HONDA ACCORD V6 a most refined drive

I like this car and I don't care what the price is. It's the sort of car I want in my garage because it is so easy to drive and to get a good mileage from its 70 litres of 91 octane fuel.

Writes Bill Green for Cargo

I'll make no bones about it, I like this car and I don't care what the price is. It's the sort of car I want in my garage because it is so easy to drive and to get a good mileage from its 70 litres of 91 octane fuel.

Honda has long been recognised for producing some smart cars. Back in the 'old days' a few decades ago, (cor, three of them!) we saw not only the Civic, but also Accord come on the New Zealand scene.

My daughter had a two door Accord (earlier this decade, when she was at Uni), I had an EB1 Civic two door, orange, great fun to drive, even good for the occasional gymkhana or two, plus some grass racing and my dear old Dad had a two door Accord – none of the above cars gave an ounce of trouble.

For the purposes of this article, we now see the eighth generation of the Accord in its two body shapes on our market. Accord V6 is of course, quite a bit larger than the Euro Accord, plus it has the interesting - and excellent - 3.5 litre, V6 under the bonnet.

Over the life of the car - as with most models - there have been some changes, not least of which was the replacement of the original 3.0 litre mill by the 3.5. Now we see more cosmetic changes happening.

The front of the car now shows a more aggressive approach with revised lights and bumper area. The grille is smoother to look at and the boot lid detailing has been enhanced.

New 10-spoke alloys adorn the car, while inside, Bluetooth compatibility is now standard. The centre dash area has been mildly modified, still can be rather a bit of a handful to use though.

Under the bonnet there is still some clever counting from Honda: 3 + 4 = 6. Perhaps not mathematically, but in Honda speak it does with this 202kW and 340Nm V6.

Basically this is a method tried before, but now perfected by Honda’s technicians. They have set up the system so that the engine can run on 3, 4 or its normal 6 cylinders according to loading. This, Honda refers to as VCM – variable cylinder management.

The system allows for a cleaner burn, and impressive fuel consumption if you try, but not that hard. Honda claims 9.9l/100km, which can be easily bettered with a modicum of care, I recorded just 7.6l/100km in last year’s AA Energywise Rally with a similar car.

What’s more, you don’t actually know just how many pots are being fired up at any one time, unless of course you are keeping the lead foot right down, in which case it will obviously be all six.

The only telltale is the small ‘ECO’ symbol on the dash. When this lights up you are generally in either three or four cylinder mode, and saving fuel, especially while doing some open road cruising.

An ‘intelligent’ system, VCM not only delivers maximum power as needed but also efficiency in all driving situations.

Add to this the five speed automatic gearbox, which can be manually changed via the race inspired ‘paddle shifters’ behind the steering wheel. This is a smooth shifting transmission, which is something I have always expected from a Honda.

This sedan also has a bit of a sporty twist. The suspension is not soft, but it has a certain firmness which inspires you to get on with things.

The Accord V6 has advanced double wishbone front suspension which uses both lower and upper control links for a more predictable cornering feel and emergency maneuvering.

At the rear of the car, the multi-link suspension provides high lateral rigidity with a smooth ride. The vagaries of our roading system are therefore, handled with aplomb.

Inside this car, you feel exceptionally comfortable. It has the feel, look and quality of fit and finish expected in a car which costs considerably more than the $59,670 than the V6 Sport version as tested.

It’s rather like sitting in a favourite armchair, such is the set-up of the seats. The driver gets an eight way electronic adjuster, the seats are generous in proportion and very well shaped fore and aft. Five will fit with ease. Head and shoulder room is superb.

Out back the boot is well finished, even down to a cover over the inside of the lid, unlike some of the other six cylinder ranges, but those awful ‘D’ rings that hold the boot lid up could be changed to hidden hinges as they do compromise the boot space just a bit.

The sound system is nigh on superb for reproduction. It features a premium quality in-dash MP3/WMA compatible stereo tuner with folder control and 6-disc CD changer, steering wheel mounted controls, a 270 watt amplifier and 7 speakers including an 8” Subwoofer.

Added in the latest version is a USB input as well as an auxiliary input, alongside the Speed-sensitive Volume Control (SVC). The Honda V6 Accord also has ‘Active Noise Cancellation’ to reduce unwanted repetitive sounds from the cabin, something usually found in much more expensive cars.

Dual-zone air conditioning allows both driver and passenger to choose their comfort levels.

The inside of the car is a quiet place to be with no audible wind noise, though there is some tyre noise (as expected, it is so difficult to engineer that out of any car on our very coarse chip surfaces).

If anything, the latest version of Honda's V6 Accord feels even more refined than the previous model.

Safety has been well catered for with 4-wheel anti-lock disc brakes (ABS), 4-channel Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD, which helps maintain control during hard braking), standard front, side and curtain airbags and new active front head restraints, while VSA and rear parking sensors have been added to the standard specs of the three vehicle line-up, VL, Sport and Mugen.

Who said big cars are outmoded! Maybe they aren't as popular as they once were, but in this case, some driving refinement - combined with clever efficiency - may be one that can sway a few.

Book a test drive today.