Short Take Road Test
Here we go again. Honda's mega-selling Accord has undergone a ground-up redo after its usual four short model years, at no point during which it fell off our annual 10Best list. And as usually happens when Honda redesigns a car, there is more good news than bad, including more space, greater efficiency, more features, and more power for both four-cylinder and V-6 models, the latter now making a whopping 268 horsepower.
You know how this is going to end.
But what of this power thing? In any given car company's quest to keep its products ahead of the pack in horsepower and torque, if only for bragging rights, is there not a point at which a car ends up with too much power? Moreover, in the case where a car offers a less potent, more efficient alternative powertrain, is there not a point at which that smaller motor makes not only enough to please modest drivers but also enough to please enthusiasts? On both counts, we think so. And for proof, we submit the Honda Accord EX.
Four Is Enough
Now, this is not to say that the 3.5-liter V-6 Accord has too much of anything, really, but it's certainly way more powerful than any front-wheel-drive family sedan needs to be, especially since, at this level, it's hard to get that kind of power to the ground without the traction-control nannies beeping, blinking, and wrist-slapping during bursts of enthusiasm. Besides, to some of us, the six-pot's character is a touch too mature—almost luxury-car-like. Indeed, after driving several Accords with the hyper-potent six, our prevailing thought is that Acura dealers must be pissed; their base TL makes less horsepower than its much cheaper corporate cousin.
The Accord four-cylinder, on the other hand, is more casual and correct, reminding us what's so great about Accords in general: It's not that they offer an extraordinary amount of any one thing; it's that what they offer goes a long way to satisfy their drivers.
The Accord's 2.4-liter DOHC four-cylinder with i-VTEC actually comes in two calibrations. Accord LX models produce 177 horsepower and 161 pound-feet of torque. Our Accord EX tester came with a five-speed manual transmission—a rarity in this class anymore—and the more powerful of the 2.4s, capable of 190 horsepower and 162 pound-feet, with a 7100-rpm redline (300 higher than that of the LX four-cylinder or any Accord V-6), not to mention the same 22 city/31 highway fuel-economy rating as the LX. We were in love. Silky smooth throughout the rev range, just audible enough to arouse, and sufficiently powerful to invoke thoughts of the Acura TSX (powered by a slightly more potent version of this same engine, in fact), it made us rethink our power-hungry sensibilities.
Indeed, more than one of us preferred this engine to the big six, which not only crowds an extra 78 horses into the stable but also brings an additional 300-plus pounds along for the ride (an estimated 3600 pounds versus our test car's 3263 pounds). Some 60 pounds of that is due to the V-6's mandatory five-speed automatic, which is also available with the four but is something we're happy to live without since the manual tranny has delightful precision complemented by light clutch effort.
