Accord looms larger

Some of you may already have seen the 2008 Honda Accord on area roads, even though production models of the sedan won't arrive in dealer showrooms until Sept. 12.

Honda executives have decided to introduce the eighth generation of the car that revolutionized the mid-size sedan market, in the city that was the birthplace of the American Revolution. The connection, however, is rather tenuous: The revolution started 200 years before a largely ignored automotive event -- the unveiling of the first Honda Accords to Boston-area automobile dealers. The 1976 model was a hatchback with a 68-horsepower engine and a 93.7-inch wheelbase, three inches shorter than Honda's present hot compact, the sold-out 2007 Honda Fit.

For the latest incarnation of the Accord, Honda brought a small fleet -- sedans and coupes -- in most every engine, transmission, and trim configuration to Boston in late June for the international motor press to drive and examine. Even before that, other preproduction Accords were photographed in the area for promotional purposes.

Our group drove the fleet down the Southeast Expressway, along the back roads of the South Shore and wound up in Chatham. It's fair to say a number of heads were turned en route.

Over three decades, the Accord has grown from a subcompact into the mid-size segment and now has just slipped into the EPA Large Sedan category. Honda isn't pushing that fact, but it's easy to see the lineup stretching, with the Fit now slotting below the nearly mid-size Civic.

You won't be alone if you view the new Accord as a worthy competitor for its upscale corporate relative -- the Acura TL sedan and now-abandoned CL coupe. It follows an industry trend that benefits the consumer: incorporating more features as standard equipment without raising the base price.

Honda is aiming the new Accord at its core group of empty-nest buyers while also targeting what it calls "Professional Couples" -- the group formerly known as DINKS (double income, no kids).

How important is the Accord to Honda? Consider these numbers:

Accords account for 25 percent of Honda's North American sales.

The company projects it will sell 400,000 of the 2008 model -- 350,000 sedans and 50,000 coupes.

Up to 30 percent of repeat buyers are so loyal to the brand that they don't even cross-shop before buying (a claim that Toyota's Camry likely can make, too).

The Accord is equally important to the US auto industry. Eighty percent of the Hondas sold in the United States are built here using more than 80 percent US-built parts.

The mid-size segment where we'll leave the Accord for now accounts for 25 percent of new car sales, trailing only the pickup truck category. Half of those mid-size cars carry Accord, Altima (Nissan), or Camry (Toyota) badges.

But other automakers are looking to take bigger slices of that market with the Ford Fusion, Saturn Aura, and Hyundai Sonata all producing quality vehicles.

In driving the new Accords, I decided that:

1. They're extraordinarily quiet inside.

2. The interior space is amazing, including a center console/armrest with room for both a driver's and passenger's elbow and true rear-seat passenger comfort.

3. The coupe is an immediate winner for the whole package -- styling, power train, and driver comfort. It would be on my must-shop list.

4. The dashboard and instruments have been redesigned and tiered with information-related gauges -- the speedometer, fuel, temperature, and navigation screen are on the top level for easy driver viewing. The center panel has different configurations depending on the model, with the nonnavigation versions being totally intuitive.

Honda has dropped the hybrid version of the Accord, which was geared more to performance than economy. The company line now is that the hybrid technology is better in smaller cars and that diesel power will make more sense for larger vehicles in the future.

Both four- and six-cylinder Accord models are mated to a five-speed automatic transmission that features Grade Logic and Shift Hold technology in their programming. Those systems help prevent unnecessary (and sometimes aggravating) gear changes on hills and winding roads.

V-6 models (except on the high-performance coupe with a six-speed manual transmission) have Variable Cylinder Management technology, which shuts down cylinders when they're not needed, such as in highway cruising and stalled traffic. It's not a new concept. Cadillac tried it with a V-8 in the 1970s, when the technology definitely wasn't up to supporting such an ambitious advance.

Honda already has used it successfully, introducing the system on the 2005 Odyssey and following with the Accord Hybrid and 2WD Pilots. The company claims the shifts are imperceptible to the driver, though my passenger and I certainly sensed something was happening while driving back from the Cape. While not disturbing to us, the Honda folks were eager to check the car we'd been driving.

Late this fall, when the New England Auto Show moves to the new Boston Convention and Exhibition Center and more than doubles its floor space, manufacturers will be bringing their "A" exhibits to town. For Honda, that will be "A" as in Accord. The company plans a major display for the Boston show, with the new Accord as its centerpiece. It's worth taking a look, even if you already saw one on a local highway this summer.