2018 Honda Accord Kills the V6, Adds Type R Engine

The 10th generation of Honda’s venerable Accord will debut for 2018 without a V6 engine option.

A few months later to the all-new midsize party than the next-generation 2018 Toyota Camry, the new Accord will not follow the Camry’s entrenched path of providing customers with a base four-cylinder and a V6 upgrade.

Instead, Honda will make do with the 1.5-liter turbocharged four already under the hood of the 10th-generation Civic and the fifth-generation Honda CR-V. As an upgrade, Honda will offer the 2.0-liter turbocharged unit from the 2018 Honda Civic Type R. In both cases, Honda has not yet revealed the power output. Honda will continue with an Accord Hybrid, as well.

But the V6 is a goner.

The outgoing Honda Accord’s optional V6 engine was a 278-horsepower 3.5-liter with 252 lb-ft of torque. Fuel economy, according to the EPA, measured 21 miles per gallon in the city; 33 highway with the six-speed automatic.

In the all-new Accord that Honda says will debut later this year, the basic 1.5T — a non-VTEC powerplant — will be linked to either the continuously variable transmission or a six-speed manual. The 2.0T, on the other hand, will be offered with both a 10-speed automatic or a six-speed manual.

Honda says only about 10 percent of Accord buyers were choosing the V6.

Honda began offering a V6 engine in the Accord for the 1995 model year. That 170-horsepower 2.7-liter unit was superseded by a 200-horsepower 3.0-liter V6 in 1998 and a 240-horsepower 3.0-liter in 2003. Displacement grew to 3.5 liters in 2008. In the CR-V, the current 1.5T produces 190 horsepower. The Civic Type R’s 2.0T is a 306-horsepower powerplant.

Honda says the new Accord will feature “a dramatically lower and wider appearance” after going through a new-from-the-ground-up redesign. Its engines are built in Anna, Ohio; the 10-speed automatic hails from Tallapoosa, Georgia. The Accord’s assembly plant is in Marysville, Ohio.

As for the Accord Coupe, there’s no word yet on timing. At a Civic Type R event in Montreal, Quebec, Honda spokesperson Sage Marie told TTAC’s Mark Stevenson, “Stay tuned.”

On a retail basis, Honda says, the Accord has been America’s best-selling midsize car in each of the last four years. The Camry has claimed overall sales leadership in 15 consecutive years.

With no V6 in the Accord, America’s midsize segment’s six-cylinder engine options will be limited to the Camry, Nissan Altima, Volkswagen Passat, and Subaru Legacy.

[Images: American Honda]

Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.