The Honda powers that be, with the powerful. (From left) Honda Cars Philippines Inc. (HCPI) vice president for marketing Arnel Doria, Asian Honda Motor Co. Ltd. president and chief executive officer Tatsuhiro Oyama, Honda Research and Development Co. Ltd. chief engineer (large project leader, Honda Accord) Chitoshi Yokota and HCPI president and general manager Hiroshi Shimizu strike a powerful pose with the powerful eighth-generation Accord.

HONDA now has upped the ante for executive sedans with the launch of the eighth-generation Honda Accord.

Held at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza’s Harbour Garden, the launch emphasized its saloon heritage and a newfound harmonious balance between performance and luxury. “The current Accord provides all the fundamental qualities expected of a sedan. However, compared with some competitors, we wanted to strengthen its character. We added the luxury aspect on its sporty character, thus making it more powerful and advanced than previous models,” said Honda Research and Development Co. Ltd. chief engineer (large project leader, Honda Accord) Chitoshi Yokota.

The exterior retains the three-box shape (engine bay, cabin, trunk) of its predecessor, but with more distinction and road presence. A thicker nose pays homage of sorts to the current Mercedes-Benz C-Class, with a forward extension that is more taut than subtle.

Inside, the cabin’s upper area was designed to exude a rounded, 3-D effect for a compact and sporty look. Floor height was lowered by 15 mm to accommodate people with bigger lower extremities and allows for a dynamic, more flowing exterior design. All performance-gauge clusters are at the same height as the speedometer for reduced eye movement, giving the driver the chance to focus more on the road. The audio entertainment is MP3-ready, and includes a center console-mounted USB jack for external MP3 player use.

Two engines come with the new Accord:  a 3.5L V6 and a 2.4L inline four-cylinder. Both come with five-speed A/Ts (with manual mode and shift hold) and front-wheel drive, and retain the i-VTEC engine-management system that delivers a better balance between power when you need it and fuel efficiency.

But it is the 3.5L V6’s engine that should be of interest to the technophile, as it totes Honda’s new Variable Cylinder Management 643 (VCM 643) partial cylinder deactivation. This allows the engine to shift smoothly from using six cylinders, down to four and then to three cylinders, depending on driver need. The result, coupled with drive-by-wire technology, is enhanced fuel economy.       

Not to be left out is the sedan’s steering and handling. A new Variable Gear Ratio steering system lets the Accord achieve superb maneuverability with less effort from the driver, resulting in strong steering feedback at all speeds. The engine and fuel tank were lowered to improve cornering, and the new frame design has 20 percent better torsional rigidity for minimal chassis flex.   

The Accord has always been a market favorite due to providing potential buyers with the discriminating tastes that they need. But with the launch of the eighth-generation Accord shows that the performance and luxury aspects of the car have gotten ever so closer, striking a 50-50 distribution of driving fun and posh auto relaxation.

IN an effort to keep up with a suddenly rapidly accelerating executive-sedan segment, Mazda Philippines recently launched the second iteration of the Mazda 6 at the Blue Leaf pavilion in Fort Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

IN a bid to make their vehicles stand out in a homogeneous and crowded market, car designers, dealers, as well as owners, are coming up to the state of gadgetry, from pop-up navigation systems and music-storing hard drives, tilting LCD monitors, TVs, video games, DVDs, iPod-supporting entertainment system to wireless Internet networking and other extras.

Newfound harmonious balance

HONDA now has upped the ante for executive sedans with the launch of the eighth-generation Honda Accord.

Isuzu goes off-road with Global D-MAX 4x4 Boondock LE

PROVING that its expertise lies not just in diesel-engine technology but also in 4WD off-road motoring, Isuzu Philippines Corp. is introducing a special run of the popular Global D-MAX 4x4 called the Boondock Limited Edition (LE) in response to the growing demand for highly capable off-road vehicles especially in remote,

Eyes on the Road: More on ‘Death Highway’

REMEMBER our earlier column that tackled “Death Highway,” a.k.a. Commonwealth Avenue?

Full Tank: A global giant, indeed

IT IS WORTH noting that the automotive industry scored big in the first two months of the year.

A Bavarian Fiesta

WHEN BMW invited this writer to its recent driving-seminar experience, we did not realize that we would be treated to a bonanza of “Beemers.” Typically, events like these would concentrate on a certain model that all motoring hacks would try out on a laid out course and then we would write our piece about it. That would be quite easy to do.