1998-2002 Honda Accord

September 21, 2005 - By John LeBlanc

Did you hear the one about the man and a boy taking their donkey into town? As they walk alongside the beast of burden, someone complains:

"Fools, what's a donkey for if you're not riding it?"

In response, the boy climbs aboard the animal, and someone else carps:

"What a lazy kid, letting his father walk."

When the man swaps spots and gets on the mule, they get: "Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along."

After many permutations of man/boy/donkey, the man and the boy finally tie up the donkey's feet, sling it over a pole and carry the animal themselves. While crossing a bridge, one of the donkey's feet gets loose and kicks the boy, causing him to drop the ass in the brink.

"That will teach you," says an old man who had followed them. "Please all and you will please none."

A perennial best-seller, Honda's 1998-2002 Accord comes very close to proving this Aesop fable wrong.

With a seven-cubic-foot increase in interior room, the sixth-generation Accord moved the Honda sedan up a weight class to mid-sized from compact. Originally, the Accord came in base LX or upscale EX trim levels, with either a 150-horsepower, 2.3-litre four-cylinder engine or a new 3.0L V6 first seen in the Acura CL coupe. A four-speed automatic was man-datory with the six and optional on four-cylinder Accords.

If you like your silk smooth, then go for the 200-hp six. You'll have to cane it for performance driving as there's not as much torque as a Passat V6, but it will get you to 100 kilometres an hour in less than eight seconds --quicker than any donkey.

Nice engine, shame about the tranny -- the automatic can be hesitant on upshifts and harsh on downshifts. However, with its double wishbone/multi-link suspension, the Accord is quite athletic for the family car genre, and if you know what that first pedal on the left is for, the available five-speed manual almost turns the lighter, four-cylinder Accord into a sports sedan.

Also keeping everyone happy is the interior, which is conservatively styled, highly functional and well built. All controls have a positive feel and are located within easy reach of the driver. Materials are top notch and durable. Unlike what you'll find in a domestic sedan such as a Chevrolet Impala, the leather on the upscale EX actually looks as if it came from an animal -- and not a mule, either.

Ergonomics have always been an Accord strength, with the only blemish on these models being a steering wheel bereft of the ability to telescope.

Recognizing the value consumers started putting on safety, most of this generation's upgrades focused on this area. Initially, anti-lock brakes were standard on V6 and four-cylinder EX models and optional on the four-cylinder LX sedan with automatic transmission. In 2000, front side air bags became standard on V6 models and on leather-equipped, four-cylinder EXs.

The only significant changes in the trim levels during these five years was the blue plate special DX sedan launched in 1999 with the same 2.3L four-cylinder engine as in other Accords but producing 15 less horsepower. There was also a value-stacked SE run-out model in 2002.

Relative to other family car competitors such as the Impala, Dodge Intrepid, Ford Taurus, Nissan Altima/Maxima, Oldsmobile Intrigue, Saturn LS and Volkswagen Passat, Accords have a well-earned reputation for being nearly bulletproof. The only notable issues with this generation are with first-year models only. First, a saturated float in the master cylinder can cause the brake light to stay on. Second, if the car is driven on rough roads, the spoiler on the trunk can rub through the paint. Finally, loose nuts on the rear stabilizer bar cause it to rattle. After 1998, it's clear sailing.

I guess the folks at Honda were too busy to read Aesop. Since its introduction in 1976, the Accord has been able to take this fable and basically stick it up Aesop's, er, donkey. Every generation of Accord since has been a rarity in the affordable family sedan class by being relatively stylish, dead reliable and yet still fun to drive. In other words, virtually pleasing all.

- John LeBlanc, Publisher, www.straight-six.com

THE SPECS:

TYPE OF VEHICLE Front-wheel-drive, four-door sedan/ two-door coupe

ENGINES 135-hp to 150-hp, 2.3L four-cylinder, 145 to 152 lb-ft of torque; 200-hp, 3.0L V6, 195 lb-ft of torque

TRANSMISSIONS Five-speed manual, four-speed automatic

SAFETY Dual air bags, anti-lock brakes, traction control (V6 models 2001-02)

NHTSA FRONTAL IMPACT RATING (OUT OF FIVE STARS) 1999 Accord: Driver, four; passenger, four

RECALLS:

1998 Irregularity in the transmission cover can allow the car to roll down an incline while transmission is in Park

1998-99 Worn ignition switch may cause interlock to fail, allowing ignition key to be removed without shifting gear into Park

2000 Air bags may not deploy correctly due to improper welding

2000 Rear suspension lower arms and/or control arms could break due to improper welding

2000-01 Certain rear seat belt buckles were improperly manufactured and may be difficult to unfasten after a crash

2001 Broken plastic piece of air cleaner box cover could travel into the intake chamber. If the piece lodges in the throttle body, the throttle could stick in a partially open position

2002 V6 engine will stall if timing belt breaks due to a misaligned tensioner pulley on the water pump

PROS 1. Athletic handling 2. Functional interior 3. Holds its value

CONS 1. Automatic transmission performance 2. Expensive 3. Ubiquitous

© Copyright Canwest News Services 2005. This article originally appeared in The National Post's Driver's Edge.