Thai Accord VTI - Luxury car OR American barge...?

[pmptrading]

Opinions please....

Is the Accord VTI (Thai built) a luxury car or a US market ugly based car?

Personally I think it is a ENTRY LEVEL - LUXURY CAR ......

Opinions please.....

ALSO - what is the best colour to have? (Or should I say color to have!!! LOL)

[jamchen]

you should've got the V6... with traction control and all others.. Sunroof... etc

[EuroDude]

Should have gotten the Accord VTi-L if you wanted luxury, its only 2 grand extra.

If you wanted more power, the V6 or Euro are a better choice.

Doesnt matter, you can always upgrade the car yourself with leather trim etc..

[pmptrading]

I don't really want leather..... the velour is so nice....

I think 4 cylinders are enough.... think of the planet

[hotout]

I see you've bought yourself a new VTi.

I have one and the following reasons are why i should have spent $5k more and got a Euro! :(

Even though it's bigger in the back than the Euro,

- when you slam your foot down, especially in rare emergency scenarios, it takes the TCU or perhaps the ECU a full 2 seconds before the tranny shifts down, and then another 2 seconds before you feel any acceleration. My 92 auto Accord with less power never did this

- handling is bargy

- transmission is 80% of the time in too low a gear (probably because they programmed it for economy). Take note of what gear you're in on a slight incline getting steeper at 80km/h. It will want to stay in 4th even though you really need 3rd because the car is getting slower. Which makes it sometimes dangerous if you have 3 adults in the car and you're driving on interstate highways, because there is just not enough juice to get you up hills to overtake.

- the A pillar is too thick, turning into many corners you'll notice a nice big blind spot.

- steering is too light > 110km/h.

I'm no race hoon, but it is disappointing that I made such a crap decision on a car.

Having said that it's good value for senior citizens who potter around the burbs.

[JohnL]

Hotout,
Serves you right for buying an automatic!

I've never driven one I liked, all I've driven take too long to shift down, shift down too lazily when you want them too shift easily (i.e. in the rain when the damn car won't accelerate and you push harder and harder then it changes down when you've got a lot of throttle happening and spins the wheels), shift up too early unless you've really got your foot planted, waste power, and basically can't read your mind so don't know what gear you need the car to be in at any given moment. Even shifting an auto manually is less than satisfactory.

OK, so I haven't tried more modern 'fuzzy logic' autos, but they'd have to be damn good to be better than a good manual over which I the driver have complete and utter control! I'm not really a control freak but I don't like autos and I don't like riding horses, they both have minds of their own and rarely come to the same decisions that I do.

[hotout]

Hotout,
Serves you right for buying an automatic!



ahem :-) serves me right!

unfortunately, missus doesn't drive manuals....so until we each get our own cars!

[aaronng]

Also, the thai Accord doesn't have a manual option. If you were getting an Euro, the manual is a much better experience. But if you were forced to get an auto, both the Euro and VTI are good cars. Back when the VTI had the promotion of leather at 29,990 driveaway, I would have chosen the VTI over the Euro. :)

[JohnL]

ahem :-) serves me right!
unfortunately, missus doesn't drive manuals....so until we each get our own cars! I know your situation, my wife doesn't like autos either, our last two cars were auto, this time I put my foot down (well, she let me put it down!) and bought a manual, it was my turn!