The Accord may not sell as well as the Camry, but forced induction makes the Honda a rather tempting proposition. The mid-size family car makes the most sense if you go for the 2.0-liter turbocharged engine, which is complemented by a 10-speed automatic instead of a boring CVT.
A little over $33,000 is the sticker price of this particular configuration, including destination charge, and the turbo-10 combo is more than capable of shaming a V8-powered ‘Stang over the 1/8-mile at the Barona Dragstrip.
The unlikely rivals in the following clip are a 2020 model year Sport and a 2017 model year GT Fastback with questionable bodyside graphics and black-out wheels. Tipping the scales at 3,377 pounds (1,532 kilograms), the Honda is much lighter, although it has two disadvantages over the pony car.
First and foremost, 252 horsepower at 6,500 revolutions per minute and 273 pound-feet (370 Nm) from 1,500 through 4,000 rpm isn’t quite the same as 435 ponies and 400 pound-feet (542 Nm) of torque. Front-wheel drive is the other issue because launching hard off the line shifts weight over the rear axle, translating to more wheelspin as the front wheels tend to lift off.
Be that as it may, maximum torque is developed much sooner in the Accord and the 10-speed automatic transmission is miles better than the Getrag MT82 six-speed manual and the 6R80 six-speed automatic that’s based on a very old transmission from ZF Friedrichshafen. It’s also worth highlighting the Mustang’s driver seems to be sleeping at the Christmas tree on the first 1/8-mile run and seems to have missed a shift on the second drag race.
On that note, it’s also important for us to remember that Honda calls the Accord’s engine the K20C4 whereas the Civic Type R flaunts the K20C1. The latest application of the 2.0-liter turbo is the Acura TLX for the 2021 model year, which features the K20C6 that cranks out 272 horsepower at 6,500 revolutions per minute and 280 pound-feet (380 Nm) from 1,600 rpm.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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