The D-segment sedan space has long been one of the most hotly contested zones in the entire auto industry, and this is despite the emergence of the Crossover SUV. While sales of mid to full-size family sedans haven’t been what they were a decade or so ago, their presence in the market isn’t going to wean off anytime soon. Nowadays, almost every automaker in the world sells D-segment sedans, including manufacturers from America, Europe, Japan, and South Korea. Among the dozen or so major auto giants, one of the most recognizable and respected names is none other than Honda. For this Tokyo-based company, their jewel in the crown in the D-segment is the widely-liked and popular Accord.
The Honda Accord was first introduced way back in the 1970s, when it was quite a bit smaller than what it is today. In the next coming decades, the Accord claimed several victories for a car in its class and before long, became a true icon for the brand all over the globe. As of 2019, there have been ten generations of the Accord, with the most recent iteration being unveiled to the masses in 2017. The tenth-gen Honda Accord came along with many new features, chief amongst which were its completely new and contemporary design and a thoroughly revised powertrain. The former witnessed the Accord go from a standard three-box sedan design to a futuristic coupe-like form factor. Meanwhile under the skin, Honda had been busy modernizing the Accord’s mechanicals - starting with replacing the sedan’s regular, normally-aspirated inline-fours and six-cylinder engines with newly-developed turbocharged four-poppers.
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However, up until its ninth-generation (whose production ended earlier this year), certain variants of the Honda Accord did come with a V6 petrol engine under the hood. Unfortunately, you can no longer option your new 2019 Honda Accord with this engine. The motor in question was pretty advanced for when it was conceived, and came with dual overhead camshafts, Honda’s i-VTEC technology, and could rev up to 6,800 rpm. The 3,471cc mill was tuned to deliver 278hp at 6,200 rpm and up to 342Nm of pulling force at 4,900 rpm. The front-wheel-drive Accord V6 was fitted with a regular old 6-speed torque converter automatic, but was easily capable of sending the 1.6-ton sedan to a top speed of 212 km/h. Meanwhile, the run from 0 to 100 km/h was dispatched in under 7.5 seconds. Of course, as one can imagine, this high-revving V6 wasn’t too economical -- at best delivering around 8.7 L/100 km on a combined cycle. With being said, though, this six-cylinder mill was silky smooth in operations and completely devoid of any vibration or harshness.
While the i-VTEC V6 was a great and reliable engine, the current breed of turbo-fours found in the latest-gen Accords are quite spectacular on their own. For example, most of the variants of the new Accord that are sold in places like the United Arab Emirates are powered by a 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder. It maybe a small unit, but it packs a respectable 198 horses and 260Nm of torque. Mated to a continuously variable transmission (CVT) and returning up to 5.4 L/100 km, this four-banger can hustle the big sedan to the ton-mark in 7.5 seconds and on to a maximum velocity of 195 km/h. However, should you feel the need more firepower under the hood, the 2.0-liter engine in the range-topping Sport variant should satisfy your need for speed. Despite being almost half the size of the former V6 mill, turbocharging and direct injection means that this punchy motor delivers 247hp and 370Nm of peak torque. Paired to a brand-new 10-speed automatic gearbox, the 2019 Honda Accord 2.0T can sprint from 0 to 100 km/h in less than 6 seconds, while achieving a top speed in excess of 200 km/h.
