Honda Accord reviews

2006 Honda Accord Driving Impressions

From a driving standpoint, you're getting an outstanding automobile whether you choose a cloth-upholstered Accord sedan with a four-cylinder and automatic, a sporty V6 coupe, or anything in between.

We think the four-cylinder Accord sedan is the best car in its price class. It strikes a perfect balance between ride and handling. The Accord rides more smoothly and more comfortably than the Nissan Altima. Yet its handling is controlled. The Accord handles better than the Toyota Camry yet it rides well. Its suspension smooths out bumps and ripples in the road, but isn't so mushy that your back-seat passengers get motion sickness. When pushed hard, it's balanced and fun to drive. We found it stable at high speeds with crisp handling on winding roads. It's smooth, poised and supremely stable.

The 2.4-liter twin-cam four-cylinder engine is smooth and powerful, with a high-quality, mature feel. It's strongest at higher rpm, but never gets buzzy. With new drive-by-wire throttle control and revised valve timing, the 2006 version delivers 166 horsepower at 5800 rpm and 160 pound-feet of torque at 4000 rpm. (Torque is that force that propels you away from intersections and up hills.) That's 6 more horsepower than 2005 models had, and about the same torque delivered 500 rpm sooner; those new power figures would be more impressive if they weren't adjusted to meet new test procedures instituted by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Honda says the actual improvement is closer to 10 horsepower. Additionally, Accord's four-cylinder engine is equipped with Honda's i-VTEC valvetrain, which means the valve timing is continually adjusted according to conditions for strong torque over the entire rpm range. So it's responsive at all engine speeds. Yet it delivers excellent fuel mileage: 24/34 mpg City/Highway with the automatic. It gets even better mileage around town when equipped with the manual, earning an EPA-estimated 26/34 mpg.

The five-speed automatic transmission is incredibly smooth. The drive-by-wire throttle is programmed to cut the gas during upshifts, and its timing is perfect. It's not often that the performance of an automatic transmission is so tight that it stands out.

The five-speed manual gearbox is especially wonderful. The gear ratios are perfect and the shifting is buttery smooth. It seems to love aggressive downshifts. With the manual transmission, acceleration was strong.

The 3.0-liter V6 is light and powerful, now rated 244 horsepower and 211 pound-feet of torque. Equipped with VTEC, its broad torque range begins at relatively low rpm. The V6 gets excellent fuel economy: 21/30 mpg with the automatic transmission.

The Accord is a carefree car. Both engines run on regular gas, and there's no scheduled maintenance for at least 105,000 miles, except for oil changes, and even those are required only every 10,000 miles. In terms of emissions, the Accord is a clean car. Models with four-cylinder engines qualify as LEV-2 Low Emissions Vehicles; PZEV-rated LX and EX four-cylinder automatic sedans are sold in California, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine. (Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle means almost no evaporative emissions.)

The Accord Hybrid combines exceptional fuel economy with even better performance. With 253 horsepower and 232 pound-feet of torque, the Hybird beats the regular V6 sedan from 0 to 60 miles per hour by half a second, and gets much better gas mileage. With a calculated range of 633 miles, the Hybrid can go 120 miles more between fill-ups than the standard Accord V6 models.

Though revised for 2006, the Accord Hybrid still doesn't shout its environmentally friendliness, whether viewing it from outside or inside the car. Unique spoilers and tail lights, plus a small HYBRID badge on the trunk lid barely hint that this car has a different powertrain. Inside, the only changes are a badge on the dashboard and a bar graph below th