View Poll Results: What do you like Better?
Accord Concept Rims and Bodykit
54
73.97%
2004 Acura TL A-Spec Bodykit and Rims
19
26.03%
Voters: 73. You may not vote on this poll
Honda: Accord News
01-29-2008, 02:40 PM
#2362
I'm the Firestarter
Originally Posted by Yumchah
I blame the -46 Celsius weather. 
01-29-2008, 07:53 PM
#2363
And on similar vein, I was behind an Accord coupe last night. The rear lights don't have LEDs.
01-29-2008, 09:14 PM
#2364
Senior Moderator
Originally Posted by phile
And on similar vein, I was behind an Accord coupe last night. The rear lights don't have LEDs.
01-29-2008, 11:23 PM
#2365
The sizzle in the Steak
Originally Posted by Belzebutt
No seriously, I'd like to know why you posted this. Come clean.
01-29-2008, 11:56 PM
#2366
Senior Moderator
Originally Posted by Moog-Type-S
He's a PW
01-30-2008, 07:02 AM
#2367
Race Director
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Illinois
Age: 44
Posts: 10,741
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by phile
And on similar vein, I was behind an Accord coupe last night. The rear lights don't have LEDs.
Also, pretty sad that I thought this morning when I was driving to work of course it's still dark, but I mistook this Saturn L300 as the new Accord sedan. They look alike from the rearend and side profile a little. They even have the same taillight cluster.
I did further investigating and the L300 was produced from 2000-2005. Now, I may know that either Honda hired a Saturn designer or they copied that rearend design, which is pointless to me.
The Saturn Accord Sedan.
01-30-2008, 10:22 PM
#2368
Originally Posted by GreenMonster
Really, I thought that the 2006 Accords were the first accord to have LED taillights, and just figured the 8th gen would have them also...
01-30-2008, 10:59 PM
#2369
What Would Don Draper Do?
Originally Posted by 04EuroAccordTsx
The Accord coupe and sedan don't have LEDs which I think is a regression. Why would they put them in the 06-07 Accords, but not the new ones?
Also, pretty sad that I thought this morning when I was driving to work of course it's still dark, but I mistook this Saturn L300 as the new Accord sedan. They look alike from the rearend and side profile a little. They even have the same taillight cluster.
I did further investigating and the L300 was produced from 2000-2005. Now, I may know that either Honda hired a Saturn designer or they copied that rearend design, which is pointless to me. The Saturn Accord Sedan.
Also, pretty sad that I thought this morning when I was driving to work of course it's still dark, but I mistook this Saturn L300 as the new Accord sedan. They look alike from the rearend and side profile a little. They even have the same taillight cluster.
I did further investigating and the L300 was produced from 2000-2005. Now, I may know that either Honda hired a Saturn designer or they copied that rearend design, which is pointless to me.
The Saturn Accord Sedan.
02-01-2008, 02:57 PM
#2370
Senior Moderator
....well, it would not be the first marriage between the Saturn and Honda brands. While at Nwk Airport yesterday afternoon, there was Saturn Vue parked in front of terminal C with its hood up revealing the familiar sight of a Honda J-series motor......probably that generation Vue's only saving grace. 
Again, the last reasonably attractive Accord sedan was probably the 5th gen. As with the 7th gen, the 8th gen's styling shortcomings is it not enough to detract from a terrific powertrain.
Again, the last reasonably attractive Accord sedan was probably the 5th gen. As with the 7th gen, the 8th gen's styling shortcomings is it not enough to detract from a terrific powertrain.
02-01-2008, 04:39 PM
#2371
2G TLX-S
Originally Posted by 04EuroAccordTsx
The Accord coupe and sedan don't have LEDs which I think is a regression. Why would they put them in the 06-07 Accords, but not the new ones?
02-01-2008, 06:36 PM
#2372
Safety Car
Originally Posted by Edward'TLS
If they put all the goodies in all at once, there is gonna nothing left for the MMC (mid-model-cycle) update 2.5 years down the road. Remember that Honda always loves to muck around with the tail lights in MMC refreshes.
02-02-2008, 01:22 AM
#2373
Race Director
Originally Posted by Edward'TLS
If they put all the goodies in all at once, there is gonna nothing left for the MMC (mid-model-cycle) update 2.5 years down the road. Remember that Honda always loves to muck around with the tail lights in MMC refreshes.
Last edited by biker; 02-02-2008 at 01:24 AM.
02-16-2008, 12:28 PM
#2374
Safety Car
Wins C&D Comparo
The Buzzard & Baloney Brigade
Seventh Place: 2008 Dodge Avenger SXT
Sixth Place: 2008 Ford Fusion SEL
Fifth Place: 2008 Toyota Camry LE
Fourth Place: 2009 Hyundai Sonata Limited
Third Place: 2008 Chevrolet Malibu LT
Second Place: 2008 Nissan Altima 2.5S
First Place: 2008 Honda Accord EX
2008 Dodge Avenger SXT - Seventh Place
HIGHS: Good fuel economy, easy-to-read gauges, inexpensive.
LOWS: A festival of NVH, hard interior surfaces, feels insubstantial.
THE VERDICT: A mid-size sedan relying almost entirely on its sticker price.
It may look like a seven-eighths-scale Dodge Charger, but any other claim the Avenger may lay to its big brother’s well-earned reputation is a stretch.
What most damages the Avenger is its 173-hp, 2.4-liter “world engine,” built just down the road from us in Dundee, Michigan. It produces way too much racket—the noisiest in our group at full throttle and at 70-mph cruise. And the sound quality was alternately described as “walnuts in a Cuisinart,” “a weed whip with a loose spool,” and “four shot wheel bearings.”
What’s more, the engine felt overwhelmed in this package. To 60 mph, it was the second slowest in the group, and the four-speed transmission was often guilty of summoning the wrong gear. On backwoods roads, it was sometimes difficult to keep the powerplant on the boil, which at least mitigated the noise. The upside, however, was that the Avenger equaled the Camry for best observed fuel economy.
The Dodge lost points for its plasticky interior, with so many hard and angular edges that it resembled a gray Picasso. “There’s no common theme in here,” griped one editor. “Watch what your elbows bang into, because it’s gonna hurt.” With its squat, upright windshield and high beltline, the Avenger felt small, inside and out. And it wasn’t wholly an illusion. In this group, its back seat proved the most cramped for two adults, and the Dodge offered the least capacious trunk.
Which isn’t to say the car came up snake-eyes. The front-passenger seat folds flat, and the cushions are firm, with seatbacks that are supportive in the right places. The gauges feature easy-to-read black numerals on white faces. The steering proved agreeably accurate, with appropriate heft. You can store chilled drinks in the beverage bin. The chassis remained composed when called on to hustle. And our 22,000-mile test car was not only the least expensive in this group—by a wide margin—but also more rattle-free than the Camry.
Still, if you’re drawn to the Avenger, cough up the extra $1350 for the DOHC 2.7-liter V-6. It’s worth it.
2008 Ford Fusion SEL - Sixth Place
HIGHS: Sharp styling, leather interior, thoughtful ride-and-handling trade-off.
LOWS: Too little power and a transmission that spoils the party.
THE VERDICT: Right face, wrong drivetrain.
This wasn’t the Fusion we wanted. Its as-tested price was far too high, due mostly to its optional sunroof, nav system, and several other gratuitous gewgaws—all of which we tried to ignore. Still, if you specify just the five-speed automatic ($875), the sport-tuned suspension ($895), and the leather skins ($895), you’ll wind up with a quite luxurious little sedan fetching just over 23 grand.
This Ford’s interior was a knockout, with joyful red-leather inserts in the seat cushions, matching red stitching, a jewel-like analog clock, and a leather-wrapped wheel. Forward sightlines were excellent. The trunk was as large as the Hyundai’s.
Set off by tasteful alloy wheels, the Fusion’s sharp-pleated exterior was uplifting, too, lending the whole package a whiff of elegance unexpected in this class.
We would have preferred that the HVAC controls weren’t buried down in the inky-black well of the center stack and that the driver’s seatback could be adjusted electronically. What’s more, the lone signal/wiper stalk always confused us, even after 600 miles of experience.
With its 18-inch performance-biased rubber, the Fusion not surprisingly evinced best-in-group skidpad grip and was equally athletic around our “Hockingheim ring,” where it was abetted by sharp steering, sure turn-in, and nicely controlled body motions—all at little cost to ride quality.
So why didn’t the Fusion rank higher? First, its 160-horse, 2.3-liter Duratec just couldn’t get the job done. In this group, the Ford was slowest to 30 mph, to 60, through the quarter-mile, and in both our top-gear tests. Lowest top speed, too.
Second, its transmission acted like some sort of steroidal homing pigeon, drawn perpetually to high gear. The car would step off smoothly, but if you didn’t summon full throttle ASAP, the trans was in fifth gear about 10 feet later. Because the shifter offers only drive and low, our pilots had little choice but to mash the throttle to summon donkey-slow two- or three-gear kickdowns that would snap your neck. “It’s like the engine is either on or off,” wrote one editor.
Despite its solid, composed platform, the Fusion was difficult to drive smoothly. Former Ford consultant Jackie Stewart would have slugged someone.
2008 Toyota Camry LE - Fifth Place
HIGHS: Eerily quiet, Lexus-like switchgear, limousine ride.
LOWS: Early understeer, too much body roll, plastic hubcaps.
THE VERDICT: Practical and tranquil but not much of a dancer.
There’s a scene in a Seinfeld episode in which George Costanza’s father, played by Jerry Stiller, screams, “Serenity now!” He should have been driving a Camry.
This Toyota goes about its business with regal deliberation and narcotic tranquillity, offering the sort of ride you’d expect from a limousine. It was also the quietest at idle, and no other contestant was quieter at a 70-mph cruise. “An engine like a cage full of finches,” wrote an editor.
On the other hand, the Camry steadfastly declined to engage in any childish behavior, supplying the least skidpad grip, the slowest lane-change speed, the most body roll, and the least power—32 horses shy of what the Accord’s inline-four produces, for instance.
It’s no secret that the Camry is aimed at 50-something baby boomers. Just look at its center stack. The radio buttons are large, round, and exactly where they were in the ’60s—on/off control on the left, volume control on the right. Want to switch modes? The AM button is three inches long. The three rotary HVAC controls are even larger and equally intuitive and can be adjusted while you’re wearing gloves. At full whack, the ventilation fan simply purrs. Backlit by a baby-blue luminescence, the center stack evinces a serene art deco look.
The Camry’s transmission was seamless, too, shifting up and down unnoticed. But it doesn’t want you second-guessing it—witness the diabolical left-right maze you’ll need to negotiate to shift manually from D to 4 to 3 to 2 to L.
The steering proved a little numb for our tastes, but at least it was light. The brake pedal was easy to modulate. The back-seat cushion offered excellent thigh support. The optional stability control ($650) was transparent and saved our bacon—our bologna, actually—two or three times on slushy apexes in the hills. And the Camry sidled up to the gas pumps as infrequently as the Avenger.
In stark contrast to the Fusion, it was almost impossible not to drive the Camry smoothly, making it the car everyone wanted to inhabit during heavy-traffic slogs. At day’s end, however, it came up long on practicality and short on exuberance. Sometimes the living room isn’t easily converted into the game room.
2009 Hyundai Sonata Limited - Fourth Place
HIGHS: Soothing interstate cruiser, pillowy ride, delectable manumatic.
LOWS: Too much body roll, could do with a stiffer platform.
THE VERDICT: One foot deeper into Honda Accord territory.
Just as we were packing underwear for this buzzard-and-baloney trip, the Hyundai guys called to ask whether we’d like to sample their latest updates on a 2009 Sonata. “Bring that baby over,” we barked.
This light makeover is appealing. The center stack, the IP, and the center console are totally new, and they’re far more modern and rich to the touch, especially the convincingly real-looking wood. The nose, with its classy new headlights and grille, has been altered to look “heavier.” To us, it looks Lexus-ish. The dampers have been tuned with higher rebound and compression rates. Power is up by 13 horses, yet induction noise has been reduced. A five-speed automatic is standard. And the steering ratio has been quickened.
What’s more, this is a Hyundai, so you get a major load of standard equipment. Among other goodies, our Sonata Limited had stability control, a manumatic transmission, a tire-pressure-monitoring system, a leather interior, fog lights, heated front seats, 17-inch alloy wheels, an Infinity stereo with a six-CD changer, and a sunroof. Nice.
What you notice first about the Sonata is that it’s big and airy inside. No competitor in this group surpassed its front or rear interior volumes. The trunk is as big as the Fusion’s, and the back seat is as comfortable as the Toyota’s. What’s more, it offers a pleasingly low cowl and a dash that is pushed far forward. Truth is, the Sonata is now big enough to meet the EPA’s large-car standard, even though it competes in the mid-size segment.
In the hills, we didn’t really notice a huge improvement in handling. The Sonata is still heavily biased toward a velvety ride, and it shifts weight from corner to corner a little too readily. The steering is still light and agreeably accurate—maybe a titch too quick just off-center—but its tracking and self-centering are fine. What’s more, the slick manumatic makes the Sonata’s transmission the most flexible in this group.
The Hyundai still needs to quicken all of its reflexes by about 10 percent, and the platform still doesn’t feel as solid and flex-free as the Accord’s or the Altima’s. Otherwise, this is an appealing long-distance cruiser, a Sonata playing a nicely orchestrated sonata called, “Creeping Up on the Accord.”
2008 Chevrolet Malibu LT - Third Place
HIGHS: Elegant cockpit, superb engine isolation, a handsome lad.
LOWS: A little heavy, needs more than four gears, fat A- and C-pillars.
THE VERDICT: The best four-cylinder mainstream car GM has ever built.
Every editor who climbed into the Malibu said the same thing: “Wow, this thing feels huge.” In fact, the Chevy is the heaviest in the group, riding on the longest wheelbase, with an extra-large steering wheel. Strangely, it’s also the narrowest, which might account for the tight fit in back.
The Malibu goes down the road like a large car, too. The electric power-assisted steering offers a strong sense of straight-ahead, and its weight builds predictably. The ride-and-handling trade-off is suited to the audience. Pushed to its limits, the suspension proved difficult to disrupt, although there was too much dive under hard braking.
All the voters loved the elegant cockpit, especially the delicate spear of brushed aluminum that shoots across the dash to blend into the front doors. The headliner looked as if it might have been swiped from a Maybach. And the front seats were all-day comfortable, with long, supportive cushions.
Even after 600 miles, it still shocked us to be driving a four-cylinder GM product with such terrific engine isolation. In this group, the Chevy was quietest at full throttle, a statement we can’t ever recall making. The sound deadening didn’t stop there, either. Wind roar, road noise, tire slap, mechanical thrashiness—all have been filtered to superbly low levels. Even the ticking of the turn signal, noted one editor, sounds “expensively hushed.”
There were a few beefs. The clammy plastic steering wheel, in such a pretty cockpit, felt out of place. The “alloy” wheels are actually plastic-covered steel. The fat A- and C-pillars do damage to sightlines. The 16.3-gallon fuel tank meant the Malibu was always the first to hunt for a Mobil station. Apart from drive, the transmission offers only two manual forward selections, making it tricky to hold big engine revs in the hills. And speaking of the transmission, it’s a four-speed. A six-speed will arrive later in the year. You might want to wait for it.
The Malibu is built off the same Epsilon architecture as the slow-selling Saturn Aura. We hope the Chevy moves faster out of showrooms. The General’s effort here was huge. If it doesn’t pay off, we don’t want the company reverting to its old ways.
2008 Nissan Altima 2.5S - Second Place
HIGHS: Drag-strip king, a real corner carver, a Mosler vault of a platform.
LOWS: CVT not to everyone’s liking, no stability control, dour cockpit.
THE VERDICT: True dual personality—fun in the hills, serene on the interstates.
Déjà vu. A Nissan Altima 2.5S finished second—to an Accord—in our February 2007 version of this test. Then as now, the Altima struck us as the sports car of the bunch. Check it out: Quickest to 60 mph, quickest through the quarter-mile, quickest in our top-gear tests, quickest in a rolling start to 60 mph. And when it was time for lunch, the Nissan was quickest to achieve zero mph, too.
The Altima was our only combatant with a CVT, which elicited some of the standard gripes. With no gears, the engine can call attention to its droning, especially on freeway entrances, where it hangs at WOT for longish spells. Fortunately, Nissan’s CVT is smart, even supplying engine braking on downhill stretches. Plus, if you tire of it, you can switch to the manumatic, which expertly blips the throttle on downshifts and whose steps are perfectly spaced.
Around town, the Altima’s steering is well-weighted but becomes a little heavy at speed. Nonetheless, the rack delivers more information about road surfaces than the Accord’s. Turn-in is sharp, and once you select an arc through a turn, the Altima pursues it like a bloodhound. “And when you do manage to get this car all unweighted,” wrote one editor, “you can just tap the brakes and it settles, hunkering down like a cat stalking a mouse.”
Complaints? A few. For starters, no four-cylinder Altima can be had with stability control. At speed in the snow, we really missed it. The interior was relentlessly dark—“like falling into a well,” griped one voter. (Unless you have a heavy supply of Prozac, pick a combo that has a Blond or Frost interior.) The plastic surrounding the shifter made no attempt to disguise its crudeness. The back seat was cramped. The 175-horse engine delivered the worst observed fuel economy, although not by much. And the pushbutton starter was slow to cause any underhood parts to whir. Why can’t we all agree these systems are just dumb?
The Nissan is a solid, confidence-inspiring car with a rigid platform, smart looks, and excellent control relationships. And we’re not the only ones who’ve noticed. Through November of last year, the Altima was the sixth-bestselling auto in the U.S.
2008 Honda Accord EX - First Place
HIGHS: Telepathic interplay among chassis, engine, and transmission.
LOWS: Needlessly complex center stack, could use more steering feel.
THE VERDICT: Another Accord? We’ve pretty much run out of nice things to say.
In its 32-year existence, the Accord has landed on C/D’s 10Best Cars list 22 times. We must have cost Honda a pile of cash in trophy cases alone. In this group, our Accord carried the highest base price, but it was because we wanted to sample the 190 horsepower that comes with the EX, rather than the base LX’s 177. It paid off. Our test car was the second quickest to 60 mph.
The Accord’s essential goodness, however, doesn’t derive from power alone. Even with the standard stability control chipping away, our EX was also the fastest through our lane-change test.
Honda has simply nailed the econosedan formula, and it isn’t just a matter of building the highest-revving engine, the most competent suspension, and the most ergonomic interior. The trick is getting every component talking openly and honestly to every other component. It’s that sonorous mechanical interplay that lends the Accord its agility and charm. Throttle tip-in reminds us of a BMW 3’s, and there’s steady power delivery right up to 7100 rpm. Steering heft and linearity are spot-on, although some of us noted that this new rack doesn’t transmit road textures as clearly as did its forebear. The taut-yet-frictionless chassis makes up for it, however, posting regular updates on available grip. The brakes are easy to modulate. The thin A-pillars let you see around turns. In short, no car in our cast was as eager to establish a friendly rhythm when the roads got tricky.
Although the Accord was tied with the Avenger for loudest idle, it was merely a matter of our microphones registering quantity of sound versus quality.
Like the Sonata, the Accord is now officially a large sedan, with the extra room paying dividends abaft. For two or three adults, the rear seat proved the most spacious in this group. But try it yourself—the seatback is steeply reclined. We loved the three-tier dash, whose bulges and contours place all secondary controls at your fingertips. Which is lucky, because the center stack—ahem—contains 34 buttons.
We wish the Accord came with a manumatic, but you can shift manually by pulling straight back from D, to D3, to 2, to 1. Left to its own devices, the five-speed is prescient about holding lower gears on downhill grades and during spirited driving.
Like its predecessors, this latest Accord contains real meat in the middle. And that ain’t no baloney.
Seventh Place: 2008 Dodge Avenger SXT
Sixth Place: 2008 Ford Fusion SEL
Fifth Place: 2008 Toyota Camry LE
Fourth Place: 2009 Hyundai Sonata Limited
Third Place: 2008 Chevrolet Malibu LT
Second Place: 2008 Nissan Altima 2.5S
First Place: 2008 Honda Accord EX
2008 Dodge Avenger SXT - Seventh Place
HIGHS: Good fuel economy, easy-to-read gauges, inexpensive.
LOWS: A festival of NVH, hard interior surfaces, feels insubstantial.
THE VERDICT: A mid-size sedan relying almost entirely on its sticker price.
It may look like a seven-eighths-scale Dodge Charger, but any other claim the Avenger may lay to its big brother’s well-earned reputation is a stretch.
What most damages the Avenger is its 173-hp, 2.4-liter “world engine,” built just down the road from us in Dundee, Michigan. It produces way too much racket—the noisiest in our group at full throttle and at 70-mph cruise. And the sound quality was alternately described as “walnuts in a Cuisinart,” “a weed whip with a loose spool,” and “four shot wheel bearings.”
What’s more, the engine felt overwhelmed in this package. To 60 mph, it was the second slowest in the group, and the four-speed transmission was often guilty of summoning the wrong gear. On backwoods roads, it was sometimes difficult to keep the powerplant on the boil, which at least mitigated the noise. The upside, however, was that the Avenger equaled the Camry for best observed fuel economy.
The Dodge lost points for its plasticky interior, with so many hard and angular edges that it resembled a gray Picasso. “There’s no common theme in here,” griped one editor. “Watch what your elbows bang into, because it’s gonna hurt.” With its squat, upright windshield and high beltline, the Avenger felt small, inside and out. And it wasn’t wholly an illusion. In this group, its back seat proved the most cramped for two adults, and the Dodge offered the least capacious trunk.
Which isn’t to say the car came up snake-eyes. The front-passenger seat folds flat, and the cushions are firm, with seatbacks that are supportive in the right places. The gauges feature easy-to-read black numerals on white faces. The steering proved agreeably accurate, with appropriate heft. You can store chilled drinks in the beverage bin. The chassis remained composed when called on to hustle. And our 22,000-mile test car was not only the least expensive in this group—by a wide margin—but also more rattle-free than the Camry.
Still, if you’re drawn to the Avenger, cough up the extra $1350 for the DOHC 2.7-liter V-6. It’s worth it.
2008 Ford Fusion SEL - Sixth Place
HIGHS: Sharp styling, leather interior, thoughtful ride-and-handling trade-off.
LOWS: Too little power and a transmission that spoils the party.
THE VERDICT: Right face, wrong drivetrain.
This wasn’t the Fusion we wanted. Its as-tested price was far too high, due mostly to its optional sunroof, nav system, and several other gratuitous gewgaws—all of which we tried to ignore. Still, if you specify just the five-speed automatic ($875), the sport-tuned suspension ($895), and the leather skins ($895), you’ll wind up with a quite luxurious little sedan fetching just over 23 grand.
This Ford’s interior was a knockout, with joyful red-leather inserts in the seat cushions, matching red stitching, a jewel-like analog clock, and a leather-wrapped wheel. Forward sightlines were excellent. The trunk was as large as the Hyundai’s.
Set off by tasteful alloy wheels, the Fusion’s sharp-pleated exterior was uplifting, too, lending the whole package a whiff of elegance unexpected in this class.
We would have preferred that the HVAC controls weren’t buried down in the inky-black well of the center stack and that the driver’s seatback could be adjusted electronically. What’s more, the lone signal/wiper stalk always confused us, even after 600 miles of experience.
With its 18-inch performance-biased rubber, the Fusion not surprisingly evinced best-in-group skidpad grip and was equally athletic around our “Hockingheim ring,” where it was abetted by sharp steering, sure turn-in, and nicely controlled body motions—all at little cost to ride quality.
So why didn’t the Fusion rank higher? First, its 160-horse, 2.3-liter Duratec just couldn’t get the job done. In this group, the Ford was slowest to 30 mph, to 60, through the quarter-mile, and in both our top-gear tests. Lowest top speed, too.
Second, its transmission acted like some sort of steroidal homing pigeon, drawn perpetually to high gear. The car would step off smoothly, but if you didn’t summon full throttle ASAP, the trans was in fifth gear about 10 feet later. Because the shifter offers only drive and low, our pilots had little choice but to mash the throttle to summon donkey-slow two- or three-gear kickdowns that would snap your neck. “It’s like the engine is either on or off,” wrote one editor.
Despite its solid, composed platform, the Fusion was difficult to drive smoothly. Former Ford consultant Jackie Stewart would have slugged someone.
2008 Toyota Camry LE - Fifth Place
HIGHS: Eerily quiet, Lexus-like switchgear, limousine ride.
LOWS: Early understeer, too much body roll, plastic hubcaps.
THE VERDICT: Practical and tranquil but not much of a dancer.
There’s a scene in a Seinfeld episode in which George Costanza’s father, played by Jerry Stiller, screams, “Serenity now!” He should have been driving a Camry.
This Toyota goes about its business with regal deliberation and narcotic tranquillity, offering the sort of ride you’d expect from a limousine. It was also the quietest at idle, and no other contestant was quieter at a 70-mph cruise. “An engine like a cage full of finches,” wrote an editor.
On the other hand, the Camry steadfastly declined to engage in any childish behavior, supplying the least skidpad grip, the slowest lane-change speed, the most body roll, and the least power—32 horses shy of what the Accord’s inline-four produces, for instance.
It’s no secret that the Camry is aimed at 50-something baby boomers. Just look at its center stack. The radio buttons are large, round, and exactly where they were in the ’60s—on/off control on the left, volume control on the right. Want to switch modes? The AM button is three inches long. The three rotary HVAC controls are even larger and equally intuitive and can be adjusted while you’re wearing gloves. At full whack, the ventilation fan simply purrs. Backlit by a baby-blue luminescence, the center stack evinces a serene art deco look.
The Camry’s transmission was seamless, too, shifting up and down unnoticed. But it doesn’t want you second-guessing it—witness the diabolical left-right maze you’ll need to negotiate to shift manually from D to 4 to 3 to 2 to L.
The steering proved a little numb for our tastes, but at least it was light. The brake pedal was easy to modulate. The back-seat cushion offered excellent thigh support. The optional stability control ($650) was transparent and saved our bacon—our bologna, actually—two or three times on slushy apexes in the hills. And the Camry sidled up to the gas pumps as infrequently as the Avenger.
In stark contrast to the Fusion, it was almost impossible not to drive the Camry smoothly, making it the car everyone wanted to inhabit during heavy-traffic slogs. At day’s end, however, it came up long on practicality and short on exuberance. Sometimes the living room isn’t easily converted into the game room.
2009 Hyundai Sonata Limited - Fourth Place
HIGHS: Soothing interstate cruiser, pillowy ride, delectable manumatic.
LOWS: Too much body roll, could do with a stiffer platform.
THE VERDICT: One foot deeper into Honda Accord territory.
Just as we were packing underwear for this buzzard-and-baloney trip, the Hyundai guys called to ask whether we’d like to sample their latest updates on a 2009 Sonata. “Bring that baby over,” we barked.
This light makeover is appealing. The center stack, the IP, and the center console are totally new, and they’re far more modern and rich to the touch, especially the convincingly real-looking wood. The nose, with its classy new headlights and grille, has been altered to look “heavier.” To us, it looks Lexus-ish. The dampers have been tuned with higher rebound and compression rates. Power is up by 13 horses, yet induction noise has been reduced. A five-speed automatic is standard. And the steering ratio has been quickened.
What’s more, this is a Hyundai, so you get a major load of standard equipment. Among other goodies, our Sonata Limited had stability control, a manumatic transmission, a tire-pressure-monitoring system, a leather interior, fog lights, heated front seats, 17-inch alloy wheels, an Infinity stereo with a six-CD changer, and a sunroof. Nice.
What you notice first about the Sonata is that it’s big and airy inside. No competitor in this group surpassed its front or rear interior volumes. The trunk is as big as the Fusion’s, and the back seat is as comfortable as the Toyota’s. What’s more, it offers a pleasingly low cowl and a dash that is pushed far forward. Truth is, the Sonata is now big enough to meet the EPA’s large-car standard, even though it competes in the mid-size segment.
In the hills, we didn’t really notice a huge improvement in handling. The Sonata is still heavily biased toward a velvety ride, and it shifts weight from corner to corner a little too readily. The steering is still light and agreeably accurate—maybe a titch too quick just off-center—but its tracking and self-centering are fine. What’s more, the slick manumatic makes the Sonata’s transmission the most flexible in this group.
The Hyundai still needs to quicken all of its reflexes by about 10 percent, and the platform still doesn’t feel as solid and flex-free as the Accord’s or the Altima’s. Otherwise, this is an appealing long-distance cruiser, a Sonata playing a nicely orchestrated sonata called, “Creeping Up on the Accord.”
2008 Chevrolet Malibu LT - Third Place
HIGHS: Elegant cockpit, superb engine isolation, a handsome lad.
LOWS: A little heavy, needs more than four gears, fat A- and C-pillars.
THE VERDICT: The best four-cylinder mainstream car GM has ever built.
Every editor who climbed into the Malibu said the same thing: “Wow, this thing feels huge.” In fact, the Chevy is the heaviest in the group, riding on the longest wheelbase, with an extra-large steering wheel. Strangely, it’s also the narrowest, which might account for the tight fit in back.
The Malibu goes down the road like a large car, too. The electric power-assisted steering offers a strong sense of straight-ahead, and its weight builds predictably. The ride-and-handling trade-off is suited to the audience. Pushed to its limits, the suspension proved difficult to disrupt, although there was too much dive under hard braking.
All the voters loved the elegant cockpit, especially the delicate spear of brushed aluminum that shoots across the dash to blend into the front doors. The headliner looked as if it might have been swiped from a Maybach. And the front seats were all-day comfortable, with long, supportive cushions.
Even after 600 miles, it still shocked us to be driving a four-cylinder GM product with such terrific engine isolation. In this group, the Chevy was quietest at full throttle, a statement we can’t ever recall making. The sound deadening didn’t stop there, either. Wind roar, road noise, tire slap, mechanical thrashiness—all have been filtered to superbly low levels. Even the ticking of the turn signal, noted one editor, sounds “expensively hushed.”
There were a few beefs. The clammy plastic steering wheel, in such a pretty cockpit, felt out of place. The “alloy” wheels are actually plastic-covered steel. The fat A- and C-pillars do damage to sightlines. The 16.3-gallon fuel tank meant the Malibu was always the first to hunt for a Mobil station. Apart from drive, the transmission offers only two manual forward selections, making it tricky to hold big engine revs in the hills. And speaking of the transmission, it’s a four-speed. A six-speed will arrive later in the year. You might want to wait for it.
The Malibu is built off the same Epsilon architecture as the slow-selling Saturn Aura. We hope the Chevy moves faster out of showrooms. The General’s effort here was huge. If it doesn’t pay off, we don’t want the company reverting to its old ways.
2008 Nissan Altima 2.5S - Second Place
HIGHS: Drag-strip king, a real corner carver, a Mosler vault of a platform.
LOWS: CVT not to everyone’s liking, no stability control, dour cockpit.
THE VERDICT: True dual personality—fun in the hills, serene on the interstates.
Déjà vu. A Nissan Altima 2.5S finished second—to an Accord—in our February 2007 version of this test. Then as now, the Altima struck us as the sports car of the bunch. Check it out: Quickest to 60 mph, quickest through the quarter-mile, quickest in our top-gear tests, quickest in a rolling start to 60 mph. And when it was time for lunch, the Nissan was quickest to achieve zero mph, too.
The Altima was our only combatant with a CVT, which elicited some of the standard gripes. With no gears, the engine can call attention to its droning, especially on freeway entrances, where it hangs at WOT for longish spells. Fortunately, Nissan’s CVT is smart, even supplying engine braking on downhill stretches. Plus, if you tire of it, you can switch to the manumatic, which expertly blips the throttle on downshifts and whose steps are perfectly spaced.
Around town, the Altima’s steering is well-weighted but becomes a little heavy at speed. Nonetheless, the rack delivers more information about road surfaces than the Accord’s. Turn-in is sharp, and once you select an arc through a turn, the Altima pursues it like a bloodhound. “And when you do manage to get this car all unweighted,” wrote one editor, “you can just tap the brakes and it settles, hunkering down like a cat stalking a mouse.”
Complaints? A few. For starters, no four-cylinder Altima can be had with stability control. At speed in the snow, we really missed it. The interior was relentlessly dark—“like falling into a well,” griped one voter. (Unless you have a heavy supply of Prozac, pick a combo that has a Blond or Frost interior.) The plastic surrounding the shifter made no attempt to disguise its crudeness. The back seat was cramped. The 175-horse engine delivered the worst observed fuel economy, although not by much. And the pushbutton starter was slow to cause any underhood parts to whir. Why can’t we all agree these systems are just dumb?
The Nissan is a solid, confidence-inspiring car with a rigid platform, smart looks, and excellent control relationships. And we’re not the only ones who’ve noticed. Through November of last year, the Altima was the sixth-bestselling auto in the U.S.
2008 Honda Accord EX - First Place
HIGHS: Telepathic interplay among chassis, engine, and transmission.
LOWS: Needlessly complex center stack, could use more steering feel.
THE VERDICT: Another Accord? We’ve pretty much run out of nice things to say.
In its 32-year existence, the Accord has landed on C/D’s 10Best Cars list 22 times. We must have cost Honda a pile of cash in trophy cases alone. In this group, our Accord carried the highest base price, but it was because we wanted to sample the 190 horsepower that comes with the EX, rather than the base LX’s 177. It paid off. Our test car was the second quickest to 60 mph.
The Accord’s essential goodness, however, doesn’t derive from power alone. Even with the standard stability control chipping away, our EX was also the fastest through our lane-change test.
Honda has simply nailed the econosedan formula, and it isn’t just a matter of building the highest-revving engine, the most competent suspension, and the most ergonomic interior. The trick is getting every component talking openly and honestly to every other component. It’s that sonorous mechanical interplay that lends the Accord its agility and charm. Throttle tip-in reminds us of a BMW 3’s, and there’s steady power delivery right up to 7100 rpm. Steering heft and linearity are spot-on, although some of us noted that this new rack doesn’t transmit road textures as clearly as did its forebear. The taut-yet-frictionless chassis makes up for it, however, posting regular updates on available grip. The brakes are easy to modulate. The thin A-pillars let you see around turns. In short, no car in our cast was as eager to establish a friendly rhythm when the roads got tricky.
Although the Accord was tied with the Avenger for loudest idle, it was merely a matter of our microphones registering quantity of sound versus quality.
Like the Sonata, the Accord is now officially a large sedan, with the extra room paying dividends abaft. For two or three adults, the rear seat proved the most spacious in this group. But try it yourself—the seatback is steeply reclined. We loved the three-tier dash, whose bulges and contours place all secondary controls at your fingertips. Which is lucky, because the center stack—ahem—contains 34 buttons.
We wish the Accord came with a manumatic, but you can shift manually by pulling straight back from D, to D3, to 2, to 1. Left to its own devices, the five-speed is prescient about holding lower gears on downhill grades and during spirited driving.
Like its predecessors, this latest Accord contains real meat in the middle. And that ain’t no baloney.
05-02-2008, 09:05 PM
#2375
Safety Car
#1 Seller in March
Honda Accord is the Best Selling VEHICLE in March
April 29, 2008
By Michelle Krebs
Will a car instead of a truck be America's best-selling vehicle again in April?
In March, the Honda Accord was not only the best-selling car in America it was also the best-selling vehicle. A car has ranked as the best-selling vehicle in monthly sales only five times in the last six years, according to Edmunds.com's analysis. Four of those times, the Accord was tops; the Toyota Corolla ranked No. 1 once, in May 2007.
But with pickup truck sales plummeting and consumers turning to more fuel-efficient cars, a car could take the top spot again for April when automakers post sales reports on Thursday.
In March, Honda sold 36,161 Accords, outselling perennial rival Toyota Camry but also outselling the usual top-place finishers, the Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Silverado 1500.
Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com’s executive director of Industry Analysis, predicts April sales being reported Thursday will show larger vehicles will show the largest year-to-year sales declines. "It's clear that gas prices are weighing heavily on car-buyers' minds," he said.
Accord: Finally Catching On
Honda deserves some credit for the Accord as well.
The redesigned 2008 Accord had been slow to catch on, but it now seems the Accord has – and without much financial push from Honda. The automaker is paying a scant $519 in Total Cost of Incentives (TCI) , Edmunds.com’s proprietary formula for calculating incentives, on each Accord sold.
Accord sales had dropped by about 10 percent for the first two months of 2008 compared with 2007. Honda executives told AutoObserver in March that the fall-off was due to the fact that it eliminated the huge incentives it offered on the Accord to sweep the old model off dealer lots to make way for the new version. Indeed, Accord’s TCI last June was up to $2,000.
In addition, Honda executives also said strong demand for the V6 engine over the four-cylinder in the new Accord took them by surprise. In light of higher gas prices, they had planned for the opposite. The other phenomenon Honda has been experiencing is that instead of the typical trend of compact owners trading up to an Accord, the car is attracting luxury owners downsizing, but they still want a V6 engine. As a result of analyzing these twists, Honda has adjusted its product mix of the Accord, which has led to higher sales.
A Shift in Consumer Preference
The Accord’s title of best-selling vehicle in America also illustrates the dramatic shift in American consumer preference -- toward more fuel-efficient cars and away from large gas-guzzling trucks.
To that end, Honda’s success in March wasn’t limited to the Accord. Honda was the only brand with three vehicles on the Top 10 Best-Selling Vehicle list.
Best Selling Vehicles for March
1 Honda Accord Midsize Car 36,161
2 Ford F-150 Large Truck 34,996
3 Toyota Camry Midsize Car 31,310
4 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Large Truck 30,780
5 Nissan Altima Midsize Car 30,577
6 Chevrolet Impala Large Car 29,010
7 Honda Civic Compact Car 28,971
8 Toyota Corolla Compact Car 21,552
9 Ford Focus Compact Car 21,168
10 Toyota Prius Compact Car 20,635
11 Honda CR-V Compact SUV 18,974
12 Ford Escape Compact SUV 16,735
13 Ford Fusion Midsize Car 15,887
14 Toyota Tacoma Compact Truck 15,587
15 Dodge Ram Pickup 1500 Large Truck 15,452
16 Pontiac G6 Midsize Car 15,108
17 Chevrolet Malibu Midsize Car 14,737
18 Toyota Tundra Large Truck 14,311
19 Dodge Grand Caravan Minivan 14,104
20 Chevrolet Cobalt Compact Car 13,756
Source: Edmunds.com
Best Selling Vehicles for Q1 2008
1 2008 Ford F-150 20.2% 94,551
2 2008 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 19.1% 90,903
3 2008 Honda Accord 27.8% 87,659
4 2008 Toyota Camry 17.6% 84,176
5 2008 Nissan Altima 31.5% 74,573
6 2008 Chevrolet Impala 15.4% 71,750
7 2008 Honda Civic 22.3% 70,210
8 2008 Toyota Corolla 12.1% 57,857
9 2008 Honda CR-V 16.2% 50,684
10 2008 Ford Focus 10.6% 49,070
11 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt 10.2% 48,024
12 2008 Pontiac G6 63.9% 45,951
13 2008 Toyota Prius 9.4% 42,907
14 2008 Toyota Tundra 8.6% 40,784
15 2008 Ford Fusion 8.6% 40,050
16 2008 Toyota Tacoma 8.4% 39,776
17 2008 Ford Escape 8.4% 39,313
18 2008 Dodge Ram Pickup 1500 16.7% 38,439
19 2008 Chevrolet Malibu 8.0% 37,404
20 2008 Ford Edge 7.7% 36,034
April 29, 2008
By Michelle Krebs
Will a car instead of a truck be America's best-selling vehicle again in April?
In March, the Honda Accord was not only the best-selling car in America it was also the best-selling vehicle. A car has ranked as the best-selling vehicle in monthly sales only five times in the last six years, according to Edmunds.com's analysis. Four of those times, the Accord was tops; the Toyota Corolla ranked No. 1 once, in May 2007.
But with pickup truck sales plummeting and consumers turning to more fuel-efficient cars, a car could take the top spot again for April when automakers post sales reports on Thursday.
In March, Honda sold 36,161 Accords, outselling perennial rival Toyota Camry but also outselling the usual top-place finishers, the Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Silverado 1500.
Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com’s executive director of Industry Analysis, predicts April sales being reported Thursday will show larger vehicles will show the largest year-to-year sales declines. "It's clear that gas prices are weighing heavily on car-buyers' minds," he said.
Accord: Finally Catching On
Honda deserves some credit for the Accord as well.
The redesigned 2008 Accord had been slow to catch on, but it now seems the Accord has – and without much financial push from Honda. The automaker is paying a scant $519 in Total Cost of Incentives (TCI) , Edmunds.com’s proprietary formula for calculating incentives, on each Accord sold.
Accord sales had dropped by about 10 percent for the first two months of 2008 compared with 2007. Honda executives told AutoObserver in March that the fall-off was due to the fact that it eliminated the huge incentives it offered on the Accord to sweep the old model off dealer lots to make way for the new version. Indeed, Accord’s TCI last June was up to $2,000.
In addition, Honda executives also said strong demand for the V6 engine over the four-cylinder in the new Accord took them by surprise. In light of higher gas prices, they had planned for the opposite. The other phenomenon Honda has been experiencing is that instead of the typical trend of compact owners trading up to an Accord, the car is attracting luxury owners downsizing, but they still want a V6 engine. As a result of analyzing these twists, Honda has adjusted its product mix of the Accord, which has led to higher sales.
A Shift in Consumer Preference
The Accord’s title of best-selling vehicle in America also illustrates the dramatic shift in American consumer preference -- toward more fuel-efficient cars and away from large gas-guzzling trucks.
To that end, Honda’s success in March wasn’t limited to the Accord. Honda was the only brand with three vehicles on the Top 10 Best-Selling Vehicle list.
Best Selling Vehicles for March
1 Honda Accord Midsize Car 36,161
2 Ford F-150 Large Truck 34,996
3 Toyota Camry Midsize Car 31,310
4 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Large Truck 30,780
5 Nissan Altima Midsize Car 30,577
6 Chevrolet Impala Large Car 29,010
7 Honda Civic Compact Car 28,971
8 Toyota Corolla Compact Car 21,552
9 Ford Focus Compact Car 21,168
10 Toyota Prius Compact Car 20,635
11 Honda CR-V Compact SUV 18,974
12 Ford Escape Compact SUV 16,735
13 Ford Fusion Midsize Car 15,887
14 Toyota Tacoma Compact Truck 15,587
15 Dodge Ram Pickup 1500 Large Truck 15,452
16 Pontiac G6 Midsize Car 15,108
17 Chevrolet Malibu Midsize Car 14,737
18 Toyota Tundra Large Truck 14,311
19 Dodge Grand Caravan Minivan 14,104
20 Chevrolet Cobalt Compact Car 13,756
Source: Edmunds.com
Best Selling Vehicles for Q1 2008
1 2008 Ford F-150 20.2% 94,551
2 2008 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 19.1% 90,903
3 2008 Honda Accord 27.8% 87,659
4 2008 Toyota Camry 17.6% 84,176
5 2008 Nissan Altima 31.5% 74,573
6 2008 Chevrolet Impala 15.4% 71,750
7 2008 Honda Civic 22.3% 70,210
8 2008 Toyota Corolla 12.1% 57,857
9 2008 Honda CR-V 16.2% 50,684
10 2008 Ford Focus 10.6% 49,070
11 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt 10.2% 48,024
12 2008 Pontiac G6 63.9% 45,951
13 2008 Toyota Prius 9.4% 42,907
14 2008 Toyota Tundra 8.6% 40,784
15 2008 Ford Fusion 8.6% 40,050
16 2008 Toyota Tacoma 8.4% 39,776
17 2008 Ford Escape 8.4% 39,313
18 2008 Dodge Ram Pickup 1500 16.7% 38,439
19 2008 Chevrolet Malibu 8.0% 37,404
20 2008 Ford Edge 7.7% 36,034
05-02-2008, 09:20 PM
#2377
Safety Car
Well ...
There is some debate bc Edmunds is not counting the Solara as a Camry. Personally, I do not think that Edmunds should bc not only do they not physically resemble each other, but the current 2004 generation Solara does not even share the new 2007 Camry platform. It is obvious that the 2008 Accord Coupe is just the 2 door version of the 2008 Accord Sedan - especially the interior. Same w/ the Civic.
05-03-2008, 12:15 PM
#2378
2G TLX-S
I'm surprised by the near bottom ranking of the Malibu, since it has been receiving good reviews and much fanfare about how improved the car is now.
05-03-2008, 12:49 PM
#2379
Race Director
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Charlotte(home) /Raleigh (school), NC
Age: 35
Posts: 11,395
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
wow good for the accord it is a very nice looking car. I also noticed as much crap as we give Acura for not having a V8 look at lexus sales they are WAY down, how long has it been since Acura has sold within a 1000 cars of Lexus? They might need it for image but it sure doesnt look like its going to help sales with these gas prices. Also toyota sales where down too overall. Honda's stubborness might finnally pay off for them.
05-03-2008, 01:59 PM
#2380
Race Director
The engines and gas prices is not what's hurting Lexus - it's the designs. The 3 and 5 series sales have not slowed despite the gas prices and slowing economy. Mazda sales are up while are others are flat or going down. It's mostly about the designs - same with the Accord - on paper there's little diff between it, the Camry and others - yet people buy more of them. This is not the month to compare Acura sales to anyone else's - they're down over 14%.
02-05-2009, 08:13 PM
#2382
Senior Moderator
Review from Edmunds here: http://www.edmunds.com/honda/accord/review.html
05-26-2009, 05:53 PM
#2383
Team Owner
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Fontana, California
Age: 47
Posts: 30,991
Received 582 Likes
on
346 Posts
Honda considering four-door Accord coupe?
http://www.leftlanenews.com/honda-ac...oor-coupe.html
If a report is to believed, Honda is apparently working on a four-door “coupe-style” version of its mainstream Accord sedan. Designed in the vein of the Volkswagen CC - which itself was modeled after the Mercedes-Benz CLS - the Accord four-door coupe could make it to North America badged as an Acura.
Auto und Motor Sport reports that the four-door coupe will be based on the European-market Accord (sold in North America as the Acura TSX). Given that the North American Accord is a larger mainstream sedan, the more upscale, style-oriented model believed to be under development would take an Acura badge. The design could be based on the Acura ZDX concept car that was unveiled earlier this year in New York.
More sweeping and stylish in its proportions, the four-door coupe would trade the traditional sedan’s practicality for a low, coupe-like roofline and probably a more dramatic interior. Its North American arrival could coincide with the rumored TSX Type S high-performance sedan.
Likely powered by the same 2.4-liter four-cylinder that sees duty in the TSX, the shapely Accord coupe would also offer the 2.3-liter, 260-horsepower turbo four and a six-speed dual-clutch gearbox expected to arrive in the TSX Type S. A North American variant could also be powered by the same V6 in the recently-introduced TSX V6.
For the millionth time. Four doors = sedan, not coupe!!! 
If a report is to believed, Honda is apparently working on a four-door “coupe-style” version of its mainstream Accord sedan. Designed in the vein of the Volkswagen CC - which itself was modeled after the Mercedes-Benz CLS - the Accord four-door coupe could make it to North America badged as an Acura.
Auto und Motor Sport reports that the four-door coupe will be based on the European-market Accord (sold in North America as the Acura TSX). Given that the North American Accord is a larger mainstream sedan, the more upscale, style-oriented model believed to be under development would take an Acura badge. The design could be based on the Acura ZDX concept car that was unveiled earlier this year in New York.
More sweeping and stylish in its proportions, the four-door coupe would trade the traditional sedan’s practicality for a low, coupe-like roofline and probably a more dramatic interior. Its North American arrival could coincide with the rumored TSX Type S high-performance sedan.
Likely powered by the same 2.4-liter four-cylinder that sees duty in the TSX, the shapely Accord coupe would also offer the 2.3-liter, 260-horsepower turbo four and a six-speed dual-clutch gearbox expected to arrive in the TSX Type S. A North American variant could also be powered by the same V6 in the recently-introduced TSX V6.
05-26-2009, 06:10 PM
#2384
http://www.leftlanenews.com/honda-ac...oor-coupe.html
For the millionth time. Four doors = sedan, not coupe!!!
For the millionth time. Four doors = sedan, not coupe!!!
05-26-2009, 06:39 PM
#2386
The sizzle in the Steak
the shapely Accord coupe would also offer the 2.3-liter, 260-horsepower turbo four and a six-speed dual-clutch gearbox expected to arrive in the TSX Type S.
:gheylaugh: 
05-27-2009, 12:12 AM
#2390
You'll Never Walk Alone
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Age: 37
Posts: 9,492
Received 834 Likes
on
518 Posts
Dual Clutch TSX Type S?? Hmm..it's only been confirmed that the dual clutch gearbox will be found in a hybrid vehicle at this moment.....unless the TSX Type S has IMA...
It has?
05-27-2009, 01:26 PM
#2394
The sizzle in the Steak
05-27-2009, 02:37 PM
#2395
Pro
Join Date: Jan 2009
Age: 42
Posts: 745
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I'd love to see a car like this in the US, but I'm very skeptical about the turbocharged four and a dual-clutch transmission showing up anytime soon. Honda hasn't even released the 6AT yet, so I doubt a dual-clutch transmission is coming anytime soon. Also, it seems that Honda is not particularly keen on the turbocharged four used in the RDX.
05-28-2009, 01:29 AM
#2396
You'll Never Walk Alone
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Age: 37
Posts: 9,492
Received 834 Likes
on
518 Posts
yup. Here is a quote from TOV,
" Fukui also mentioned that Honda is working on a new dual clutch transmission, which could possibly be teamed up with a future hybrid system. "
http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=832545
I fully expect someone will say things like, "Fukui also said/promised this, this, and this and that....but......"
" Fukui also mentioned that Honda is working on a new dual clutch transmission, which could possibly be teamed up with a future hybrid system. "
http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=832545
I fully expect someone will say things like, "Fukui also said/promised this, this, and this and that....but......"
05-28-2009, 09:29 AM
#2398
Senior Moderator
yup. Here is a quote from TOV,
" Fukui also mentioned that Honda is working on a new dual clutch transmission, which could possibly be teamed up with a future hybrid system. "
http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=832545
I fully expect someone will say things like, "Fukui also said/promised this, this, and this and that....but......"
" Fukui also mentioned that Honda is working on a new dual clutch transmission, which could possibly be teamed up with a future hybrid system. "
http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=832545
I fully expect someone will say things like, "Fukui also said/promised this, this, and this and that....but......"
05-28-2009, 10:24 AM
#2399
The sizzle in the Steak
It's sad to see that their best gearbox (manual) is not offered on their best product lines (Acura).
It boggles the mind.
05-28-2009, 11:35 AM
#2400
Race Director
Usually, the best stuff is limited to high end models and then it trickles down. Honda's DSG should follow a similar path.
