http://www.thestar.ca/NASApp/cs/Cont...l=969048871196

Six-speed Accord proves itself a gem

Takes on Acura CL and wins handily

LAURANCE YAP
PREVIEW

PHOENIX, ARIZ.—My initial reaction to fly all the way to Phoenix and drive the new six-speed Accord Coupe was, well, what's the point? We've already driven the Accord extensively in these pages. Agreed, the Accord Coupe EX V-6 six-speed is a variation on the theme we haven't driven before and it's the only one that's not yet on sale (though it will be April 1 at $33,600).

However, big 17-inch wheels and performance tires aside, it shares the Accord's familiar all-wishbone suspension, its quick and precise steering rack and its powerful, smooth and economical 240-horse, 3.0-litre V6. Does the new transmission really a new car make?

Surprisingly, the answer is a guarded "yes." Though the six-speed doesn't transform the front-drive, nose-heavy Accord into anything approaching a true sports-performance coupe in the 3 Series BMW idiom (for which it would need to be smaller, more densely packed and have its rear wheels, not its fronts, driven), the new transmission does take a very competent and luxurious two-door and elevate it to another, more serious plane.

It's an important extra that, interestingly enough, takes the fight to none other than Acura's $8,000-more-expensive 3.2CL Type S, previously the Honda stable's top front-drive performer.

I guess this shouldn't be too much of a surprise, as the current CL, which is due to be replaced in a year or so, is based on a lengthened and widened version of the previous-generation Accord platform, while the new Accord is, well, the new Accord, with all of the advances and refinements that you would expect of one of the world's most fastidious car companies.

From the most general impressions right down to the smallest details, the new Accord has the CL soundly thrashed.

Not least in the area of style, where the new coupe's pointy nose, convex-turning-to-concave surfaces and Mercedes-like bubble butt cut a definitively more distinctive (and to my eyes, more attractive) figure than the CL's rather anonymous, rectilinear lines.

With double spokes and bigger openings, the similarly-sized wheels (the tires are of a lower aspect ratio) better fill out their arches, the twin exhausts have a more finished, aftermarket look to them, and even details like the door handles and badges are simply more refined, more elegant, than the older car's.

What comes as a bigger surprise is that the Honda's interior is also the superior place to be. The new Accord's front seats are simply among the best in the business, with thick side bolsters and just-right lumbar support; the rears are more hospitable thanks to a taller roofline.

Shoulder and leg room are about the same, and the sunroof intrudes less into head space. The shapes are more modern and stylish, too, the Accord featuring a shield-shaped console with a big screen and instrument panel with electroluminescent lighting, which fades slowly in as you open the door. Beside it, the CL's graphics and shapes already feel a generation old.

Equipment levels are on par with the Acura, too, with a six-disc in-dash CD changer and premium sound system (though there are no Bose speakers), glass moonroof, leather upholstery, automatic dual-zone climate control (the Acura only has one zone), heated seats and the requisite array of power assists.

Material quality and build integrity are also a step up from the more expensive car, with many panel gaps now down to near-zero, and finishes that feel and look more expensive than those in many so-called luxury cars.

With about 200 cc less displacement and 20 fewer horses compared to the CL's V6, you would expect the Accord's VTEC motor — running on regular rather than premium fuel, remember — to feel less energetic, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Perhaps because it's hauling around less car, perhaps because of the Honda's excellent aerodynamic efficiency, the new coupe spears down the road with surprising vigour.

Ultimately, the Accord takes a bit of a hit in the handling department, mostly because it isn't fitted with the same expensive helical limited-slip differential that makes the CL such an involving drive. But when you're not pushing as hard as an auto journalist out to prove his point (ill-advised, especially when you're the journalist), you're not likely to feel much difference.

It's only in truly tight corners and with truly big doses of throttle that the front tires start to wash into an understeer that never manifests itself in the CL, the ride-biased Michelins squealing like little tortured pigs. (Non sequitur: have you ever seen a pig go around a muddy corner too fast? If not, you don't yet know the true meaning of understeer.)

High-g lateral moves are largely beside the point anyway because, despite what Honda would like you to believe, neither the CL Type S nor the new Accord Coupe are true performance machines; they're about cruising around in complete comfort, looking good while pampering yourself with all the latest toys, enjoying the occasional burst of VTEC joy and, most important, dusting uppity Civic Si coupes from stoplights.

Looked at this way, there's little, other than the slight entertainment advantage that helical diff might gain you around the occasional on-ramp romp, to justify the CL's extra cost, especially given that it's near the end of its life just as the fresher, faster, better-looking Accord is just at the beginning of its own.

Automotive ageism is a terrible thing. Less than a year ago I was singing the praises of that very CL which, until now, was the coolest front-drive coupe on the block. With the advent of this new Accord, though, I'm as bad as any other guy going through a quarter-life crisis, ready to trade up at a moment's notice to something younger, smaller, faster and better-looking.

Well, you know. The more things change...