. . . resolved to pick up a Coupe next spring, and this falls into my lap :naughty:

Edit: Added new pics 11 30 07

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/281000-281999/281873_130_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/281000-281999/281873_131_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/281000-281999/281873_132_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/281000-281999/281873_135_full.jpg

The black and ivory with silver trim is very sharp. :yes: The black carpets really accent the interior and help balance the black center console. Note the steering wheel - its really thick and noticably smaller than the 7th gen steering wheels. It's awesome. Almost makes me feel like I'm behind the wheel of my CRX again. :lmao: Also, this pic was taken with the temporary 5-sp knob. :paranoid:

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/281000-281999/281873_137_full.jpg

The back seat is very spacious. Unless the super high belt line in back bothers someone one, it would be a very comfortable place to sit for a few hours. The head room is tight, however, as the roof and rear glass are angled steeply. Again, notice the black accents in the back.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/281000-281999/281873_134_full.jpg

I took the pics this morning on the top floor of the parking ramp downtown where I work.

I was in PA last week for Thanksgiving. I stopped in at my Honda dealer to say hi. Fast forward a few days later . . . he calls me Saturday afternoon. "Guess what just rolled off the truck!?" Someone, somewhere wanted a V6 NAVI with auto so it was swapped in production and no one was expecting it.

Hmmm . . . lesseee . . . a V6 6-speed with NAVI for *less* than what I was being quoted for 2.4L EX-L NAVI 5-speeds in NC. Can you say "no brainer". $1,000 over invoice and full book on my trade. :thmsup:

The drive back to NC on Monday was AWESOME. :lmao: I'll write up some impressions and post in the 8th gen forum.


:nuts:

Nice. That is a very nice trade up. A car that heavy...the V6 is the only engine of choice anyway.

Pics.

Congratz! It probably needs a nice wash after your Trip.

Oh yea, keep your windows closed! Make that new car smell last FOREVER! Haha.

Wow that's awesome!

Which dealer did you use? They sound top notch! Enjoy the ride ;)

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to hear how you like it!

I would be proud to be a bug on your hood! Nice ride.

talking about bug...

get a clear bra and tint!

As well...white is an awesome color! Can't go wrong with white!

Just don't forget to clay it often!!

Always good to mind your own business, as you can attest now :biggrin:

White looks AL0T BETTER than what i imagined! How's the stereo system in it??

Tks, all. I'm psyched. Working on putting together some thoughts to post and a few more pics.


Always good to mind your own business, as you can attest now :biggrin:

:notworthy Amen to that. I should have just left well enough alone and dealt with my home town dealer to start with. At least I know now. :yes:

A car that heavy...the V6 is the only engine of choice anyway.

I think the 2.4L would be fine in the 08 coupe. My 06 sedan with 166hp was pretty spunky. A 2008 EX-L NAVI coupe only weighs 139 pounds more that my 06 sedan did (3307 vs 3168) and the 08 has an extra 24hp. Too bad the 08 2.4L engine doesn't have more torque but 139 pounds is like carrying one passenger. Performance wouldn't degrade too much. My seat of the pants impression after driving an 08 5AT 2.4L coupe was very good. It got up and went pretty well.

But, yes, the V6 . . . AyE CaRuMbA

:thmsup:

And 685 miles already? You must've had one heck of a drive back.

Always loved white (except for the beige/tan interior).

Anyways, congrats.

:thmsup:

And 685 miles already? You must've had one heck of a drive back.

Always loved white (except for the beige/tan interior).

Anyways, congrats.

Same here. not a fan of the beige interior.. But i do like the white alot! :D

To respond to a few comments . . .

I like the white, too. I've never been so undecided about choosing a color for a car. The new coupe IMO looks great in anything. I was all about the black, then red, then the metal . . . This white really is striking in person. Big change for me after having dark gray for 5 years. It stands out without being in your face.

The ivory interior is really nice. Unlike the sedan, it comes with black contrasting upper dash and carpets. And it has silver trim, not the plood. This shade of ivory has a brown undertone to it. It not yellow-ish like some ivory interiors I've seen. Again a nice change for me after dark gray and black interiors for years.

The drive from PA is abut 600+ miles. :yes: The miles raced up pretty quickly this week. I drove without cruise most of the time to vary my speed. Bonus: first two tanks were 28mpg. I'm really happy with that. Green engine, a passenger and a ton of cargo. :thmsup: Anxious to see what 100% city driving will return.

I had the opportunity to listen to my fave music for 10 hours and I'm pleasantly surprised by the stereo. The side mounted tweeters don't give the forward sound stage that the dash mounted ones did but the stereo separation is more noticable. The highs sound brighter and the mid range doesn't seem as muffled to my ears. Different sounds jumped out at me on familiar tracks suggesting the music sounds cleaner and more detailed. Definitely more thump. Overall not bad at all for a stock system. :dude:

To respond to a few comments . . .

I like the white, too. I've never been so undecided about choosing a color for a car. The new coupe IMO looks great in anything. I was all about the black, then red, then the metal . . . This white really is striking in person. Big change for me after having dark gray for 5 years. It stands out without being in your face.

The ivory interior is really nice. Unlike the sedan, it comes with black contrasting upper dash and carpets. And it has silver trim, not the plood. This shade of ivory has a brown undertown to it. It not yellow-ish like some ivory interiors I've seen. Again a nice change for me after dark gray and black interiors for years.

The drive from PA is abut 600+ miles. :yes: The miles raced up pretty quickly this week. I drove without cruise most of the time to vary my speed. Bonus: first two tanks were 28mpg. I'm really happy with that. Green engine, a passenger and a ton of cargo. :thmsup: Anxious to see what 100% city driving will return.

I had the opportunity to listen to my fave music for 10 hours and I'm pleasantly surprised by the stereo. The side mounted tweeters don't give the forward sound stage that the dash mounted ones did but the stereo separation is more noticable. The highs sound brighter and the mid range doesn't seem as muffled to my ears. Different sounds jumped out at me on familiar tracks suggesting the music sounds cleaner and more detailed. Definitely more thump. Overall not bad at all for a stock system. :dude:

another quick question, after going up in volume over the halfway mark, does the bass quit going up with the treble??
-Thanks. :thumbsup:

Are you going to do anything to it in the near future, such as tint, drop, new wheels, etc?

I'd love to see interior shots of the ivory leather. Curious to see what you mean by brown undertown (undertone?). I guess I could always go to my nearest dealer (4-5 miles away) and see it in person, but I hate having to deal with annoying sales people.

Are you going to do anything to it in the near future, such as tint, drop, new wheels, etc?

I'd love to see interior shots of the ivory leather. Curious to see what you mean by brown undertown (undertone?). I guess I could always go to my nearest dealer (4-5 miles away) and see it in person, but I hate having to deal with annoying sales people.

I doubt I'll do any modding at all. This car is beyond anything my 06 was capable of, not to mention quite a few other cars. The only thing I really see doing is tires. I thought about tinting but while I think it looks good on other cars, I'd rather actually have my windows with factory tint only.

For the interior, yes I meant "under tone" (corrected in original post.) I have pics that I'll post later. The color reminds me of a light tan, almost the color of coffee with lots of milk in it. I've seen other ivories that have a hint of yello or even orange but I like this shade much more.

Hey Trip! You need to update your siggy! :)

congrats.... looks very sweet, never been a fan of white, over here the taxis are white.... sooo you get the picture..

but very nice car indeed, :thumbsup:

Nice dude!! Congrats!! 6MT's FTMFW!!!!

Congratz on the car. I had a similar story. My dealer said that the 08 coupe that I wanted (top of the line like yours) won't show up until about 2 months later. About 3 days after they told me that, it showed up unexpectedly and I immediately picked it up. Heh.

The coupe does look good in just about any color seriously.

White - nice and clean
black - always sharp and classy
Silver - accentuates the curves the best
red - most striking
polished metal - has traits of black and silver
blue - striking like the red.

Apparently minding your own business is highly underated.....

Congrats on the new ride... Can't wait to detail one of these!!!

Same thing happened to me except it was my wife who was minding her own business... :thmsup:
Nice ride!!!

Trip's car looks better in person! I met up with him yesterday evening and got to take a first hand look at the new ride. :thmsup:

The 08 coupes do look nice!

Pope - Your car sounds great. Can't believe how quickly it took off when you floored it. :paranoid: Your incremental mods added up nicely. :thmsup:

Pope - Your car sounds great. Can't believe how quickly it took off when you floored it. :paranoid: Your incremental mods added up nicely. :thmsup:

You guys went fast? THE CAR'S HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN BROKEN IN!!! Guess that engine really kills you! :lmao:

You guys went fast? THE CAR'S HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN BROKEN IN!!! Guess that engine really kills you! :lmao:

According to owners manual, pg 248 column 1. His break-in is done. (engine wise) I assume he did the brakes part too.

But yes, the engine kills. I have yet to go over 4k rpm and it pulls hard.

I was in my 06 w/40k+ miles on it. You know, the one with the mod's. :naughty:
I'd never do that on a new engine! :yes:

Thanks for the comment Trip.

You guys went fast? THE CAR'S HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN BROKEN IN!!! Guess that engine really kills you! :lmao:

Even tho I'm close to 800 miles now, its been mostly highway traveling. Relatively speaking, since I haven't really used the brakes much, I'm going to continue to follow break in procedures until 1,000 miles. I've accidentally redlined it a few times :paranoid: but haven't really had it over 3,500 RPMS at all.

Pope and I took the same road home. As I was exiting, he passed me and nailed it. I heard a terrific roar and a blur of LEDs flew by. :lmao: His mods really have upgraded his Accord's performance. Read his sig closely . . . TSX intake manifold, upgraded air intake, ceramic coated exhaust headers, upgraded anti-sway bars and even an underbody brace. :thmsup: Next time maybe I'll actually get a ride in it. :D

I'm just glad the LEO's weren't around!:paranoid: :naughty:

another quick question, after going up in volume over the halfway mark, does the bass quit going up with the treble??
-Thanks. :thumbsup:

I have noticed this with most Honda stereos including the 08. Its not a much with the 08 as it was with my 06. I think the sub-woofer helps to keep the bass strong at higher volumes.

I think its an auto-loud function at work. Older stereos (hope I'm not dating myself :paranoid: :D ) had what was essentially a bass boost button or "loud" button. Eventually, around the time that auto-logic cassettes showed up (yep, I'm dating myself) stereos started to feature an auto-loud control. Bascially as volume goes up, the bass is automatically turned down to prevent distortion and possibly speaker damage.

I had the opportunity to listen to my fave music for 10 hours and I'm pleasantly surprised by the stereo. The side mounted tweeters don't give the forward sound stage that the dash mounted ones did but the stereo separation is more noticable. The highs sound brighter and the mid range doesn't seem as muffled to my ears. Different sounds jumped out at me on familiar tracks suggesting the music sounds cleaner and more detailed. Definitely more thump. Overall not bad at all for a stock system. :dude:

+1
Same thing happend to me and i was like. I never heard those sounds before (is this the same track or a different version!)
LoL

congrats on your pick-up...I love the white !

Your review in the other thread is really appreciated Trip

+1
Same thing happend to me and i was like. I never heard those sounds before (is this the same track or a different version!)
LoL

Ditto! In the ol Mercedes I have quite a new sound stage built up off 2 front and 2 rear tweeters, mid's and 6x9's...as well as 2 10" RF P3's ... all running off pretty nice Pioneer HU with an iPod interfaced....

The stock Honda system is still letting me hear sounds I've never heard before on certain music, especially certain trance/chillout/ambient music tracks...

Why was the 5-SPD knob on there??
:D

That is a really sweet ride you have! Maybe after college I will be able to afford one, maybe. Congrats!

Very nice! It looks sporty and upscale, more like a BMW than a Honda.

sweet.. i like what i see.. good choice on picking up a white coupe!!

For some reason the car came with a 5-speed knob instead of a 6-speed. When the knob was replaced, the boot had to be replaced, too. I don't like how the parking brake looks on the 8th gen Accords so I used the old boot to do this:

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/281000-281999/281873_141.jpg

I turned the boot inside-out and zip tied it nice and tight at the base of the parking brake handle. It matches the shift boot perfectly, of course. :biggrin:

Working on the next mod, color matched splash guards:

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/281000-281999/281873_142.jpg

I got quotes from $90 to $300 to have them painted professionally. I decided to give it a try myself.

So far its turning out really well. Since the Taffeta White isn't metallic or doesn't have the pearl coat like the sedans it was fairly easy to match.

Instead of primer, I opted to use white Krylon Fusion for plastic. It did a great job of bonding to the splash guards in a smooth, even coat. Actually I did 4 very light coats so it wouldn't drip.

I couldn't find Taffeta White so I experimented with a couple of different colors. Dupli-Color Arctic White matched the best. Here's the near finished product. It still does not have a clear coat on it so it doesn't quite match the sheen of the factory paint. The color looks a little off in the pic but its the flash bouncing off flat paint of the splash guard.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/281000-281999/281873_143.jpg

In total, I spent about $25 and a couple of hours to do this. 4 cans of Dupli-Color paint (White, Frost White, Cloud White, and Arctic White) and 1 can of clearcoat spray. If Dupli-Color made Taffeta White or I by chance used Arctic first, I would have saved $15. Not bad for a potentially low $10 mod.

I decided to keep the wheel well facing part black. I didn't want it to chip. And it would probably always look cruddy anyway because of grime kicking up onto the white surface. The guards have a flash seam right around the edges that made it very easy to work with. I used paint thinner to clean up the edges of the seam in a nice clean line.

The next mod . . . who knows :lmao: I would like some kind of door sills. And eventually tires. Maybe the interior lighting for fun. But I think I'm good for now.

Nice job on the splash guards, looks really good.

Oh yea, keep your windows closed! Make that new car smell last FOREVER! Haha.

That's no joke. I rarely ever rolled down the window on my RSX. When I traded it in after 42 months of ownership it still smelled like "new car leather" (several other people's words, not mine).

Keeping the windows up works!!

I agree! Mine stills smells like new after 51 months (so far):thmsup:

In PA when I was splitting drive time between the Accord, the Civic Wagon, and the Prelude, the Accord would sometimes sit for a week. It always amazed me how 'new' it smelled after 3 years because it was closed up quite a bit. Plus, not rolling the windows down prevents streaking. :lmao:

Buffing the leather and dashboard with Lexol conditioner smells really good, too. I've never used anything that smelled so much like 'new car' . . . I highly recommend Lexol. :thmsup:

Nice job on the splash guards, looks really good.

agreed, looks good Trip and thanks for the Lexol tip

ill incorporate it with 303 aerospace use... i LOVE the new car smell and even with 2+ months of ownership, everyone who gets in (including myself) notices right off the bat how it smells the same as day 1 from the dealer.

No smokers, clean inside and probably having the windows down a total of 5 minutes in 2007 didn't hurt matters :)

A couple pics with the finished body colored splash guards. I'm really happy with the way they turned out. :thmsup: They look great if I do say so myself. Please excuse the krappy camera . . .

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/281000-281999/281873_144_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/281000-281999/281873_145_full.jpg

A few more random pics I took today . . .

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/281000-281999/281873_146_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/281000-281999/281873_149_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/281000-281999/281873_148_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/281000-281999/281873_150_full.jpg