V6 Power - My Honda Accord. EDIT - New Pics on page 37! This review is for my black 2007 model facelifted honda accord v6.
note - pics will be uploaded in a few days since i am busy with exams.
After months and months of waiting to get myself my first car i finally bought one. for the past few months i had been thinking about what car to get. i decided to get a used car since i could get a better car at a lower price. i went over all the options in the 6-7lac budget. i wanted to spend about 6-7l on the car and then another 1 or 2 lacs on things like rims, ice, accessories. after thinking about this for a long time i shortlisted the following options
(not in order of preference)
1. used vrs - great engine and gadgets but less space and skoda maintainence kept me away.
2. used cedia - seemed perfect except for less snob value than others and a slightly less powerful engine.
3. used civic - i thought it was overpriced in the used market.
4. used accord v6 - only older examples of the car were available in 6-7l and the low mileage bothered me, but the v engine was tempting. then again i didnt want an auto.
5. new honda city - my dad suggested this to me, i dropped the idea as soon as he suggested it. i hate the looks and all the other cars were of a segment higher.
i didnt want an automatic at first, so i was thinking about manual transmission cars since i find them more fun to drive. then i came back to reality, i thought about all the cars mentioned above and realised that there was no way in hell i would be allowed to mod those cars anytime soon to get more power out of it. also in mumbai traffic a manual does not make sense. so what did i decide? to get a car that is power in its stock form. and the only option left was the accord v6. all this was decided in october.
i planned to start looking for a car in mid january after my exams finished. i used to keep checkin carwale for ads. i was looking at accord v6s below 9 lacs. i desperately wanted a facelifted version because it has some tweaks done to the engine and gearbox which made the 0-100 time 8.34 seconds. in the last week of december, i saw an add on carwale for a 2007 facelifted accord, but the problem was it was way over my budget. u called up and decided to go and have a look at it anyway. the car was expected to come to the dealer in a few days and before that i had a look at a 2005 model v6 which was in good condition.
anyway a few days later i went and had a look at the 2007 v6. apart from being on 6600kms run it also had a vip numberplate. i like little things like that. when i sat inside it was as good as new. the engine sounded perfect and the suspension was perfect too. i decided this had to be my car. i called up my father and asked him to come the next day and have a look at it. he saw it the next day and bought the car. i was surprised, since it all happened so fast and the car was more than we had planned to spend.
anyway enough of the blabbering, lets get to the car. its as good as new since its run only 6700 kms now. the interior is in perfect shape. so is the exterior, but it needs a good polish job. it also has a little dent about 3 inches long above the left rear wheel. and the car needs a touchup in a few places where the paint has been chipped off, probably by stones. The engine This 221bhp engine is a gem. it is very very refined, even near the redline. it is very rev happy like a typical honda engine and it smooooth. the mid range pushes you back into your seat and the top end is strong too. it is super silent at low revvs and gets a nice growl when the vtec is activated. floor it and this car moves, and fast. it can keep up with most cars under 40lacs. The gearbox being at auto i didnt expect to have too much fun with this car. how i was proven wrong. this box is actually pretty good. with moderate acceleration you cannot feel the shifts, but when you have to get the car to move, it holds on to the redline before upshifting. the kickdown though, sometimes, can be a little slow. shifts too are reasonably fast. since it is an auto, it is absolutely painfree driving even in traffic. i wish this car had paddle shifters though. The suspension the ride is extremely good, seems a little stiff at lower speeds but is very effective on the whole. it absorbs bumps very well, though not as well as the camry. the handling is more comfort oriented than sport. there is some bodyroll present. the car is stable is medium high speeds. Fuel Economy?? LOL for those of you who dare to read this. the fuel economy is just about ok. for a 3.0 v6 that is. till now used about 90% in traffic it has given me about 5.5kmpl though i expect it to go up after i give the car for a service. this is apparently the average that most accord v6 owners get and is the ONLY negative point of this car. on the highway i think i can expect between and 12kmpl. Features this car actually has quite a few features. abs, 2 airbags and stability control, not just for stopping wheelspin, a proper stability control. and it can be switched off. its also got an 8 way adjustable drivers seat. the ice is a 6 audio cd changer with 6 speakers and its good ok sound, no audiophile stuff. its also got climate control with dual zone temperature control. also present is cruise control, which can be a handy feature sometimes. the rest of the stuff is what normal cars of this segment have. Misc. this car is real fun to drive and i would recommend it to anyone with a 7-10lac budget. the acceleration is the best part about it. 70 in first and 110 km in second. dont have the guts to try third. the brakes seem to be good and stop the car exactly where you want it to. this car also has lots of torque, even a moderate push of the accel and there is wheelspin in first gear.
upgrades planned in the near future -
better ice
new rims and tyres - either 17s or 18s
angel eyes and xenons
will also upgrade to ebc brake pads once its time for a change.
the last time this car went for a service with its previous owners was over 1.5 years ago. im sending it sometime this week for a service. any idea what all i should look at getting done?
thanks for reading i hope you liked it. pics will be up by wednesday or thursday latest. |