Originally Posted by sherwood
i think honda will skip the six speed automatic and opt for a 7-speed. wanting to make more of a splash with the american audience who is starting to see auto 7's this year.
Have you heard whats been happening with MB's 7 speed trannies? Apparently they are nothing but trouble. We are yet to see how then upcoming 8 speed Lexus tranny does, but in any case, what is the sense of more than 5 gears in a low power V6 engine? The current 3.2 in the TL has no pull whatsoever in 5th gear, why bother with 7? Considering that Honda has no experience whatsoever in the V8 field, I tend to think they are going to stay with V6 engines and perhaps CVT.
Originally Posted by sherwood
as far as the engine goes i speculate that they might opt for a dohc design-- they really need to keep things up to date and putting a dohc head on a v6 instead of the sohc engine they use now will probably place the output well into the 300's, probably 325-330.
They might also go the turbo route for their entire lineup, if the RDX proves to be successful.
Originally Posted by sherwood
seeing as honda and acura are striving to be more separate i feel that the next generation accord will have the same motor as the current generation. this will keep prices down for the accord while allowing the TL's marketshare to climb-- it will also allow the TL to separate itself from the rest of the crowd again and possibly get a much needed boost in appeal.
then again these are more wants than anything else-- i mean hopefully they will finally make it RWD but who knows.
I doubt Accord will have the same engine, they must increase power to stay competitive, and more importantly, add torque. Accord is one of the most torqueless cars on the market now.
As far as RWD - forget about it.