Found this on Honda's website. WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO JUST SAY IT WON CAR OF THE YEAR? They know it is.



By definition, a benchmark is the example by which all others should be judged. In the eyes of the editors at Motor Trend, that honor now firmly belongs to the Accord. Put head to head against Toyota Camry, the Accord showed that it simply offered more: “the Accord reigns as the best of the best—the benchmark.” *

**Motor Trend, October 2007




The keen-eyed experts at AutoWeek found little to criticize when introduced to the all-new Accord. In fact, their reaction was quite the opposite. After a thorough inspection and test drive, they found that “everything about the new model is larger or better, whether you’re looking at overall size and interior volume, power output and fuel economy or the list of standard features.” The attention to detail that went into the building of the Accord got a special nod, as one reviewer noted: “Every fit appears as if some tiny carpet installer got in there with his knee kickers and stretched the material taut around every bend and tight into each corner.”**

**AutoWeek, August 21, 2007



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Watch out! Here come the 8th gen haters! I've seen it said more than a couple times that there's no way the 08 accord will be car of the year, it's even been said by a few ppl on here that it won't make 10best which is completely ridiculous. We both know it's a great car:thumbsup: and I'd just about guarantee it'll at least make 10 best if not car of the year

Just for the record, I'm not a "8th gen hater". I just don't like the non-led tail lights. A lot has grown on me already.

The Chevy Vega was Motor Trend's Car of the Year in 1971 and history proved it to be a dog. On top of that, the 1974 "Mustang II" was a complete slug, but was COTY choice that year. Not exactly esteemed territory.

One thing that may hinder the '08 Accord's chances of winning COTY, even if Motor Trend really likes it, is the fact that the winner in the past 2 years has been a family sedan (excluding the Civic Coupe, but the lion's share of the Civic's sales are sedans). MT may fear that a family sedan win 3 years in a row may make people think that the award has become the Family Sedan of the Year. I suspect that they may make a concerted effort to find a winner in a different class of car this year in order to mix things up.

If the Accord makes the cut, I doubt this would hinder it. If anything, throwing the coupe into the mix would be icing on the cake and just show how versatile the lineup is. The V6 6sp might not be a Porsche fighter but in its segment, its a great car and complements the sedan well.

My only concern is that the Accord might loose traction on its value quotient. Granted even the base LX has a full line of safety features and standard equipment but the rest of the line up starts to blur the line with the lower "entry luxo" class.

Otherwise, comparing apples to apples, the Accord is still a solid player in the segment. For COTY, is it a standout in its segment? I've mentioned in another thread I really like the 8th gen and I'll probably be in a coupe sooner than later, but its not the stellar quantum leap Honda has made in past years. If a car in another class is more of a standout in its respective class, the title will go to it. We should consider what other new or significantly updated cars in other classes are in the mix to get a better idea of the Accord's chances.

I'm confident it will be on the 10 Best list again. The 5 year old platform continued to best the competition and the 8th gen is a little better in every way. I don't see the Accord's seat on the 10 Best list being threatened until the next gen Camry, Passat, Fusion, etc. . . come out.

Watch out! Here come the 8th gen haters!No Gen8 hatin' here; I think it's a great car. Instead, I reserve most of that angst for Motor Trend. What a terrible waste of paper. Sloppy, indecipherable writing, questionable editorial decisions and inconclusive comparison testing are just par for the course in each edition I've thumbed through.

And then there's the COY crapola. The results seem to reflect the level of ad purchasing of each candidate instead of the actual merits of the vehicle. Not that there'd be any palm-greasing with such a time-honored award [/sarcasm]. I think the Accord may drive away with the golden tweezers, but it'll have more to do with the 'special advertising section' stuffed into the middle of that issue as opposed to the substantial improvements engineered into the newest edition.

Watch out! Here come the 8th gen haters!




I've never "hated" on the 8th gen.. I mean come on, it IS a Honda, how bad can it be...lol

When compared to it's 2008MY peers in the comparable price/market segment it is a clear winner BUT when compared to my 7th gen..Well that's a different story!!!

A positive review, note the Canadian price tag. I got good news to-day mine has arrived, now the PDI and the dealer add on's wait.
http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/amc/08accord.htm

Not sure who the 8th Gen haters are, but it's not me either. While I don't particularly care for the sedan's design (kinda plain and boring IMO, but it has grown a bit on me after seeing it in person), I do like the coupe's.

I think it does have a chance at being a 10 Best car, but not sure about COTY. But hey, anything's possible.

Not sure who the 8th Gen haters are, but it's not me either. While I don't particularly care for the sedan's design (kinda plain and boring IMO, but it has grown a bit on me after seeing it in person), I do like the coupe's.

I think it does have a chance at being a 10 Best car, but not sure about COTY. But hey, anything's possible.

Yeah, I'm not calling you a hater but there are quite a few haters here. But you've definitely made it clear you don't like the 8th gen sedans too. If I recall correctly, you've compared the sedan to everything from a hyundai sonata to a mid 90s bmw lol:lmao:

Just for the record, I'm not a "8th gen hater". I just don't like the non-led tail lights. A lot has grown on me already.

While it's not a big deal to me that my car doesn't have LED tails, I do agree that is a small step backwards for the accord. I don't understand why that didn't continue the LEDs but oh well...I guess it's one of those things, I've never had a car with LEDs so I can't really miss them

...ok, seeing as you're baiting for "haters". Yes, I've written my personal viewpoints in several posts on my personal preference for the previous generation, and I've stated that, for me, an 8th gen just isn't going to be in my plans, but nowhere did I, or most of the others voicing similar opinions, say they "hated" the new Accord - for me, there's just no interest at all, no attraction whatsoever...
...if I don't end up buying out the lease and keeping my 05 EXL, than I may either look at the new TSX or a CRV, the TSX is an Accord as well, and all of the choices are still Hondas...

cheers,

Lorne Miller
05 EX-L deep green pearl with ivory
96 Odyssey taffeta white with sage

While it's not a big deal to me that my car doesn't have LED tails, I do agree that is a small step backwards for the accord. I don't understand why that didn't continue the LEDs but oh well...I guess it's one of those things, I've never had a car with LEDs so I can't really miss them
They were dropped because they add cost, and contribute nothing to the sales appeal. They also restrict the design of the tail lights quite a bit. One tungsten bulb can be reflected and refracted to create an attractive light pattern that would require many LEDs. (Each LED is very focused in one direction only.)

My question is about why they bothered with them for the 06-07 Accords? I doubt if many owners other than the few of us who post on Honda web forums even knew the lights were different.

Here's my theory on why Honda ditched the LED tail lights on the 08 Accords.

Both the sedan and coupe have large rear tail lights that wrap widely around the corners of the car.

A conventional reflector can be designed to fit the rear and side profiles so that a single bulb will give nice even illumination in three dimensions (from rear, side and top).

A LED tail light, by nature, has to be laid out in a planar array because each LED is mounted to a printed circuit board, and then you still need to think about seeing the red light from the side or off-axis.

I just bet the bulb design looked better with these large wraparound lights and it was probably less costly.

And as someone mentioned earlier, we still have the benefit of the fast reaction time for braking because the center rear CHMSL is still LEDs.

-Jim