We spent a day driving the various trim levels of both the Accord Sedan and the new Coupe through Ohio's Cuyahoga Valley and came away impressed with all of them. At one point, we staged an informal back-to-back test of the Accord EX V-6, Toyota Camry, Chevrolet Malibu and Ford Taurus. Blasting up and down a rough, knarly little backroad, we explored the limits of handling, power and braking. The Camry offered superb damping over the ripply pavement and the Malibu surprised us with its handling prowess. By comparison, the Taurus seemed out of its element, heavy and ponderous. The Accord provided the sharpest transient response when turning left, then right, then left again, and it had the best brakes. The overriding impression was that the Accord seemed lighter on its feet and inspired more confidence than the other cars. Two months later, we spent a week driving an Accord EX V-6 in Maryland. The more time we spent with this car, the more we were impressed with its competence. Ripples and potholes are smoothed out by the well-damped suspension, yet corners can be taken with confidence without any of the yawing and pitching that can shake confidence at higher speeds. In cruise city, the V6 engine just purrs along, barely audible. Stomp on the throttle and the VTEC cam setup growls with authority and quickly rockets the car into scofflaw county. We like both of those places and the Accord is a great car for traveling between them.
|