While we find it pointless to argue which car is the better car based on stats, Jashiga and I decided to put the 2003 Honda Accord V6 and the 2003 Acura CL Type-S head to head through various challenges. The Accord puts out 244hp with it’s 3.0 liter V6 engine where as the more powerful CL Type-S boasts 265hp with it’s 3.2 liter V6 engine. While these figures may give the CL Type-S an upper hand, it’s weight of 1563 kg doesn’t. The Accord being 82 kg lighter (1481 kg) helps utilize it’s 244hp as much as possible. For our challenge, we kept these two cars completely stock, even with comfort tires! The only thing done was an oil change and chassis refreshment.


From a 0 to 80mph sprint, the Accord takes the lead because of it’s lighter weight. The Accord’s gear ratio is also much shorter than the CL Type-S, each gears fall short of almost 7mph compared to it’s Acura cousin, helping it accelerate faster. However, when we tested these two from a 40mph roll, the CL Type-S was dead even with the Accord and once 110mph rolled by, the CL Type-S was nearly a car length ahead thanks to its .2 liter and 11hp advantage.


We tested the handling of these two cars at our Tuscana Tarmac test track, a 4mile twisty road. The Acura CL Type-S performed surprisingly well for a front wheel drive luxury sports coupe. The car was very stable through the high speed turns and the handling was fairly predictable. The Honda Accord on the other hand, took the turns more sloppy.


Even if the turns were more sloppy compared to the more refined Acura, the Honda Accord managed to leave the CL Type-S behind at almost every corner! Each corner we took, we observed that the Accord was able to turn in much harder and exit the corners at a much faster speed. However, once on a long stretch, the CL Type-S starts to catch up.


Our final challenge takes us to Suzuka Raceway where we did a 3 lap race. As we have thought, the CL Type-S managed to edge out the Accord at almost every straight way on this track, and there are a lot of them. The Accord performed heroically around the corners but there wasn’t enough sharp corners to help pass the CL Type-S. During the test, we observed that the sloppiness of the Accord’s handling became very obvious. Turn by turn, the Accord would slip and slide, it even managed to go of course twice!

So the verdict, pick Acura CL Type-S if you are looking for a fun and refined car that roars massive power. Pick the Honda Accord V6 if you plan to modify the car for further track use. Don’t get us wrong, the CL Type-S has a lot of potential too but multiple twisty roads are not it’s friend.