By the time you read this, the price of unleaded fuel would have increased by a peso per week in the past alone.  This equates to a price penalty of almost 25 percent compared to the start of this year.  This means, that for the first time, the regular consumer has begun to look beyond raw horsepower or fancy on-board entertainment when it comes to a new car purchase.  Fuel mileage is, more often than not, the first thing asked; and everything equal, a buyer would opt for a less opulent, but more efficient vehicle.  The burgeoning luxurious take on the compact car segment means that even executives have begun looking for smaller compact cars rather than their typical mid- or large-sized sedans of choice.

But what if we’d tell you that you can still have your cake and eat it too; that you can still have great taste without the calories?  It sounds heaven-sent: having all the horsepower without sacrificing a bit to fuel economy.  People call it a miracle, but car enthusiasts know it by another word: Accord.  To be honest, I certainly had doubts before the drive.  I’ve seen my share of fancy fuel efficiency technology used with varying success; and hybrid aside, there’s none that I would really rate as exemplary.  All that’s about to change as we drove the all-new Honda Accord to the Summer Capital of the Philippines: Baguio.

The drive is approximately 350 kilometers one way and goes through varied terrain from international-grade four-lane super highways to haphazardly repaired provincial roads to hilly mountain passes.  Recently, I’ve had my fair share of bringing up cars to Baguio, and from experience, anything with more than 2.0-liters of displacement will require a refill the moment I reach the city center.  And even if a fuel stop wasn’t on the Accord drive’s itinerary, I was actually counting on that given the 2.4- and 3.5-liter displacements, even before we left Makati.

On the way up, a lottery dictated that we drive the ‘entry-level’ 2.4 S.  With 180 horsepower and 225 Nm of torque from its 4-cylinder engine, it certainly isn’t a wuss.  And with Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Aida Sevilla-Mendoza behind the wheel on the first leg, it certainly didn’t feel like it.  Frankly asking where the speed radars are on the NLEX, she gunned the throttle at every opportunity, reaching speeds up to 160 km/h even without using the flappy paddles.  It’s not her thing she adds.  Her lead foot obliged the Accord to push almost endlessly, and the responsive automatic actually held up very well.  As a passenger, it was indiscernible that the car was reaching break neck speeds.  The interior’s hushed with impressive levels of NVH isolation.  Whereas previous Accords were ‘famous’ for their high-speed wind and tire noise, the new Accord easily rectifies those weaknesses.

Behold the all-new 2008 Honda Accord. The one seen here is the 3.5-liter V6. You can tell by the unique alloy design as well as the twin tail pipes.

Ms. Aida Sevilla-Mendoza pushing the 2.4 S to the limit on the NLEX. Needle is reaching 140 km/h--and she's not even slowing down!