Honda dropping V- 6 engine for Accord
The next-generation Honda Accord is coming out this fall, a full redesign that will no longer offer a V-6 engine as an option, the automaker said Friday.
Over the next few months, the company will provide details on the design, pricing and fuel economy. The model will continue to be assembled in Marysville.
Honda, like other automakers, has seen a drop in sedan sales. The CR-V crossover is the company’s top-seller, followed by the Civic, a compact sedan, and the Accord, a mid-size sedan.
The V-6 engine has long been an option for Accord but amounted to only 14 percent of the model’s sales in 2016, Honda said.
The decrease in V-6 sales is likely because of performance improvements in four-cylinder engines, which make customers less likely to want the larger engine, said Jessica Pawl, a Honda spokeswoman.
The following powertrains will be available:
1.5-liter direct-injected turbo, which will be paired
with a continuously variable transmission or a six-speed manual transmission.
2-liter direct-injected turbo paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission or a six-speed manual transmission.
A hybrid version also will be available, with details still to come.
“With these three advanced new powertrains, the 10thgeneration Accord will be the most fun-to-drive, refined and fuel-efficient Accord yet,” said Jeff Conrad, senior vice president and general manager of American Honda, in a statement.
While the V-6 Accord was not a big seller, it will be missed by some.
“One of the most underrated enthusiast cars on the market was the V-6-powered Honda Accord. Seriously,” said Chris Perkins, writing Friday at RoadandTrack.com. “It’s a quiet, comfortable car that’s genuinely quick, too, making it a perfect daily driver.”
quotes a Honda official saying that the 2-liter engine will be better than the V-6 in terms of fuel economy and performance. A reporter for the magazine got to drive the new Accord at a media event in Japan.
“It was far too short a drive to determine much, but not much seems to be lost versus the outgoing V-6 engine,” said the story at MotorTrend. com. “And the transmission is an improvement.”
The Accord has been around since 1976. It was the model first built when Honda opened its first North American auto plant in Marysville in 1982.
The model’s engine will be built at the Honda plant in Anna, Ohio. The continuously variable transmission, which runs on a pulley system instead of with gears, will be built in Russells Point, Ohio. The 10-speed transmission will come from a plant in Tallapoosa, Georgia.