Ever since the complete redesign in 1998, I knew I had to have one. The coupe was finally more than just the sedan with two less doors, it had it's own sporty personality. Sporty enough to steal sales away and kill off Honda's long running sports coupe, the Prelude. In 2002 (last year of design) I purchased my brand-new Starlight Silver Accord EX V6 Coupe.

It was my first brand-new car and came fully loaded with a sticker of over $ 25K.

The exterior was sporty with excellent quality metallic paint, 16" alloy wheels (Coupe exclusive), sleek clear-lens headlamps and dual exhaust made for a sleek appearance on the move, or just sitting in a parking stall.

The interior was done in a beautiful black leather. The quality of the leather was top notch. The front seats were extremely comfortable while taller passengers complained about the lack of head and legroom in the back seat. One thing I would change is make the seats heated, which Honda added for the 2003 redesign. The 6-Disc In-Dash CD Changer and Cassette player was a welcome feature. Another nice interior feature was the fully automatic climate control. The HomeLink Garage Transmitter was a neat feature that you can program up to 3 garage doors and means the need for garage door openers is gone.

Safety wise, the Accord came standard with Dual front and side airbags, anti-lock brakes with traction control and a 5-star safety rating. A sensor in the passenger seat knew whether or not there was a passenger in the seat and whether or not the airbags would deploy in case of an accident. The ABS and traction control worked effortlessly in the icy Iowa winters.

The 3.0L V6 engine which produced 200 Horsepower was a smooth, quiet and powerful motor. Turn off the standard traction control and let 'er rip and the Accord gets up and goes with the kind of smoothness you'd expect from a much more expensive car. The engine is so quiet, many times I found myself going 20-30 miles over the speed limit without even knowing it. On several road trips, I found the Accord got great gas mileage usually close to 30 mpg. I averaged close to 24mpg in the city.

As far as performance goes, the car handled ok, better than the Accord 4-door thanks to the tuned suspension and the 16" wheel and tire combo but not quite up to par with other sporty coupes. In normal everyday cornering, the car handled with confidence but as you speed up you are easily reminded you are still driving an Accord, not an S2000.

Braking, I found was excellent. The standard anti-lock brakes w/traction control performed flawlessly. There is one incident in particular that really impressed me. One day on the way home from work, I was driving around 80mph on the interstate and came around a corner to find traffic at a complete stop. Knowing I did not have the time or the space for a gradual stop, I had no choice but to slam on my brakes. The brakes performed like a dream, absolutely no brake fade and the car stopped from 80mph in no time and stopped in a completely straight line.

The ride itself was firm but not harsh. The interior was very quiet and took most bumps well while some did tend to intrude on the cabin.

The only available transmission on the EX V6, a 4-speed automatic shifted very smoothly. With the complete redesign for 2003, you can now opt for a 5-speed automatic or sporty 6-speed manual. Torque steer was a minor problem.

Problems I Had Occur:

The power sunroof was rattle prone from the get-go. I only had the car for 18 months, and in that 18 months my Accord was in the shop over 10 times for the same problem. The problem was never really fixed. They replaced latches, tried putting lube around the plastic molding, but nothing was permanent.

The steering wheel mounted radio controls worked only 1/3 the time. I had the wiring and controls replaced 3 different times. Again, nothing more than a temporary fix.

Having seen a friends Accord reach 316,000 miles and still running like brand new, and never hearing a bad thing about Honda, I knew it would be a wise investment. I still believe Honda's are great cars and believe the problems I had are not wide spread, although my 17,000 mile rattle-prone coupe gave me no choice than to trade it in 3 years ahead of schedule.
Amount Paid (US$): 25000.00
Condition: New
Model Year: 2002
Model and Options: 2002 ACCORD EX V6 2-DOOR COUPE