i'm starting to plan for my next car, which may be up to a year away, and the accord coupe entered my mind. ex v6 6mt to be precise. i've spent plenty of time around plenty of cars, but not this one.

what sort of redeeming qualities do these cars have, in terms of real performance and as a "drivers car"? i am more interested in the chassis and if there is an actual aftermarket to support mods (meaning not just some afterthought type parts to buy, but some stuff that gives a real true performance upgrade). and how heavy are they?

thanks

 

what year you looking at?

5th gens are very reliable
6th gens look nice and are more comfortable but all 6th gen accords have serious transmission issues
7th gen accords I4 very reliable, V6 appears to have some transmission issues and people are complaining about little things here and there that are not working, V6 brakes suck donkey *****, and the radio lights like to quit working. Not as nice looking as 6th gen IMHO

5th gen 94-97
6th gen 98-02
7th gen 03-current


Modified by YeuEmMaiMai at 7:35 PM 10/28/2006

 

7th gen, probably brand new. what sort of trans issues; grinding synchros or something like complete failures?

 

most of the time is an auto tranny problem

 

He is talking about the 7th gen considering it is the only one with the 6 speed. As for the transmissions it is an issue with the auto and the V6 so he won't have those problems.

The quality on these is pretty good but there seems to be some common rattles that people get. There is good aftermarket suspension setups for these also and the HFP lip kit looks great. It's also not hard to make decent power, say 21 whp from headers. Good car IMO.

 

the fact that up to about 04.5 model year those 5at transmissions require the same fixes as the acura cars that use the same 5at....

5at failure has not been as bad as the 4at but they are not nearly as reliable as the 5th gen 4at. Honda has redesigned the 5at but the accord will not see the new unit (a 4 shaft trans versus the current 3 shaft) until at least the 08 model year........

Some people say it is due to increased HP but that has nothing to do with i t...it's just a crappy design with really bad QC....

smoother shitst do not require slippage, they require that the throttle/timing be cut/retarded during the sifts and that pressure be reduced slightly..or in the case of the new 5 at engine is reved slightly to make shifting smoother on the downshift

problem with the 5at are as follows

1. extremely high atf temps in third gear clutch pack (temps well over 300F) compounded by the low lubrication flow rate and poor quality clutch packs

2. Second gear gets too hot (again insufficient lubrication) causing excessive metal fatgue... this may cause the gear to chip and HARD LOCK the wheels

3. Failure in 3rd gear hydraulics causing trans to immediately go into 2nd gear....no matter how fast you car going.....

if everything wears prematurely like poster below me indicates, then problems would be apparent in all gears instead of just 3rd....


Modified by YeuEmMaiMai at 10:45 PM 10/28/2006

 

But the OP wants a 6 speed manual anyway so that is a moot point. We all know what crap those transmissions were and there is a tech article out there explaining the whole thing. Honda decided to go with smoother, slower shifts which require a lot more slippage causing everything to wear quicker.

But still, it's a moot point for this post.