| Text By Redline
Photos courtesy of Honda Motors Philippines Inc. |
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| The engine. Although it's hidden deep under the hood, a car's
powerplant determines so much of its personality that often it's the primary
distinction between the car and its competitors. So how much engine
can you get these days with a million bucks, give or take a hundred thousand?
Nissan offers its ultra-smooth 2.0 24-valve in the Cefiro, while
Mitsubishi has a more powerful but less-refined 2.5 V6 in its Galant.
For less money, the Galant can also come with an aging and indifferent
2.0 sohc 16V. Toyota has a 2.2 16V that offers ample torque but becomes
buzzy at higher revs. If you have more money than sense, a significantly
more expensive option is the weak 1.6 liter in the substantially smaller
BMW 316i.
Into this battle jumps the Honda Accord, armed with a 2.0 or a 2.3, both sohc inline-4s with 16 valves actuated by VTEC. The variable valve timing and lift electronic control system was first made famous in Honda's NSX, which extracted 270 bhp from a mere 3.0 liters, with no turbo- or superchargers attached. It has since appeared in the Civic, Prelude and the Accord in various guises, sometimes tuned to achieve high fuel economy (18 km / liter in the U.S. Civic 1.5) and in other cases to produce more power. This current version of VTEC appeared in the 1994 U.S. Accord, and it combined fuel economy (8% better than the non-VTEC) with greater power output at high revs. The new 2.3 is a bored-and-stroked successor to last year's 2.2, made possible by using thinner cylinder liners in the same aluminum block. Maximum power is a modest (for a 2.3) 157 hp at 5700 rpm, while torque is a meaty 210 Nm at 4900 rpm. Although Nissan claims that its 2.0 VQ is a Ward's Best Engine awardee, it was actually the 3.0 which was given the distinction. This Honda 2.3, however, is a genuine nominee, cited for its technical sophistication and refinement. The 2.3 is rather thirsty, though, registering only 6.3 to 6.5 km / liter during our test.
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