During the press launch of the 2008 Honda Accord its chief engineer, Chitoshi Yokota was blunt as he discussed the car's lack of a push-button start. "We wanted to apply the push-button start but we will wait until we perfect the technology."
This sort of measured strategy is understandable as Honda does not want to try anything that might mess with the Accord's mojo. That's because the Accord is the Superman to Honda's Metropolis. In the U.S. it is Honda's best-selling vehicle, as well as one of the top five best-selling vehicles overall for nearly two decades. The Accord accounts for nearly one-fifth of all midsize vehicles sold in the U.S. It was not only the first Honda built here, but the first Japanese car built in the U.S., and 2007 marks the 25th year of manufacturing Accords in North America. So yeah, the Accord with a 32-year history is a very big deal to Honda-and the entire U.S. car-buying populace for that matter-and you can be sure that the automaker is careful with its tack. But the car wars are not always won by staying the course and Honda, being Honda, bumped up the features on the latest and greatest Accord, er, accordingly.
The '08 Accord is once again available with two or four doors, depending on which way you swing. Both Sedan and Coupe come with either a 2.4L four-banger (making 180 or 200 hp) or a saucy 273hp V-6, depending on which of the four available trim levels you select. The four can be had with a five-speed gearbox in both manual and automatic flavors.
The V-6 can be fitted with the same five-speed gearbox (albeit with slightly different ratios than the four-cylinder auto) or with a super snickety six-speed manual as an available treat for coupe owners. The automated V-6 is equipped with Honda's new Variable Cylinder Management (VCM) system that automatically switches from six-, four-, and three-cylinders to achieve the optimal balance between power and fuel economy. Each of the four and six-cylinder engines saw a bump in power while still meeting the ultra strict PZEV and ULEV/Tier-2, Bin-5 emissions certification. In short, the engines in the new Accord got more mean and more green. This is mostly because they feature exhaust manifolds built into the cylinder heads, allowing for quicker catalytic converter light-off-great for Mother Nature, but not so great for aftermarket potential. This pitfall shouldn't trouble too many Accord owners, as the model's substantial customer base is not exactly brimming with JDM Honda heads.