Honda prices ‘08 Accord

Honda’s tried-and-true Accord gets a facelift for 2008, and the company has wasted little time announcing pricing for both the coupe and sedan.

Customers can buy an Accord for as little as $25,090 for the LX sedan, to $38,290 for the EX-L V6 coupe (before options). There are two 2.4-litre inline-4 cylinder engines to choose from, that produce 177- and 190-horsepower respectively, as well as a 3.5-litre i-VTEC V6 engine. The V6 produces a generous 268-horsepower, which is the most ever for an Accord.

Estimated fuel economy ratings for the 4-cylinder engines is 9.4 L/100 km. city and 6.4 L/100 km. highway (manual transmission). The V6 has an estimated rating of 11.0 L/100 km. and 6.7 L/100 km., city and highway, respectively.

The eighth generation Accord features several new technologies as well as new design philosophies, such as it’s ‘premium quality with a spacious design’ idea, which is intended to provide equal seating comfort for front and rear passengers.

The EX-L Coupe with V6 engine features larger 18” aluminum alloy wheels, chrome door handles, front fog lights, dual exhaust finishers and rear lip spoiler.

Every 2008 Accord includes driver’s and front passenger’s dual-chamber side airbags with a passenger-side Occupant Position Detection System, side curtain airbags, and dual-stage, dual-threshold driver’s and front passenger’s airbags. Other standard safety features include Vehicle Stability Assist and four-wheel-disc anti-lock brake system with brake assist and electronic brake distribution.

			Transmission
Model	Trim	Engine	Manual	Automatic
Accord Sedan	LX	177-hp 4-cylinder	$25,090	$26,290
	EX	190-hp 4-cylinder	$27,490	$28,690
	EX-L	190-hp 4-cylinder	$29,890	$31,090
	EX-L Navi	190-hp 4-cylinder	$32,690	$33,890
	EX V6	268-hp V6	N/A	$31,690
	EX-L V6	268-hp V6	N/A	$34,990
	EX-L V6 Navi	268-hp V6	N/A	$37,790
Accord Coupe	EX	190-hp 4-cylinder	$27,990	$29,190
	EX-L	190-hp 4-cylinder	$30,390	$31,590
	EX-L Navi	190-hp 4-cylinder	$33,190	$34,390
	EX-L V6	268-hp V6	$35,490	$35,490
	EX-L V6 Navi	268-hp V6	$38,290	$38,290

Nous voulons des voitures coupé-sport

You wonder sometimes about car manufacturers. Occasionally vehicles are released that just make one stop and say “what are they thinking?” Cars like the Cadillac Cimmaron and Pontiac Aztec are perfect examples of total failure at the corporate level. Sometimes the car companies do not make actual blunders but still leave you wondering what’s going on behind the scenes. Sports car enthusiasts often seem to get the short end of the stick and are left shaking their heads.

For years BMW had a virtual monopoly on the luxury sport coupe segment with the 3-series. Their coupes are well made, sporty and just plain good looking. Then in 2004, Nissan shocked the industry with the release of the beautiful Nissan 350Z and Infiniti G35 coupe. The duo stole the heart of just about every car enthusiast I know. Often I’ve heard people say that (supercars aside) the G35 coupe is the most beautiful car on the road today. I have to say I’d be hard pressed to disagree with that statement. Nissan hit the nail on the head and gave us enthusiasts exactly what we wanted: unbelievable value in a modestly-priced luxury sports car. BMW had little reason to be worried though as their clients stand by the BMW brand like no other but for those who didn’t have their heart set yet, the new duo provided a nice alternative.

The 350Z and G35 coupe reinvigorated Nissan to a certain level of status it hadn’t known since the original Z. I’d have expected a few of the other manufacturers to follow suit but sadly those expectations have not been met. There have been many rumours of a Lexus IS coupe and even some fancy photoshops but where the heck is it? Acura has no plans to bring back the CL luxury coupe that it discontinued in 2003. Mercedes has the C230 Sport coupe but I’d have a hard time classifying it as a sports car. The message conveyed to the auto industry should have been that we want more vehicles like the 350Z and G35 coupe. Why aren’t they listening??

Why did a vehicle like the Acura CL fail when obviously there was a huge demand for this class of car? In my opinion, a sport coupe should be smaller and sleeker. The CL reminded me of a 2nd generation TL minus the rear doors coupled with a bubbly rear end. If I’m buying a coupe, practically isn’t the first thing on my mind. Curiously though the Accord coupe does fairly well and it seems as big and bulky as the CL was. Perhaps the market for entry level coupes differs somewhat form luxury sport coupes but Honda could benefit from following Nissan’s lead in this segment. Since you shouldn’t mess with success, keeping the Accord coupe around its probably wise but the more gutsy move of bringing back the Prelude and CL with newer sleeker designs to compete with the 350Z and G35 would be quite popular among enthusiasts.

As I mentioned before, we are still waiting for an IS coupe to make an appearance. The current IS is sexy enough that it would probably be considered by many would-be coupe buyers except for the fact that Lexus seems to have a love for automatic transmissions. The only model available with a manual transmission is the IS250 RWD. That means that if you want AWD you’re out of luck. If you want an engine that can actually give other cars in the segment a run for their money you are also out of luck. Thank you Lexus for overlooking the enthusiast crowd, most of whom driving an automatic or “tiptronic” vehicle just doesn’t cut it. If BMW can offer a manual AWD vehicle then Lexus can as well. Until then, scratch them off the list of real performance contenders.

GM’s Cadillac CTS-V is also a potential competitor here. Available in 2.8L and 3.6L V6s or the 6L V8 (CTS-V), it offers a descent choice of engines and unlike the Lexus a manual transmission is available on all models. Unfortunately for enthusiasts though, the CTS-V (the one we really want) starts at $71,000. That is roughly $20,000 more than a BMW 335! GM needs to do a little better on that price but other than the CTS is an option to consider.

For now it seems the Germans still have the edge in luxury performance. Hopefully in a few years we’ll start to see a real push from other manufacturers to compete in this prestigious segment.

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