During our first drive experience with the 2013 Accord V6 Coupe last August in Santa Barbara, we suspected that the new car was a bit more potent than the outgoing model. On paper, Honda claims a 7 horsepower gain, but in a 3400lb car that go should go virtually unnoticed. As you can see in the dyno charts on the following page, it seems likely that our backsides weren't lying, and perhaps the horsepower delta between the new J35W2 and the J35Z2 is in fact a bit more than 7 horsepower.

Reading through the 2013 Accord press kit, Honda doesn't do a whole lot of bragging on this (non-VCM) version of the Earth Dreams 3.5L V6. They do mention an increase in torque from idle to 4900 rpms vs the older V6 engine, and indeed, there's a considerable improvement in torque delivery almost everywhere in the rpm range. We're not sure what's been done to gain this improvement, as all the basic specs remain the same as before, including the (somewhat conservative by today's standards) 10:1 compression ratio. We will try to find out what sort of things contributed to this improvement, but it's worth noting that these dyno figures surpass our previous Honda dyno champ - the 2007 Acura TL Type-S (which was rated at 286hp by the factory).

As you can imagine, on the street this engine delivers a healthy dose of visceral satisfaction. With the 6MT V6 coupe, Honda permits a bit more intake and exhaust note to enter the cabin, and it sounds absolutely fantastic. Torque delivery is exceptionally smooth and torque itself is bountiful. At times I tend to wish for shorter gear ratios in our Hondas, but this engine is so potent, I can't help but wonder if performance might improve a little bit with slightly taller gearing. As it is, it spins up through 1st and 2nd gears so quickly, your right arm and left leg have to work furiously just to keep the car off the rev limiter.

Plot #1 - 2013 Accord V6 EX-L 6MT Coupe

Notes: Yep, that's nearly 260hp to the wheels and more than 235lb-ft, and this engine isn't even close to being broken in. These are pretty impressive figures from a fairly pedestrian SOHC 3.5L V6. It will be interesting to see what the RLX's "310hp" version of this engine pumps out on the dyno.

Plot #2 - 2013 Accord V6 EX-L 6MT Coupe vs 2009 Accord V6 EX-L 6MT Coupe



Notes: These dyno runs were performed at the same dyno facility but several years apart, so there could be discrepancies there. Also, the '09 Accord was tested during much warmer conditions, but the dyno software corrects for that difference using SAE conversion factors (in this case, the '09 Accord's results were corrected upwards by a factor of 5%. There is zero correction applied to the 2013 Accord's results as conditions were close enough to the SAE's base conditions)). The best thing is to compare the two cars on the same day, but we didn't have that luxury, so this virtual dyno shootout has to do for now. According to these results, the 2013 Accord (blue plot) just makes more torque and power pretty much everywhere in the rev range, and the gap widens considerably in the 4000-6000rpm range. This indicates superior breathing.

Plot #3 - 2013 Accord V6 EX-L 6MT Coupe (J35W2) vs 2007 Acura TL Type-S 6MT (J35A8)

Notes: These dyno runs were performed at the same dyno facility but several years apart, so there could be discrepancies there. Also, the '07 TL Type-S was tested during much warmer conditions, but the dyno software corrects for that difference using SAE conversion factors (in this case, the '07 TL Type-S' results were corrected upwards by a factor of 4%. There is zero correction applied to the 2013 Accord's results as conditions were close enough to the SAE's base conditions). Here, the Accord's engine outperforms the TL Type-S, on paper at least. The TL's J35 has the advantage of an extra point of compression (11.0:1), which means the TL Type-S requires Premium Unleaded. The Accord's listed 10:1 CR means it runs just fine on Regular Unleaded. For the dyno plots seen here, we don't know what type of fuel was in the tank as the car was delivered to us with a full tank. On this day, the Accord's J35W2 outperformed the TL's J35A8, mostly in the 4000-6000 rpm range, but please note that even though the Dynojet is supposed to correct for conditions, it's possible that the extra ambient heat present during the TL Type-S testing could account for a bit more power loss due to the ECU possibly pulling some timing out for safety's sake. This is why dyno testing 2 different cars on the same day or under the exact same conditions makes for more valid comparisons. For now, even though it appears that the new Accord is about 5hp stronger than the TL Type-S, we'll call it a draw.

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKQSkGwx21U

On a long trip where we cruised at a fairly steady average of around 78-80mph, we observed fuel economy averages in the 31-32mpg range. That's still not bad, but the much more potent Accord V6 Touring model we sampled several months ago delivered better fuel economy at these higher cruising speeds, but it wasn't nearly as thrifty as the 4-cylinder model around town.

Assumptions fly with the arrival of a driver in a two-door coupe: The driver has no young children. The driver pays others to deliver the new furniture and television sets. The driver does not spend long weekends at the lake, or shop for an orphanage at Costco, or rebuild old Mopars, or venture into rainy nights to walk a malamute.

Of course, you can own the new Honda Accord coupe while defying all of these assumptions, except maybe the one about the dog. But because people tend to buy cars they believe mesh perfectly with their busy lifestyles, rather than ones that might just do in a pinch, former rivals to the Accord coupe have steadily become stuffed pelts in the museum of automotive evolution.

The Toyota Camry Solara is gone, as is the Chevy Monte Carlo, and the Nissan Altima coupe is making death rattles. To make comparisons, we had to cast the net widely, from the Ford Mustang to the Volkswagen Beetle Turbo. Proof that it’s been a while since a two-door hardtop was urban chic lies in the increasingly vast flotillas of SUVs, of  jacked-up Benzes and Hyundais shaped like hiking boots. In our auto biosphere, the elephants are winning.

Thus, what you see here is a survivor, albeit one expertly tailored in the Honda way to serve those with lesser lug-about needs. Whistling past the graves of others, the two-door Accord comes fitted with a four-cylinder or a V-6, and here we sample the latter, oddly equipped with the six-speed automatic. “Oddly,” we say, because a six-speed manual is also available with the 278-hp V-6, and our preference for sticks is well documented. But so is the wider population’s disdain for them, so we have, in this case for the sake of  broader science, deigned to test Honda’s new automatic.

Choosing the V-6/automatic propels you out of the $20,000s and into the low-$30,000 realm, a sort of Mongolian desert for two doors. The only other kindred soul slogging its way across this barren stretch is the Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8. The Mustang V-6 and Beetle Turbo remain back in Mid-20s Town, and in the far distance is an oasis of pedigreed sports coupes such as the Audi A5 and Infiniti G37, which start at or just under $41,000.

Yet, when it’s all broken down into lease payments, this gussied-up Accord coupe sits a little too close to machines of seriously upscale pretensions to completely discount them as competition. The Honda is tangibly cheaper, but at $33,140 with the $2000 optional navigation system, it has to be the luxurious and dynamic real deal, or potential buyers might stretch to the next rung.

The coupe’s styling makes a strong start at keeping buyers in the Honda showroom. This is a company that doesn’t follow the crowd in mixing its genres. Whereas the new Accord sedan is something of a revival of flatter-roof, larger-window, more-upright-windshield practicality in a market hastening toward four-door Lotus Esprits, the coupe is definitely a coupe. From an unapologetically three-box profile, the coupe melts down and puddles rearward into a pleasingly sloped wedge. It breaks the air with an upturned bank of narrow headlights fanning out from the grille, and follows through with flexed tendons in the sheetmetal running up the sides to the rear. Black cutouts in the bumpers add a whiff of racy air ducting, but in fact are just blanked-off, design-studio theater. Because the new, smaller Accord heralds the industry’s retreat to more sane dimensions in this class, the robotic-snowflake wheels manage to look big even at just 18 inches.

As with any coupe, the doors are longer and may require foam bumpers to be deployed in the garage, but the inner armrests and pockets are at least slimmed down for easier exits. Honda’s cockpit-design ethos has swayed little with the winds of time, remaining primarily dependent on yards of black plastic interstitched with stacked tiers speckled with buttons. One large super-knob, familiar to any driver of a higher-spec Honda or an Acura of the past 10 years, controls the upper information screen.

What’s new is a second, smaller touch screen below, part of the EX and EX-L trim upgrades, that serves as the virtual radio console. This second screen is where the ergonomics turn silly. Its pixelated station-seeking buttons are a distraction to tap while driving, and the single, free-standing volume knob, while welcome, is needlessly lonely. By fitting a second knob for spin-tuning (the available real estate is ample and rotary car-radio knobs have been a winning design since the 1930s), Honda would have made the radio much easier to use. Note that you can’t buy any V-6 coupe without getting the touch screen.

Also, the Accord’s electronics are gallingly slow considering that its technology is hardly groundbreaking. As you spin and push the Honda’s super-knob to program the nav, the on-screen cursor alternately pauses and then skips wildly as the processor struggles to keep up with your inputs. Entering an address or syncing a Bluetooth phone is an exercise in target shooting. True, you can use the smaller touch screen to enter addresses directly using a virtual keyboard, which is that screen’s only really useful function. But history will record that profit-laden $2000 factory nav systems were killed off by $200 smartphones, and Honda was happy to help.

With the coupe, Honda shows its strengths in other ways. If rear passengers are in the party, the back seats welcome them with an easy-slide front-seat release and a deep, supportive scalloping to the bench foam. Honda is not known for wasting millimeters, and in the coupe, a six-footer can sit behind a six-footer without a squeeze. The rear seatbacks also fold as one via a release in the trunk, so longer items need not be left at the curb. Aside from the electronics, the only serious design dribble is with the cutout for the door grab handle, which is placed right where the driver’s left elbow wants to perch.

Honda’s signature red start button lights the 3.5-liter V-6. It rasps with a voice sharpened to penetrate the cabin. Note the elevated sound levels in the specs, especially the 83-dBA full-throttle reading. Not that we’re complaining. Stand on it, and this Honda sounds like a Honda, built around a precision engine with its power in the penthouse and one brisk elevator going up.

It attains the 60-mph mark in a snappy 5.5 seconds. Nothing over five seconds is stunning these days, but it puts the coupe nearly even with a G37 and it whomps the Genesis and Audi A5 2.0T. The all-season Michelins mean that other performance indexes, such as the 0.86-g skidpad and the 169-foot braking, are less noteworthy and more aligned with the coupe’s genetic lineage.

On the road, however, the Accord coupe feels as tightly wound as a sapper poking a land mine. The throttle is on a short fuse and the transmission is always primed and ready. It doesn’t wait to see if you’re serious before kicking down a couple of ratios. The light-but-tense steering responds right now, with a no-nonsense alertness. Slight tugs of wheel feedback hint at the hard work being done by the tires. The brakes have a deep reserve of capability and enough shading in their operation to set up a corner perfectly. Here is yet another Honda that proves front-drive cars can handle.

Parts of this highly caffeinated coupe are a little too amped for the car’s own good, though. The suspension is just plain harsh, causing obnoxious head-toss where it should just be lightly thumping and bumping. And the transmission sometimes feels too eager, too rough, banging home the next gear unnecessarily or throwing a ragged downshift at you when you’re just coasting up to a light.

It’s a strange machine, then, and hard to pigeonhole. Closer to its $24,140 four-cylinder-equipped base price, it makes more sense as a larger, steadfastly adult alternative to the Scion FR-S and similar. But at this price, its elegant but utilitarian interior and the tattle-tale squirm of the disproportionately heavy front end under acceleration never let you forget that it’s just the market’s best mainstream family taxi minus two doors. But it is also fast and edgy, at times a can of Red Bull on radials. It generates the performance stats of more-expensive cars, but without the brand cachet or the credibility of rear-wheel drive, a fact that will undoubtedly send some potential buyers walking.

It is, in short, a car that defies assumptions even as it defies extinction.


VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 2-door coupe
PRICE AS TESTED: $33,140 (base price: $31,140)
ENGINE TYPE: SOHC 24-valve V-6, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injection
Displacement: 212 cu in, 3471 cc
Power: 278 hp @ 6200 rpm
Torque: 252 lb-ft @ 4900 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 6-speed automatic with manual shifting mode
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 107.3 in
Length: 189.2 in
Width: 72.8 in Height: 56.5 in
Curb weight: 3525 lb

C/D TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 5.5 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 13.8 sec
Zero to 120 mph: 20.9 sec
Rolling start, 5–60 mph: 5.9 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 14.1 sec @ 101 mph
Top speed (governor limited): 125 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 169 ft
Roadholding, 200-ft-dia skidpad: 0.86 g

FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city/highway: 21/32 mpg
C/D observed: 26 mpg

TEST NOTES: In manual mode, the 1-2 shift is automatic. Gears 2 through 4 are held until the driver commands the upshift. Best launch is achieved by rolling into the throttle to minimize wheelspin.