2008 Honda Accord Coupe and Sedan

jamese777

It seems to me that for some reason known only to them, some people have an emotional investment in the 2008 Honda Accord NOT being a sales success and other people have an emotional investment in it succeeding.
Since this is a forum about the Honda Accord, the former makes less sense to me and the latter makes more sense to be posting about here.

stickguy

I saw one in the showroom, one driving around, and someone that lives near me has one in the driveway with a temp tag. So they are getting out there.

dpmeersman

Beautiful alabaster silver metallic. Saw it from about a 1/2 mile away on a straight section of road. Had my suspicions so I got on my 08 EX-L V6 and as I gained ground I was truly impressed by just how metallic silver it really was. Most cars I've seen that call themselves silver, I've always considered to be grey, not with this coupe it was most definitely silver.
As to the debate about the success of the 08 Accord's, I'm sure they will manage to sustain or improve on past monthly sales quantities providing our economy stays solid. I'm starting to see a few around, but in the mean time I'm enjoying all aspects of owning this car, and I'm not passing other instances of myself on a regular basis. So for the time being I'm marching to a beat that is just starting to gaim momentum and I've enjoyed a seemingly singular automotive experience. I'll bet within a year I'll be resisting the urge to Mooo as I herd down the highway with all the other new Accords around me.

networkguy

I'm pretty sure gotoyota parsed "I'm sure Honda folks can still celebrate that." differently than you. The phrase Honda folks' was probably interpreted as Honda owners or enthusiasts. You probably meant is as Honda management and/or employees. If you look at it from the perspective of the first definition, gotoyota's response makes some sense. I also think he was responding to the points you responded to initially, and replied to the wrong person.

Personally, I like the new Accord. I'm sure it will sell in the hundreds of thousands range like the previous iterations.

gotoyota

I'm pretty sure gotoyota parsed "I'm sure Honda folks can still celebrate that." differently than you. The phrase Honda folks' was probably interpreted as Honda owners or enthusiasts. You probably meant is as Honda management and/or employees. If you look at it from the perspective of the first definition, gotoyota's response makes some sense. I also think he was responding to the points you responded to initially, and replied to the wrong person.

Personally, I like the new Accord. I'm sure it will sell in the hundreds of thousands range like the previous iterations.

I appreciate the offer of clarification on my point, but let me offer this: I was actually responding to the correct post, but maybe I wasn't as clear as I thought I was in what I was actually responding to, which was robertsmx's statement: "Your choice not to do so [celebrate] is flawed." It stepped over the line of objective discussion and sounded like a personal jab, IMO. But alas, I am not the host, so I apologize to all, including robertsmx.

networkguy

So for the time being I'm marching to a beat that is just starting to gaim momentum and I've enjoyed a seemingly singular automotive experience. I'll bet within a year I'll be resisting the urge to Mooo as I herd down the highway with all the other new Accords around me.
That's one of the downsides to owning an Accord. I remember when I got my first Accord in the 90's. It was a station wagon and not too common. Still, it felt like I saw at least 2 dozen other Accords on the trip home from the dealer that day.
Now I drive the limited production Mazdaspeed 3. I have still seen at least 10 others around town. It also looks an awful lot like the regular 3 to the uninitiated. So much for exclusivity

robertsmx

robertsmx's statement: "Your choice not to do so [celebrate] is flawed." It stepped over the line of objective discussion and sounded like a personal jab, IMO. But alas, I am not the host, so I apologize to all, including robertsmx.

It is ok. I’m not as sensitive as some of you folks seem to be. At least the person who I responded to got it right and didn’t see anything personal. Gotoyota, the “reason” was not about a “choice” as you assumed it to be. But, my choice of words may be to blame, for the rest of you. So let me repeat and clarify:
“Your reason to not do so is flawed”

A post challenging someone’s logic and calling it flawed isn’t taking a personal jab. We’re discussing logic, not each other. My point was about the flaw in comparing sales going from one month to next, and that sales comparisons should be done for the same period from the past, as “seasonal changes” have an impact. Given that Accord did better than it has in the same month in this decade, Honda sales folks still have a reason to celebrate.

Now you know why I responded with “WTH?”

sodaguy

Has anyone test driven the 2.4L, 190HP version of the sedan in automatic?

How does the power compare to the Camry or Altima?

Every 4-cyl Camry or Corolla that I've driven feels lacking in power (especially when merging onto a high way) when the A/C is running. Does the 4-cyl Accord suffer from this problem as well? This is very important to me.

Thanks.

thegraduate

The outgoing Accord (166hp) was more than 1/2 a second quicker than the current Camry 4-cylinder to 60 MPH. I have yet to see a test of the new 190hp Accord as compared to the Camry.

Here's the link to that 2007 Car and Driver 6-Way Comparison test from Feb 2007 where I pulled my acceleration numbers from.

oarsdad

I've driven the 4 cylinder Camry, Altima, and Accord. I wasn't using a stopwatch, but it felt to me that the Accord and Altima had a little better acceleration than the Camry. However, in the V6 versions, the Camry and Altima felt quicker. The Accord's I4 is a nice engine, but I don't think most would ever mistake it for a V6.

md_outback

Has anyone seen any Honda dealer that is starting to get many '08 Coupes in stock? I recently spoke with a salesman at O'Donnell Honda near Baltimore, MD and he said they were expecting "only a couple of coupes per month for the next few months." Since there are 10 different coupe variations to choose from (LX vs EX and I-4 vs V6 and Leather vs Cloth and so on), not to mention color variations, it would seem nearly impossible to get exactly what you're looking for. So I'm hoping this salesman had bad information or I may need to cross an Accord Coupe off my list.
MD

0hms

You got ripped off. I got mine for over $2000.00 below sticker a month ago on a car that hadn't been built yet. Congrats on your purchase, though. I can't wait until mine comes in. I got the EX-L V6 6MT with Navi. Polished Metal on black. I also plan on getting the 19's. I think it's worth the buy.

jaxs1

Many dealers only get a few for the first shipment or two, but they should get many more later.
Honda expects to sell 10% coupes. So if a dealer sells 110 Accords in a month, 100 would be sedans and 10 would be coupes. Maybe they only expect to sell about 20 Accords per month if they expect to only have 2 coupes a month for the "next few months."

blufz1

Better wait to crow about your "deal" until you drive it off.

rog2867

Hi, I just picked up my EX-Lv6 nav yesterday and love it, you feel like your in a mercedes or bmw, the voice recognition is also amazing. I have a question though for those of you owners. There is an auxiliary MP3 input in the glove box that I would like to hook my ipod up to. Problem is the manual is very vague on what is needed to use this feature. The connector is round and I do not see anyway that you can use that connector for compatible mp3 devices as the manual suggests. It would seem you need some special cable or adapter to allow it to accept different mp3 devices. I would think some kind of USB adapter, as that's what all MP3 devices hook to the pc with. Can anyone shed some light on this subject for me.

thanks

viet

Rog2867:

Congratulations on your new car. Can you use voice to instruct the Navi 100% of the time. I have the Navi on '05 hybrid and I cannot use voice to instruct it 100% of the time. Sometimes I have to type in the commands (e.g. address of destination, etc.). Thanks.

stickguy

Normally it is just an input for the simple cable that plugs into the earphone jack, and the other end is the round (RCA?) plug that goes into the jack in the car.

You will also need a seperate power cord to plug in to charge it.

It isn't like using the USB cable with your PC, or the docking cable on an ipod.

networkguy

I don't have a new Accord to check, but if it's like my car, it's just an AUX input jack. You could plug in any music device with the proper adapter cable. I've actually had my laptop plugged into this port, playing iTunes on a roadtrip. The cars sound system will act as a set of nice external speakers for your device. You won't get any device control through this though. Strictly one-way audio input. I believe the car connector is a 1/8" mini TRS plug.

rog2867

Yes you can use the navi 100% of the time to enter addresses and the like. You can also use it for the bluetooth cell phone link to dial number from the address book. The only thing you cant do with the navi is turn up the volume on the stereo as thats on the steering wheel. If you give me your emial address I can send you a pdf of the voice commands that you can use on it. There are so many you can never remember them all.

pat

Can you convert that pdf to a jpeg and post it on your CarSpace page? That way everyone will be able to read it and that would be very helpful!

kiawah

The aux input is a simple cable you can get at Radio Shack or many other stores, for probably $5 bucks of less. It's a male minplug on both ends. The miniplug is same size as your earphones which you plug into your ipod. So take those with you when you go shopping. They typically are available in a couple different lengths. I got a 6 footer which allows the kids in the back seat to play their ipod music.

Just plug one end of the cable into the ipod earphone jack, the other end into the cars aux-in, set the radio to auxin, put your ipod at medium sound level, and enjoy.

rog2867

its actually 6 pages long but I will type in the commands here for you so you can see.

rog2867

OK, I never used my car space before but found it and converted the pdf to jpg and put the pics up there. Do I need to share the space with people or is there public access. Let me know.

kiawah

Rogers PDF1

Rogers PDF2

They are there and automatically shared, but it is usually easier if you also paste a link to the URL within the note.

rog2867

oK, thanks for the info. If anyone has any other questions about the car let me know, I am more than willing to accomodate.

roger

pat

Good job - thanks for making all of that great info available to everyone!

And thanks kiawah for providing the links.

oarsdad

rog2867,

Thanks for the commands. One question. If you want it to tune to xm channel 175. Do you say 1. "xm channel one-seven-five" or 2. "xm channel one-hundred, seventy-five"?

robertsmx

One-Seven-Five

rog2867

I was playing with it yesterday and I went to channel 42 by saying forty two not four two. So I think you can use either. It is very good voice recognition.

robertsmx

In Short: Wow!

It got the same output at the hub as it is rated at the crank! TOV has the plot for those interested. A link to comparison with G35 Coupe/6MT on same dyno is here. (It may not show up if you are not registered).

The 298 HP G35C actually shows 2 less HP than the 268 HP Accord Coupe got (in multiple runs). It matched the torque too (and in Accord, the peak arrived 1000 rpm earlier, at ~3900 rpm).

bug4

Excellent info robertsmx!! Just by chance, have you ever seen any published data showing the horse power and torque outputs for the I4 engine (190hp version) across the range of RPMs? I would love to see it! I think it could provide useful information for my driving style and how I use the engine (of course, much more useful if I had stuck to my guns and got a manual, rather than automatic, transmission).

BTW, I saw a fascinating chart for the horse power required to get a Bugatti to its top speed of 254mph. It took something like 200hp to get the car to 125mph -- but it took 700 MORE horses to get the car to 250mph. No wonder my Honda won't go 250 :shades: )

Speaking of speed, has anyone else noticed that their 08 Honda isn't a particularly fast cruiser? I've been in many cars that don't seem to be ruffled by cruising on nice roads at 90-100mph (e.g. VW Passat). With the nice rubber I installed on my 96 Accord, it even seemed very comfortable at 100mph. However, my 08 Accord isn't that way. I'm actually a bit disappointed. Although the engine isn't racing and the car feels very stable, the road/engine/wind noise is very significant and I have to keep my foot into the throttle. The car just doesn't want to cruise at anything over about 80 mph. [I know someone is going to tell me 80mph is fast enough -- and their right! But, I live in Wyoming where there are few people, huge distances between places, and well-maintained roads. Other than the law, I don't even think the highway patrolmen blame you for setting the cruise at 90mph )

stickguy

the G35 is putting all that power to the rear wheels, where God intended it to go!

If the Accord is anything like the TL, it is a handful to control if you hit it hard in 1st or 2nd gear. Not a problem with RWD, since the steering wheel isn't trying to pull out of your hands.

robertsmx

From the rest of the article, it seems the Accord engine is more responsive and feels stronger (and almost as strong as the TL-S engine). The coupe is apparently no slouch in handling either, but I don't think dyno is meant to measure handling dynamics. :P

rog2867

Ill tell you one thing about the v6, I turned a corner coming home from the dealer yesterday and gave it some gas and it pinned me back in my seat. I had the 4cyl ex previously and was floored at the power the new one has. Takes me back to my Z28 days when I was a teen.

rog

royalty

Radio Shack has both a 3' cable and a 6' cable with male 1/8 in plug on each end. I bought one for my new 2008 Accord Coupe. Plug your music player in one end and plug the other end into the AUX-IN and press the AUX button on the radio. You will probably need to set the volume up pretty high to hear it on the radio. Good luck.

royalty

I bought a 2008 EX-L Coupe with NAV and the 190HP 2.4L engine with automatic. Not as strong torque-wise as my previous V6 Hyundai which at 268HP was almost TOO strong as it came on so fast it felt kind of out-of-control after the drive by wire decided to rev the engine. The Honda provides power smoothly. It takes a bit for the 4cyl to spool up but once it gets past 3000 RPM it comes on strong. I only have 500 miles on the car so I have not really gotten on the throttle. Once it is broken in I can give more info.

royalty

My 2008 EX-L Coupe has had the NAV fail at less than 500 miles! The display started getting a lot of horizontal lines corrupting the nav and radio and other screens then one day it locked up. It started working again the next day but got steadily worse so I took it in to the dealer and they cannot figure out what is wrong so they are ordering a new head unit to replace the old. I hate having my dash taken apart as I dislike squeaks and rattles so I hope it gets replaced competently. Pretty surprised at an early failure like this. At least the radio still plays even with the screen locked up.

tabby102

Has anyone seen any Honda dealer that is starting to get many '08 Coupes in stock? I recently spoke with a salesman at O'Donnell Honda near Baltimore, MD and he said they were expecting "only a couple of coupes per month for the next few months." Since there are 10 different coupe variations to choose from (LX vs EX and I-4 vs V6 and Leather vs Cloth and so on), not to mention color variations, it would seem nearly impossible to get exactly what you're looking for. So I'm hoping this salesman had bad information or I may need to cross an Accord Coupe off my list.

The second of two dealers in our city of 500k told me the same thing about getting 1 or 2 coupes per month, so how are others ordering them?

viet

Rog2867.

I meant using voice to read out loud the addresses to the Navi (NOT entering addresses into Navi manually). Does Navi work that way? Thanks.

jaxs1

Electronic things like that are most likely to fail quickly if there is some defect, so failing at "only" 500 miles is not that unusual.

oarsdad

Motor Trend announced the contenders for the 2008 Car of the Year award. I think it will come down to the Accord, the CTS, and the Malibu. I hope the Accord wins, but my gut tells me the CTS will edge it out. The Civic won in '06 and I think they will "spread the wealth". Also, if the Accord won, it would make 3 years in a row for a foreign manufacturer. MT has never done that in the award's history. So my official guess is:

1. CTS
2. Accord
3. Malibu

What do you all think?

MT 2008 COTY Contenders

rog2867

Yes, to access the map screen you say menu, the navi asks how do you do you want to get to your destination. You can do it by town, zip, zagat guide for restaurants and so forth. Usually I do zip its much easier. Then it asks the street, and you just say the street, and it picks from a list. If you see your street on screen you can just say the number like 1, and then it asks about the route, fastest time, shortest distance etc. Then it calculates the route. You can enter everything through voice or manually if you desire. The reason there are so many buttons on the console is because everything that you can do with navi is also a button. You dont have to use the buttons if you don't want to.

oarsdad

rog,

Do the available route methods include something like; maximize highway usage or avoid highways?

rog2867

Yes, available options are:

Most direct route.(factory default) quickest (least time)
Minimize toll roads.
Easy route. (least turns)
Maximize freeways.
Minimize freeways.

viet

Thanks, Rog2867. I consider it 100% complete voice- activated Navi. It's interesting and worth the money ($2K). Do you agree with me Rog2867?

carzzz

http://www.safercar.gov/Cars/4537.html

5 Stars is expected, but not the curb weight of 3704 lb...

robertsmx

Curb weight must include a rather big dummy (or two) inside. That isn't even an EX/EX-L model, much less a V6 (wears 16" rims).

rog2867

I agree, I will update on my experience with the navi as I use it more. Unfortunately the wife is driving it at the moment. But for me I can't see it getting better. My brother in law has the nav in his infinity and he can't make a call to a restaurant from the zagat guide, but the honda can.

khoey

I thought I had ordered a black/black coupe, EX-L V6 with navi from one dealer. "Order" placed on October 8th. Dealer was unable to give me a solid date- kept asking me to hold on. I contacted another (larger) dealer in the same general area, and they have the identical car with exception of 6 speed (which is what I really wanted but never thought I could get) coming in during November, expected around Thanksgiving. Larger dealer told me they had lots of calls from other dealers to trade, but they never would. He expects that upstate NY dealers will see very few opportunities to get this level of coupe.

Gave him a deposit and he did up the deal over phone and fax this past weekend. They discounted the car and some accessories $900. He expects to have a vin number within the week.

So I'm hoping it actually appears. We'll see.

Apparently with Honda allocations, bigger volume dealers get the better car selections.

rog2867

Do you mean V6 or six speed. The accord doesn't come in a six speed as far as I am aware and here is the web site.

http://automobiles.honda.com/accord-sedan/features.aspx?feature=ivtec-268hp#