have already been pre-sold, in some cases sight unseen, before they are even shipped. Well, finally, an untaken EX-L V6 coupe came into a local Honda shop (automatic....we're still waiting for manuals) and I went up to see it. Well, when I got there, it had been moved to a local college campus for a big, multi-dealership auto show/credit union sale and was being used as a company demo. So I hopped back into in my Subaru, made the short 15-minute trip to the campus, found the Honda display and the gray coupe with ivory beige interior, and sat around chatting with the Honda people while a couple of young guys in front of me took it (with a salesperson aboard, of course) around the campus on a pre-determined route and came back about 10 minutes later.
Then it was my turn. Luck was with me.....No one else, at the moment, was waiting. That gave me some time to examine the exterior, interior, and general assembly quality, take down the info from the price sticker, grab a brochure, and record some notes. The dealership had phoned ahead and told them I was coming, and when they found out I was a freelance auto writer and did CL write-ups, they immediately offered me a long enough test-drive for a good review.....not just a couple of minutes of stop-and go, 20 MPH stuff around the campus. So I thanked them for their generosity, showed them my license (they didn't even Xerox it like they usually do..they trusted me, an almost complete stranger), took it out on the local highways, and gave it a thorough enough test-drive for a review....not getting carried away, of course, as I knew that others were waiting behind me, and I didn't want to take too much advantage of Honda's generosity.
The Accord's history is so well-known (since 1976) throughout the auto world that I'm not going to waste time and space here covering it in detail, like I do with most car reviews. There is no need to. Many, if not most of you, are aware of the car's enormous popularity (at least in sedan form), high theft rate, ubiquitous rental-car image, good reliability record, and the sedan, coupe, and wagon body styles of the past. That, friends, was the Accord.....the archtypical Japanese mid-sized car, in whatever flavor you wanted......even aftermarket-slammed and customized versions for the caps-on-backwards crowd.
Only the latest 2008 Accord is not quite so mid-sized any more, as we'll see in the review below. The latest model is suprisingly big.....not only the sedan, but even the roughly 4-inch shorter coupe. You will notice this car's bulk...you could take the original U.S. market 1976 Accord (I still remember it well) and just about stick it in this car's trunk. And this car has refinement, convienence features, and overall sophistication that would make the first-generation Accord seem like a roller skate in comparison.
So, enough of the story of how I found it. Let's get on with the review.
Model Reviewed: 2008 Honda Accord EX-L V6 Automatic Coupe
Base price: $28,310
Major Options: None
Destination: $635
List Price as Reviewed: $28,945
Exterior Color: Polished Metal Metallic (in other words, medium gray)
Interior: Ivory Leather
Drivetrain: FWD, Transverse-mounted, 3.5L SOHC i-VTEC V6, 268 HP @ 6200 RPM, 248 ft-lbs. torque @ 5000 RPM (typical Honda peakiness),
5-speed automatic transmission.
PLUSSES:
Superlative, BMW-like power steering.
Butter-smooth, quiet, refined, powerful (but peaky) V6.
Smooth, refined transmission and shifter.
First-rate exterior fit/finish and hardware.
Near-perfect exterior mirror snap.
Well-designed brakes and brake pedal.
No-nonsense, no ziz-zag, well-designed, fore-and-aft transmission shifter.
Comfortable front seats.
Excellent paint job.
Typical Honda clarity of controls and switches.
Precise handling feel with lack of body roll.
Swiss-watch precision assembly quality.
Honda drivetrain warranty now 5 years/60,000 miles and competitive with other manufacturers.
Well-finished trunk.
Consistantly above average reliability record of previous Accords bodes well for this one.
Nice exterior paint colors (but too many restrictions).
Numerous standard safety features.
V6 engine runs on regular gas....and shuts down 3 cylinders at light loads for economy.
MINUSES:
Supply (as of this writing) grossly lags demand....possible price gouging.
Old-fashioned ignition key with no push-button or twist-**** start.
No apparant (?) Manumatic or Sport-Shift feature for the automatic.
Rear-seat headroom inadequate for tall adults....legroom marginal.
Too many paint color restrictions between coupe and sedan.
Design of V6 hides too many engine components.
Rather stiff ride over bumps.
Functional but (IMO) ugly steering wheel.
No wood trim for coupe.....available only in ivory-interior EX sedan.
Tinny hood.
Flimsy-feeling glove compartment and lock.
Some interior hardware and interior fit/finish not quite up to previous Accords.
Exterior sedan styling easily confused with current Hyundai Sonata ....coupe somewhat less so.
Awkward-looking outside door handles.
High theft rate of Accords.
Compact spare tire.
Poor visibility out rear side windows.
As I hinted at above, the first impression you get when you walk up to the new Accord, coupe or sedan, is that of its sheer size. It is not a Town Car or Maybach in length, but it is clearly larger than the car it replaces.....to the point where it is stretching it to call it a mid-sized car, by today's standards. Even the 4-inch shorter coupe gives a good impression of sheer size.
The next thing you clearly notice is the rather strong look-alike to the current-generation Hyundai Sonata in styling....front and rear in the Accord sedan, and, of course, front only in the coupe. The similiarity in the grilles, headlights, hood tapering, and (in the sedan), deck lid and tailights, is striking. I hear a lot of complaints about Hyundai copying the styling of other manufacturers, especially Honda. This time it is clearly the other way around.
There are some differences, though. The Accord's headlight lenses bulge out a little more on the sides than the Sonata's, and the Accord sedan's C-Pillars are shaped more like those of an old Infiniti Q45. The coupe's C-pillars, roofline, trunk lid, and taillights are radically different from the sedan's, which is not the case with other coupe/sedan variations (like the Infiniti G35 cousins, for example). Overall, I like the look of both the sedan and coupe, which IMO is a big step forward from recent Accords, though I don't like the way that the coupe's rear beltline and roofline obstruct vision out the rear windows. I guess It is just a natural that, overall, I would like the new styling, as I like the similiar styling on the Sonata that it was taken from.
The paint job, as expected from Honda, is first-rate, with very little orange peel, smoothness of texture, and classy paint colors (I liked four or five of them) besides the usual shades from Harold's Mortuary, like the dull medium gray on my test car that Honda calls Polished Metal Metallic. But the restriction of the nice Belize Blue and San Marino Red to the coupe only, as is the restriction of the nice Mystic Green Metallic to the sedan only, is needless and annoying.
The exterior fit/finish, hardware, and chrome are ALL first-rate. Honda chose to use good-quality materials all over the outside but the strut-supported hood, which is tinny and made of too-thin sheet metal. But everything else outside is excellent quality, especially the swivel-snap mechanism and materials for the outside mirrors...they snap in and out with some of the best precision and feel I've ever seen. The exterior door handles are either chrome or body-colored depending on trim line, but have an odd shape.....as if they were installed upside-down. The doors themselves, however, shut and latch with Swiss-Watch precision, as if they were hung and adjusted with a laser beam and micrometer.
Up front, lift the too-thin, too-light hood, and the transversely-mounted VTEC V6 fits in neatly, without a jammed-in, too-tight look. There is a reasonable amount of room room around the sides and edges of the motor to reach some components and dipsticks. But what appears to be just another one of those big, painted-silver plastic engine covers on top is actually the metal top of the engine and manifold itself...the plastic parts are overhangs on the sides, and as a result, a number of components that could otherwise be reachable aren't.
In back is a rather well-finished trunk, with a lid that is, on the coupe, naturally a little smaller than the one on the sedan. The hinges are the old-fashioned type that don't scissors-articulate, but even so, the way they are designed and attached, they don't interfere with luggage like some designs do. Under the nice gray carpeting on the floor and sides lies the compact spare tire and jack tools. Trunk space, given the large size of the car itself, is not huge, but enough for most needs....and if trunk space is really an issue, there is always the sedan's larger trunk size (or you can get an Accord-based Odyssey minivan
).
Open up, get in, and the atmosphere inside becomes a little more mixed. The basic look is attractive, but here again, needless marketing restrictions apply....like no wood trim at all for the coupe and only in the beige-ivory interior EX sedan. All other Accords use the rather plain-looking painted-gray "metallic" trim that I can easily do without.....like Toyota, Honda, IMO, in general does not do a good job on painted metallic trim. But the dash itself is attractive enough, and has backlit, super-legible gauges, easy-to-use, no-nonsense controls and buttons in the Honda traditions, nicely damped ***** and switches, and generally good hardware, although some cheapening of interior parts quality is noticeable compared to the last-generation Accord....especially the bargain-basement steering wheel, nice solid steering-wheel buttons notwithstanding. The buttons in the center of the dash all look more or less alike, but are all clearly marked and labelled, so there will be a minimum of guessing and taking one's eyes off the road while driving. And most (not all) of them have that typical Honda-precision feel. The stereo has concert-quality sound, once it is set up correctly but can be difficult to adjust on the video-screen with the way the buttons are arranged...but, as mentioned, the buttons themselves work with precision. My test car did not have NAV.....Accords that have that option use an Acura-style dash **** for adjustments.....too much like BMW's I-Drive for me; I'll pass on that. The glove box was roomy but felt and latched rather flimsily.
Headroom is OK for tall people in front, even with the sunroof, if you lower the multi-power seat all the way, but, in the coupe tradition, is very tight in the rear. The seats themselves are well-designed, with comfort combined with a reasonable amount of support, and use what appears to be high-quality leather. Legroom, again, is fine up front, but varies quite a bit in back depending on where the front seats are set. If you have two very tall persons up front, consider the back seats suitable for just small children or packages.
OK, start her up. Surprisingly (I was expecting a push-button or a twist-****/proximity key), you do it the old-fashioned way, with a regular transponder key. And Honda still has not gone to a more convienent, dash-mounted ignition switch; it is in the traditional spot on the right side of the steering column. The engine, though, when it starts up, is a jewel....almost perfectly balanced, smooth, quiet, and refined. Power on the road, though, is decidedly peaky...there is not a great deal of torque below about 3000 or so, and then it becomes more pronounced. And what torque IS available below about 3000 is not that noticeable because the engine is so smooth and refined....it is almost like driving a turbine. Because the car was brand new, with only 20 miles on it, and out of respect for the Honda people who let me borrow it, I did not push the engine into its true upper reaches where, typical of Honda products, most of the power is. But even at only 4000, there is plenty of torque for all normal driving, unless you want to drag-race Vipers and Corvettes on Friday night.
The automatic transmission was, likewise, smooth, silky, quiet, and refined....no more of those old head-lurching shifts of Accord automatics of years ago. I especially liked the fore-and-aft shifter...none of that silly zig-zag stuff that is so annoying, even in my own Subaru. But one glaring (?) omission, in a car that is supposedly designed for drivers.....I couldn't find a manumatic or Sport-Shift mode on the shifter, nor could I find steering-wheel paddles for shifting. I won't say they aren't there, but I personally couldn't find them......and there is no mention of them in either the brochure or on Honda's web site. The shifter itself, though, was made of quality-feeling materials, shifted slickly and precisely, and otherwise was a pleasure to use.
Now we come to this car's REAL forte.....BMW-type steering feel and chassis dynamics. What a difference from the feathery, grossly-overboosted steering of years-ago Accords. I am not exaggerating. If I was driving this car blindfolded, I'd think I was in a BMW 3 or 5-series, just from the steering feel alone...it's that good. IMO, this is the BEST power-assisted steering system I have ever run across in a mid-sized Japanese car....it even beats the one I had on my Lexus IS300, even more remarkable considering the Accord's FWD layout and chassis dynamics. If you can get past the ugliness of the steering wheel itself, you are rewarded with almost telepathic feel and response, with almost perfect weighting. You can feel and gauge exactly where the front tires are going. Handling is likewise quite good for a front-driver, with very little body roll, right-now response, and little understeer. Part of the quick response, of course, comes from the quick-ratio on the steering rack......only 2.48 turns lock-to-lock, up there in sports-car territory, and from the 18-inch, 45-series all-season tires.
Ride quality, as expected, while fine on glass-smooth surfaces, is a little on the firm side for my tastes over bumps and road irregularities. Those wide, low-profile tires that help do such a good job on the the steering are less than compliant when soaking up bumps, though the ride is not sports-car stiff. Here, the Accord coupe, with all of its brilliance in steering feel, is not quite BMW or Mercedes when it comes to sophisication in the suspension department.....and the ability of premium German manufacturers to combine a smooth ride with good handling at the same time.
Brakes are also one of this car's better points...a well-designed pedal that does not catch big shoes on it, combined with a relatively firm braking feel with little sponginess. The car's FWD layout and nose-heaviness with the V6, of course, means that the front wheels will be doing more than their share of the braking loads, so while I did not do a panic stop in the review to test it, in general, don't expect Porsche-type braking distances.
As I got some requests for a manual-transmission EX-L V6 review, some of you are probably wondering what this car would be like with a manual. Obviously, I was not able to drive a manual (this car alone was difficult enough to find). But considering what previous Accord manuals were like, I can give you a pretty good estimate. Accords tend to have some of the best front-drive shift linkages on the market (Honda and Acura FWD manuals are known for the quality and precision of their shift linkages and smooth, easy clutch actions). Acceleration would probably be a little better, without the automatic's torque converter eating up as much of the engine's admittedly peaky torque at lower RPM. Gas mileage figures, oddly, are lower with the 6-speed manual.....for the EX-L V6, Honda quotes 17/25 vs. 19/28 for the automatic, perhaps due to different fuel-injection settings or final-drive ratios.
The Verdict?
Recently Subaru has run ads depicting the new WRX as the car that German manufacturers wished they were producing (we have discussed those ads in CAR CHAT). In my honest opinion, here.......the new Accord Coupe........is the Japanese-designed car that the Germans really wished they were doing, not the WRX.....though the new WRX, of course, is more refined and less boy-racer-like than before. The Accord coupe is competitive with non-M BMW 3 and 5-series products in many ways, chiefly in its superlative new power-steering system that is light-years ahead of the old, overboosted ones. The new automatic is also superlative, and puts to rest the annoying, head-bobbing, jerk-shifts of some old Honda automatics. Handling, ride, and chassis dynamics are also quite BMW-like, but, as mentioned, don't combine ride and handling characteristics together quite as well. And the first-rate reliability record of previous Accords trumps that of often unreliable BMW electronics (though there were some Honda/Acura transmission issues about 5-6 years ago).
Honda, however, IMO, still needs to work on a few things. The rear side windows are too small for good visibility...perhaps a change in the design of the beltline and roofline is in order. The marketing restrictions of paint colors and trim features between sedan and coupe is needless and absurd. A car this pleasant and driver-friendly should have a clear manual sport-shift feature for the automatic. And the car with steering feel this good deserves better than a Wal-Mart steering wheel. An up-to-date push-button ignition system is not a necessity, but would be more in tune with the car's character. And the hood could use a little thicker sheet metal. And.....please, Honda......build and ship enough coupes to meet demand.
Yet, all in all, this is an excellent car.....one of the best Japanese coupes that I have seen in years. I myself like it more than the costlier Infiniti G35 coupe. Rumor has it that Honda is working on a new Prelude. IMO, with this car, a new Prelude is not needed.....this car easily dismisses the need for one, and Honda would be wise to just dump the Prelude project and save its money and resources. The V6 EX-L coupe is an absolute steal at $29,000 (if you find an honest dealership without price gouging). Any of you who are interested in this car (and I know there are enough of you out there who are) have my blessing.....there are far worse ways to spend $30,000.
http://automobiles.honda.com/accord-coupe/
In a Nutshell: The best drivers' Accord yet........and competitive with some BMWs.
This new Accord coupe, especially V6 models, seem, even brand-new, to have a lot of potential appeal.......I received a number of requests, both publically and privately, to review this car. And I apologize for the wait.......I planned it for a couple of weeks ago, but just finding an available, untaken one has been a chore....even with the people in the sales buisness that I already know. In fact, most of the ones on order have already been pre-sold, in some cases sight unseen, before they are even shipped. Well, finally, an untaken EX-L V6 coupe came into a local Honda shop (automatic....we're still waiting for manuals) and I went up to see it. Well, when I got there, it had been moved to a local college campus for a big, multi-dealership auto show/credit union sale and was being used as a company demo. So I hopped back into in my Subaru, made the short 15-minute trip to the campus, found the Honda display and the gray coupe with ivory beige interior, and sat around chatting with the Honda people while a couple of young guys in front of me took it (with a salesperson aboard, of course) around the campus on a pre-determined route and came back about 10 minutes later.
Then it was my turn. Luck was with me.....No one else, at the moment, was waiting. That gave me some time to examine the exterior, interior, and general assembly quality, take down the info from the price sticker, grab a brochure, and record some notes. The dealership had phoned ahead and told them I was coming, and when they found out I was a freelance auto writer and did CL write-ups, they immediately offered me a long enough test-drive for a good review.....not just a couple of minutes of stop-and go, 20 MPH stuff around the campus. So I thanked them for their generosity, showed them my license (they didn't even Xerox it like they usually do..they trusted me, an almost complete stranger), took it out on the local highways, and gave it a thorough enough test-drive for a review....not getting carried away, of course, as I knew that others were waiting behind me, and I didn't want to take too much advantage of Honda's generosity.
The Accord's history is so well-known (since 1976) throughout the auto world that I'm not going to waste time and space here covering it in detail, like I do with most car reviews. There is no need to. Many, if not most of you, are aware of the car's enormous popularity (at least in sedan form), high theft rate, ubiquitous rental-car image, good reliability record, and the sedan, coupe, and wagon body styles of the past. That, friends, was the Accord.....the archtypical Japanese mid-sized car, in whatever flavor you wanted......even aftermarket-slammed and customized versions for the caps-on-backwards crowd.
Only the latest 2008 Accord is not quite so mid-sized any more, as we'll see in the review below. The latest model is suprisingly big.....not only the sedan, but even the roughly 4-inch shorter coupe. You will notice this car's bulk...you could take the original U.S. market 1976 Accord (I still remember it well) and just about stick it in this car's trunk. And this car has refinement, convienence features, and overall sophistication that would make the first-generation Accord seem like a roller skate in comparison.
So, enough of the story of how I found it. Let's get on with the review.
Model Reviewed: 2008 Honda Accord EX-L V6 Automatic Coupe
Base price: $28,310
Major Options: None
Destination: $635
List Price as Reviewed: $28,945
Exterior Color: Polished Metal Metallic (in other words, medium gray)
Interior: Ivory Leather
Drivetrain: FWD, Transverse-mounted, 3.5L SOHC i-VTEC V6, 268 HP @ 6200 RPM, 248 ft-lbs. torque @ 5000 RPM (typical Honda peakiness),
5-speed automatic transmission.
PLUSSES:
Superlative, BMW-like power steering.
Butter-smooth, quiet, refined, powerful (but peaky) V6.
Smooth, refined transmission and shifter.
First-rate exterior fit/finish and hardware.
Near-perfect exterior mirror snap.
Well-designed brakes and brake pedal.
No-nonsense, no ziz-zag, well-designed, fore-and-aft transmission shifter.
Comfortable front seats.
Excellent paint job.
Typical Honda clarity of controls and switches.
Precise handling feel with lack of body roll.
Swiss-watch precision assembly quality.
Honda drivetrain warranty now 5 years/60,000 miles and competitive with other manufacturers.
Well-finished trunk.
Consistantly above average reliability record of previous Accords bodes well for this one.
Nice exterior paint colors (but too many restrictions).
Numerous standard safety features.
V6 engine runs on regular gas....and shuts down 3 cylinders at light loads for economy.
MINUSES:
Supply (as of this writing) grossly lags demand....possible price gouging.
Old-fashioned ignition key with no push-button or twist-**** start.
No apparant (?) Manumatic or Sport-Shift feature for the automatic.
Rear-seat headroom inadequate for tall adults....legroom marginal.
Too many paint color restrictions between coupe and sedan.
Design of V6 hides too many engine components.
Rather stiff ride over bumps.
Functional but (IMO) ugly steering wheel.
No wood trim for coupe.....available only in ivory-interior EX sedan.
Tinny hood.
Flimsy-feeling glove compartment and lock.
Some interior hardware and interior fit/finish not quite up to previous Accords.
Exterior sedan styling easily confused with current Hyundai Sonata ....coupe somewhat less so.
Awkward-looking outside door handles.
High theft rate of Accords.
Compact spare tire.
Poor visibility out rear side windows.
As I hinted at above, the first impression you get when you walk up to the new Accord, coupe or sedan, is that of its sheer size. It is not a Town Car or Maybach in length, but it is clearly larger than the car it replaces.....to the point where it is stretching it to call it a mid-sized car, by today's standards. Even the 4-inch shorter coupe gives a good impression of sheer size.
The next thing you clearly notice is the rather strong look-alike to the current-generation Hyundai Sonata in styling....front and rear in the Accord sedan, and, of course, front only in the coupe. The similiarity in the grilles, headlights, hood tapering, and (in the sedan), deck lid and tailights, is striking. I hear a lot of complaints about Hyundai copying the styling of other manufacturers, especially Honda. This time it is clearly the other way around.
There are some differences, though. The Accord's headlight lenses bulge out a little more on the sides than the Sonata's, and the Accord sedan's C-Pillars are shaped more like those of an old Infiniti Q45. The coupe's C-pillars, roofline, trunk lid, and taillights are radically different from the sedan's, which is not the case with other coupe/sedan variations (like the Infiniti G35 cousins, for example). Overall, I like the look of both the sedan and coupe, which IMO is a big step forward from recent Accords, though I don't like the way that the coupe's rear beltline and roofline obstruct vision out the rear windows. I guess It is just a natural that, overall, I would like the new styling, as I like the similiar styling on the Sonata that it was taken from.
The paint job, as expected from Honda, is first-rate, with very little orange peel, smoothness of texture, and classy paint colors (I liked four or five of them) besides the usual shades from Harold's Mortuary, like the dull medium gray on my test car that Honda calls Polished Metal Metallic. But the restriction of the nice Belize Blue and San Marino Red to the coupe only, as is the restriction of the nice Mystic Green Metallic to the sedan only, is needless and annoying.
The exterior fit/finish, hardware, and chrome are ALL first-rate. Honda chose to use good-quality materials all over the outside but the strut-supported hood, which is tinny and made of too-thin sheet metal. But everything else outside is excellent quality, especially the swivel-snap mechanism and materials for the outside mirrors...they snap in and out with some of the best precision and feel I've ever seen. The exterior door handles are either chrome or body-colored depending on trim line, but have an odd shape.....as if they were installed upside-down. The doors themselves, however, shut and latch with Swiss-Watch precision, as if they were hung and adjusted with a laser beam and micrometer.
Up front, lift the too-thin, too-light hood, and the transversely-mounted VTEC V6 fits in neatly, without a jammed-in, too-tight look. There is a reasonable amount of room room around the sides and edges of the motor to reach some components and dipsticks. But what appears to be just another one of those big, painted-silver plastic engine covers on top is actually the metal top of the engine and manifold itself...the plastic parts are overhangs on the sides, and as a result, a number of components that could otherwise be reachable aren't.
In back is a rather well-finished trunk, with a lid that is, on the coupe, naturally a little smaller than the one on the sedan. The hinges are the old-fashioned type that don't scissors-articulate, but even so, the way they are designed and attached, they don't interfere with luggage like some designs do. Under the nice gray carpeting on the floor and sides lies the compact spare tire and jack tools. Trunk space, given the large size of the car itself, is not huge, but enough for most needs....and if trunk space is really an issue, there is always the sedan's larger trunk size (or you can get an Accord-based Odyssey minivan
).Open up, get in, and the atmosphere inside becomes a little more mixed. The basic look is attractive, but here again, needless marketing restrictions apply....like no wood trim at all for the coupe and only in the beige-ivory interior EX sedan. All other Accords use the rather plain-looking painted-gray "metallic" trim that I can easily do without.....like Toyota, Honda, IMO, in general does not do a good job on painted metallic trim. But the dash itself is attractive enough, and has backlit, super-legible gauges, easy-to-use, no-nonsense controls and buttons in the Honda traditions, nicely damped ***** and switches, and generally good hardware, although some cheapening of interior parts quality is noticeable compared to the last-generation Accord....especially the bargain-basement steering wheel, nice solid steering-wheel buttons notwithstanding. The buttons in the center of the dash all look more or less alike, but are all clearly marked and labelled, so there will be a minimum of guessing and taking one's eyes off the road while driving. And most (not all) of them have that typical Honda-precision feel. The stereo has concert-quality sound, once it is set up correctly but can be difficult to adjust on the video-screen with the way the buttons are arranged...but, as mentioned, the buttons themselves work with precision. My test car did not have NAV.....Accords that have that option use an Acura-style dash **** for adjustments.....too much like BMW's I-Drive for me; I'll pass on that. The glove box was roomy but felt and latched rather flimsily.
Headroom is OK for tall people in front, even with the sunroof, if you lower the multi-power seat all the way, but, in the coupe tradition, is very tight in the rear. The seats themselves are well-designed, with comfort combined with a reasonable amount of support, and use what appears to be high-quality leather. Legroom, again, is fine up front, but varies quite a bit in back depending on where the front seats are set. If you have two very tall persons up front, consider the back seats suitable for just small children or packages.
OK, start her up. Surprisingly (I was expecting a push-button or a twist-****/proximity key), you do it the old-fashioned way, with a regular transponder key. And Honda still has not gone to a more convienent, dash-mounted ignition switch; it is in the traditional spot on the right side of the steering column. The engine, though, when it starts up, is a jewel....almost perfectly balanced, smooth, quiet, and refined. Power on the road, though, is decidedly peaky...there is not a great deal of torque below about 3000 or so, and then it becomes more pronounced. And what torque IS available below about 3000 is not that noticeable because the engine is so smooth and refined....it is almost like driving a turbine. Because the car was brand new, with only 20 miles on it, and out of respect for the Honda people who let me borrow it, I did not push the engine into its true upper reaches where, typical of Honda products, most of the power is. But even at only 4000, there is plenty of torque for all normal driving, unless you want to drag-race Vipers and Corvettes on Friday night.
The automatic transmission was, likewise, smooth, silky, quiet, and refined....no more of those old head-lurching shifts of Accord automatics of years ago. I especially liked the fore-and-aft shifter...none of that silly zig-zag stuff that is so annoying, even in my own Subaru. But one glaring (?) omission, in a car that is supposedly designed for drivers.....I couldn't find a manumatic or Sport-Shift mode on the shifter, nor could I find steering-wheel paddles for shifting. I won't say they aren't there, but I personally couldn't find them......and there is no mention of them in either the brochure or on Honda's web site. The shifter itself, though, was made of quality-feeling materials, shifted slickly and precisely, and otherwise was a pleasure to use.
Now we come to this car's REAL forte.....BMW-type steering feel and chassis dynamics. What a difference from the feathery, grossly-overboosted steering of years-ago Accords. I am not exaggerating. If I was driving this car blindfolded, I'd think I was in a BMW 3 or 5-series, just from the steering feel alone...it's that good. IMO, this is the BEST power-assisted steering system I have ever run across in a mid-sized Japanese car....it even beats the one I had on my Lexus IS300, even more remarkable considering the Accord's FWD layout and chassis dynamics. If you can get past the ugliness of the steering wheel itself, you are rewarded with almost telepathic feel and response, with almost perfect weighting. You can feel and gauge exactly where the front tires are going. Handling is likewise quite good for a front-driver, with very little body roll, right-now response, and little understeer. Part of the quick response, of course, comes from the quick-ratio on the steering rack......only 2.48 turns lock-to-lock, up there in sports-car territory, and from the 18-inch, 45-series all-season tires.
Ride quality, as expected, while fine on glass-smooth surfaces, is a little on the firm side for my tastes over bumps and road irregularities. Those wide, low-profile tires that help do such a good job on the the steering are less than compliant when soaking up bumps, though the ride is not sports-car stiff. Here, the Accord coupe, with all of its brilliance in steering feel, is not quite BMW or Mercedes when it comes to sophisication in the suspension department.....and the ability of premium German manufacturers to combine a smooth ride with good handling at the same time.
Brakes are also one of this car's better points...a well-designed pedal that does not catch big shoes on it, combined with a relatively firm braking feel with little sponginess. The car's FWD layout and nose-heaviness with the V6, of course, means that the front wheels will be doing more than their share of the braking loads, so while I did not do a panic stop in the review to test it, in general, don't expect Porsche-type braking distances.
As I got some requests for a manual-transmission EX-L V6 review, some of you are probably wondering what this car would be like with a manual. Obviously, I was not able to drive a manual (this car alone was difficult enough to find). But considering what previous Accord manuals were like, I can give you a pretty good estimate. Accords tend to have some of the best front-drive shift linkages on the market (Honda and Acura FWD manuals are known for the quality and precision of their shift linkages and smooth, easy clutch actions). Acceleration would probably be a little better, without the automatic's torque converter eating up as much of the engine's admittedly peaky torque at lower RPM. Gas mileage figures, oddly, are lower with the 6-speed manual.....for the EX-L V6, Honda quotes 17/25 vs. 19/28 for the automatic, perhaps due to different fuel-injection settings or final-drive ratios.
The Verdict?
Recently Subaru has run ads depicting the new WRX as the car that German manufacturers wished they were producing (we have discussed those ads in CAR CHAT). In my honest opinion, here.......the new Accord Coupe........is the Japanese-designed car that the Germans really wished they were doing, not the WRX.....though the new WRX, of course, is more refined and less boy-racer-like than before. The Accord coupe is competitive with non-M BMW 3 and 5-series products in many ways, chiefly in its superlative new power-steering system that is light-years ahead of the old, overboosted ones. The new automatic is also superlative, and puts to rest the annoying, head-bobbing, jerk-shifts of some old Honda automatics. Handling, ride, and chassis dynamics are also quite BMW-like, but, as mentioned, don't combine ride and handling characteristics together quite as well. And the first-rate reliability record of previous Accords trumps that of often unreliable BMW electronics (though there were some Honda/Acura transmission issues about 5-6 years ago).
Honda, however, IMO, still needs to work on a few things. The rear side windows are too small for good visibility...perhaps a change in the design of the beltline and roofline is in order. The marketing restrictions of paint colors and trim features between sedan and coupe is needless and absurd. A car this pleasant and driver-friendly should have a clear manual sport-shift feature for the automatic. And the car with steering feel this good deserves better than a Wal-Mart steering wheel. An up-to-date push-button ignition system is not a necessity, but would be more in tune with the car's character. And the hood could use a little thicker sheet metal. And.....please, Honda......build and ship enough coupes to meet demand.
Yet, all in all, this is an excellent car.....one of the best Japanese coupes that I have seen in years. I myself like it more than the costlier Infiniti G35 coupe. Rumor has it that Honda is working on a new Prelude. IMO, with this car, a new Prelude is not needed.....this car easily dismisses the need for one, and Honda would be wise to just dump the Prelude project and save its money and resources. The V6 EX-L coupe is an absolute steal at $29,000 (if you find an honest dealership without price gouging). Any of you who are interested in this car (and I know there are enough of you out there who are) have my blessing.....there are far worse ways to spend $30,000.
Last edited by mmarshall; 10-06-07 at 08:16 PM.
10-06-07, 08:04 PM
#2
I enjoyed the review very much. I'm sure many others were anxiously awaiting this review 
I think Honda did away with the sport-manual-auto-shift thingy because they had trouble with those types of transmissions in the past. If the customer really wants some action, they're going to have to go with Honda's manual transmission. If Honda knows how to make a thing or two, the gearboxes are definitely it.
I think Honda did away with the sport-manual-auto-shift thingy because they had trouble with those types of transmissions in the past. If the customer really wants some action, they're going to have to go with Honda's manual transmission. If Honda knows how to make a thing or two, the gearboxes are definitely it.
10-06-07, 08:11 PM
#3
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
I enjoyed the review very much. I'm sure many others were anxiously awaiting this review
I think Honda did away with the sport-manual-auto-shift thingy because they had trouble with those types of transmissions in the past. If the customer really wants some action, they're going to have to go with Honda's manual transmission. If Honda knows how to make a thing or two, the gearboxes are definitely it.
I think Honda did away with the sport-manual-auto-shift thingy because they had trouble with those types of transmissions in the past. If the customer really wants some action, they're going to have to go with Honda's manual transmission. If Honda knows how to make a thing or two, the gearboxes are definitely it.
10-06-07, 09:24 PM
#5
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
GOOD REVIEW!
Best I could do under the circumstances....until the availability of these cars improves.
Last edited by mmarshall; 10-06-07 at 09:32 PM.
10-06-07, 11:46 PM
#8
The next thing you clearly notice is the rather strong look-alike to the current-generation Hyundai Sonata in styling....front and rear in the Accord sedan, and, of course, front only in the coupe. The similiarity in the grilles, headlights, hood tapering, and (in the sedan), deck lid and tailights, is striking. I hear a lot of complaints about Hyundai copying the styling of other manufacturers, especially Honda. This time it is clearly the other way around.
Open up, get in, and the atmosphere inside becomes a little more mixed. The basic look is attractive, but here again, needless marketing restrictions apply....like no wood trim at all for the coupe and only in the beige-ivory interior EX sedan. All other Accords use the rather plain-looking painted-gray "metallic" trim that I can easily do without.....like Toyota, Honda, IMO, in general does not do a good job on painted metallic trim.
The automatic transmission was, likewise, smooth, silky, quiet, and refined....no more of those old head-lurching shifts of Accord automatics of years ago. I especially liked the fore-and-aft shifter...none of that silly zig-zag stuff that is so annoying, even in my own Subaru.
I couldn't even begin to tell you how much I hate the retarded zig-zag thingy in my GS. Props to Honda for keeping things simple.
Now we come to this car's REAL forte.....BMW-type steering feel and chassis dynamics. What a difference from the feathery, grossly-overboosted steering of years-ago Accords. I am not exaggerating. If I was driving this car blindfolded, I'd think I was in a BMW 3 or 5-series, just from the steering feel alone...it's that good. IMO, this is the BEST power-assisted steering system I have ever run across in a mid-sized Japanese car....it even beats the one I had on my Lexus IS300, even more remarkable considering the Accord's FWD layout and chassis dynamics. If you can get past the ugliness of the steering wheel itself, you are rewarded with almost telepathic feel and response, with almost perfect weighting. You can feel and gauge exactly where the front tires are going. Handling is likewise quite good for a front-driver, with very little body roll, right-now response, and little understeer. Part of the quick response, of course, comes from the quick-ratio on the steering rack......only 2.48 turns lock-to-lock, up there in sports-car territory, and from the 18-inch, 45-series all-season tires.
Ride quality, as expected, while fine on glass-smooth surfaces, is a little on the firm side for my tastes over bumps and road irregularities. Those wide, low-profile tires that help do such a good job on the the steering are less than compliant when soaking up bumps, though the ride is not sports-car stiff. Here, the Accord coupe, with all of its brilliance in steering feel, is not quite BMW or Mercedes when it comes to sophisication in the suspension department.....and the ability of premium German manufacturers to combine a smooth ride with good handling at the same time.
Ride quality, as expected, while fine on glass-smooth surfaces, is a little on the firm side for my tastes over bumps and road irregularities. Those wide, low-profile tires that help do such a good job on the the steering are less than compliant when soaking up bumps, though the ride is not sports-car stiff. Here, the Accord coupe, with all of its brilliance in steering feel, is not quite BMW or Mercedes when it comes to sophisication in the suspension department.....and the ability of premium German manufacturers to combine a smooth ride with good handling at the same time.
10-07-07, 12:27 AM
#9
Lexus Test Driver
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I thought the the 97-01 steering was pretty heavy, the 02-07 was lighter but not Toyota light, in 2dr form anyways. Well it sounds like a pretty nice car, the engine in the manual and automatic are different though.
10-07-07, 03:30 AM
#11
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Yes, you are correct....a lapse on my part. Just as there is no perfect car, there is no perfect review either. But the way I see it, the NSX is produced and sold in such small numbers that IMO it is statistically insignificant.
Last edited by mmarshall; 10-07-07 at 04:05 AM.
10-07-07, 03:41 AM
#12
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
I'm sorry if I'm being harsh, but this is simply ridiculous. The new design of the new Accord is evolutionary from the previous model, while the Sonata is a shameless rip off from the previous Accord. In fact, when the Sonata was launched, Honda gave the Accord a facelift, which involved a complete make over of the rear, to make the Accord look different from the Sonata.
The way I feel, I note if I think somebody is copying someone else, but in reality it makes little difference, practicality-wise, if one car looks like another one....I judge a car primarily by its merits. The old Scion xB and Honda Element, for example, shared a similiar body shape, for instance (though in a different size), but both were space-efficient efficient inside. Second, with the large....and growing.....number of vehicles in productrion, it is getting harder and harder to introduce truly original designs today without copying somebody else, somewhere, at least to an extent.
10-07-07, 03:47 AM
#13
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Not according to Honda. There is one 4-cylinder and one V6, used in all 2008 Accords. The same HP/torque figures for each engine also apply across the board. Manual transmissions vary from 5 to 6 speeds depending on model.
10-07-07, 03:53 AM
#14
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
That I concur with, and it applies not just to Accord. You've got TL-S which is an awesome car, but it's not available with wood trim, only the ugly metallic/carbon fiber. Same applies to M45 Sport.
10-07-07, 02:17 PM
#15
Lexus Champion
Thanks for the review. Your review is much more positive than the impressions that I got when I drove the car - and I drove an EX-L V6 auto sedan.
Mine had a couple of fairly glaring build quality defects - ones so glaring it made me amazed that it passed the Honda factory's quality control department.
Also, I found the handling, steering, and chassis dynamics to be FAR from BMW-like. When is the last time you have driven a 3-series?
I drove a 2007 335i with the sport package and that car was just heaven on wheels to drive aggressively. The 08 Accord I drove - while it wasn't bad, it was not anything that would even vaguely remind me of a BMW... it was very Honda-like to me. For better or for worse.
Maybe the Coupe is a bit sportier in its dynamics, but I don't think it would be too much different all in all.
Mine had a couple of fairly glaring build quality defects - ones so glaring it made me amazed that it passed the Honda factory's quality control department.
Also, I found the handling, steering, and chassis dynamics to be FAR from BMW-like. When is the last time you have driven a 3-series?
I drove a 2007 335i with the sport package and that car was just heaven on wheels to drive aggressively. The 08 Accord I drove - while it wasn't bad, it was not anything that would even vaguely remind me of a BMW... it was very Honda-like to me. For better or for worse.
Maybe the Coupe is a bit sportier in its dynamics, but I don't think it would be too much different all in all.