One of things I liked best about the Honda Accord was that it was one of the few Japanese cars with a genuine European car feel. With the long awaited restyling of the Accord for 2003, that’s gone. It’s now smoother and more mainstream — designed to compete with the likes of its main rivals, the Toyota Camry and Nissan Altima — both of which underwent major styling changes last year.
   The Accord, with its well-earned reputation for quality, reliability, and resale value, was America’s top-selling car last year and has been one of the top three sellers for a decade. However the Camry, which was restyled last year into a more powerful, larger and all around sleeker machine, may top it this year. The highly successful Altima — which has traditionally been an also-ran against the Accord and Camry, is also giving it a serious run for its money as well.
   Additionally, sport-utility and “crossover” vehicles with the attributes of cars and trucks have risen to challenge the mid-size sedan market as well. That may have had a lot to do with why Honda elected to go more mainstream with the front-drive 2003 Accord — its bread-and-butter vehicle, accounting for nearly of all Accord sales.
   The new seventh-generation Accord boasts a slicker look while being only marginally longer, taller, wider, or heavier. The sportier coupe version shares only its headlights with the sedan. It’s more streamlined than the sedan, but not by as much as it once was. Look for a sportier V6 version of the coupe with a 6-speed stick and bigger tires early next year.
   Even though it goes against Honda’s long-time philosophy of providing just enough power — at least for its popular 4-cylinder models —to provide adequate performance, the new Accord is significantly more powerful.
   The new Accord boasts a 2.4-liter 4-banger that puts 160 ponies to the pavement. It replaces the old 2.3-liter 4-cylinder that produced either 135 or 150-horsepower.
   There is also a very smooth new 240 horse, 3-liter V6 — that adds 40 horses to the previous V6. In spite of the increased horses under the hood, fuel economy has been slightly improved and emissions are lower. This V6 Accord is impressively fast and at 75 mph, is loafing at around 2300 rpm.
   It’s no accident that both Accord powerplants put out more horses than the Camry four or six-cylinder engines — most notably Camry’s V6. The Nissan Altima also offers a 240-horse V6, and its 4-banger puts 175 horses to the highway — making it the overall power king. But the Accord and Camry still have a much stronger brand image than the Altima, which until last year wasn’t really in the running with this pair.
   Most Accord buyers are expected to once again opt for the 4-banger with the automatic transmission because they’re less costly than the V6 models. The same goes for most Camry buyers.
   The 2003 Accord gets a slick new 5-speed manual gearbox — and offers a 5-speed automatic transmission for the first time.
   The 2003 Accord comes in three trim levels: The base DX and higher-line LX and EX trims. Even the base DX is pretty well equipped.
   The interior is roomy, comfortable, and fairly quiet — eliminating much of the road noise of previous models. The front bucket seats provide above-average support, and there is ample room for four tall adults. The steering wheel both tilts and telescopes and the rear door pockets have cleverly integrated cupholders. Instrumentation is nicely lit and actually quite similar to the Lexus. The whole interior is definitely designed to appeal to comfort-oriented mainstream sedan buyers.
   There’s an optional voice-activated system for navigation, audio and climate controls. All Accords except the DX get a remote entry key fob that both unlocks doors and opens all side windows — although the rear windows don’t lower all the way. Standard side curtain airbags for the top-line EX V6 are also new.
   The trunk is large, with a low liftover height and wide opening. But its lid has manual hinges instead of the smooth hydraulic struts used to help raise the hood.
   Handling is quick and precise and the suspension allows a decent road feel, but is pretty soft over road irregularities during highway or freeway cruising.
   The brake pedal has a nice linear action, and stopping distances are short with standard anti-lock brakes standard on all trim levels.
   Gas mileage is in the low to mid-20s in the city and in the high 20s and low 30s on the highway.

Whines: While Honda claims it has made the Accord sportier, it no longer has that feel of sporty European sedans, which have precision handling and let in a little road noise so a driver doesn’t feel isolated from the world. The new automatic upshifts very smoothly and is much better than a conventional 4-speed automatic. However, it pauses noticeably before downshifting. The voice commands on the navigation system don’t always work as advertised. They do work well for the climate and audio features though.

Bottom Line: The new Accord is an attractive, comfortable, and significantly more powerful car that is smoother and more refined than in previous years. Lacking that sporty European feel and behaving more like a domestic sedan, it isn’t quite as much as fun to drive as its predecessor, but it should remain one of the top-selling mid-size sedans.