This is unconfirmed (besides that USA Today article), not dyno or track proven yet, and you think Honda is gonna ship all of their AV6's with premium gas when they market them as 87 octane vehicles?

The new AV6 has the potential to pickup that claimed power on higher octane gas with a 10.0:1 CR. But Honda always find simple little ways of crippling their Honda products to separate them from the Acura's. The potential is there for sure. But we'll see if it actually pans out or not.

 

The Odyssey also has the same ECU where it can be used with Unleaded or Premium (for Maximum Performance). Even the owners manual says this. I know that no AV6's will be shipped with premium gas and that is why I said that the Accord used unleaded when you said the Maxima probobly had it too, yet the Maxima requires premium so I don't think that Enterprise rent a car would put unleaded in it unless it required it.

Honda did not cripple the Accord with the exception of .2 Liters, 20hp and 20tq. The only thing that was crippled before was the ECU and that has since changed.

 

The Odyessy was also publicly rated by Honda with TWO power ratings. One for 87, another for 91. 205HP/217TQ with 87, and 210HP/229TQ on 91. The new AV6 only has one rating of 240HP/212TQ. There's no guarantee the new Accord will be like the Odyessy and able to gain power by putting in a higher octane fuel.

87 octane ignition advance = X
91 octane ignition advance = Y

If 87 then advance = X
If 91 then advance = Y

For all you know the new AV6 ECU coding will tell it not to bother advancing the igntion past X, thus making any easy gains on 91 not possible.

You think the only thing crippled on the Gen6's is the ECU?

In addition to the ECU, there's also the cams that suck. The secondary intake valve isn't lifted below VTEC for economy and emissions. This MURDERS low-end torque. Ever wonder why the car is so gutless down low? Then there's the intake manifold. It's non-variable, and the resonance point is peaky, narrow, and centered WAY too high up in the rev-range. The car is also heavy, it's only available with an automatic, and the shift logic prevents you from making even moderately enthusiastic downshifts. The car is a complete dog during normal driving. Yeah, it has some guts, but only above 4000rpm. Combine that with an auto tranny with overly tall gearing which also HATES to downshift and you have a performance disaster.

The new AV6 also appears to have crippled cams. It ONCE AGAIN does not have a variable intake manifold. Peak torque is now at an even more useless 5000rpm (vs 4700rpm). Yeah, the top end is a lot better, but that's not what 3300lb automatic family sedans need to get moving. They need TORQUE, lots of it, and they need it available right off the line.

Yeah, it'll be a lot faster than before, but only when you give the accelerator pedal a massive prod and you keep it planted and the RPM's high...all with an automatic. The Altima on the otherhand has plenty of torque right off the line, and you don't need more than a feather on the pedal to get the acceleration you want.

I'll close with a quote from Christian Wardlaw, Editor-in-Chief at Edmunds.com

 

You talk like the AV6 is the slowest car in existance and its not. Yes all these things could have been improved for performance but that was not Honda's objective with the 6th gen V6. It is plenty fast for what it is and can definantly hold its own against other cars in its class. The ECU sucks because it does not allow you to gain much HP from performance mods. The accord gets good gas mileage with decent power vs ok gas mileage with great performance. Now in the 7th gen AV6 they have added much better performance with much better gas mileage.

Peak torque might be at 5000rpm for the 03 Accord V6 but it maintains much more torque through the rev-range than the previous AV6. The 3300lbs car seems to get moving real well if it can beat the altima in the 1/4 mile according to motor trend and C&D. I would like to see them at the track myself to compare stats.

 

This is getting old, moderator lock this thread

 

Plenty fast?

Yes, getting my a$$ handed to me on the highway by a freakin V8 Mercury Mountaineer because the stupid azz tranny wouldn't downshift to 2nd is not what I would call "plenty fast". If the stupid thing actually had some torque like the VQ does, it wouldn't have even needed a downshift to begin with. The car is weak. Period.

I would rather have a GIANT amount of torque that falls off towards redline to actually get me moving fast, than a smaller amount of torque that stays relatively flat up to redline. That's just personal preference, though. When I put my foot to the floor I want to move. NOW! Not 5 seconds from now when the tranny finally downshifts and the engine finally spins up to where it actually starts making some power, by which time I could be run over or passed already.

Mag racing

I got burned by "mag racing". Mags told me that an 01 Accord V6 is just as fast as a 01 Maxima automatic, which I used to justify my Accord purchase thinking it'd be as fast as a Maxima.

Umm...yea

 

So like I raced a BMW 325i and a 98 accord 4dr at the same time. We were all in the 100-120mph range. Of course my 4th gen doesn't feel fast, the stock ride is great compared to the other two cars who slowed down because they thought their cars would fall apart. All of my passengers didn't notice we were going that fast until they looked at the speedo and started to panic.

Everyone tells me: "damn your car is slow" then i says "look at the speedo" and the reply is "$&%#" followed by "it kinda sucks because your car is powerful but you can't really feel it." It's a smooth ride. I'd rather not feel the power and have it there...that way i can drive insanely fast (on empty road) without feeling my car is gonna take a schitt.