Let’s be honest: most of the Honda Accords out there are four-cylinder sedans with an automatic transmission. But you can, in theory, get a V6 Accord. And you used to be able to get a stick shift.
Of course, it’s no surprise a V6/stick combo was available in the “sporty” Accord coupe. But here’s an interesting fact: for two short years – 2006 and 2007 – you could also get an Accord sedan with a V6 and a stick shift. I consider this the high-water mark of the entire Accord run, although LaneWatch comes damn close.
Anyway: for those of you minutiae-obsessed enthusiasts out there, here’s an even cooler fact: you can tell apart the V6 manual sedans from the V6 automatics. Here’s how:
Wheels
The easiest way to tell the two cars apart is the wheels. Every single V6 manual Accord sedan used these:
This was very different from other Accord wheels. The closest wheel was this one, which was used in 2003 and 2004 on the four-cylinder Accord EX-L:
But if you ever get confused – or if the owner has changed the wheels, there’s always…
Badging
This is the best part about the V6 manual Accord sedan. On all the Accord V6 sedans with an automatic transmission, Honda included a boring ol’ badge that printed “V6” in black lettering. But the manual got it in red letters, like so:
Compared to the normal badge…
It’s hard to get any more minute than this. But remember: if you see an Accord V6 manual sedan, you’re looking at the rarest version of the ’03-’07 Accord in existence. That makes it interesting. To some of us.
I think the wheels from the manual Accord are from the Acura TL Type S (2002-2003) with a Honda center cap, no?
I thought I once read they aren’t the same, but, looking at it now, it seems they absolutely must be. If they’re not, the differences are ridiculously small.
Yup – per the dealer parts guy, same wheel, different cap.
I really like these, but there seems to be a well-documented issue with the gearbox. No extended warranty on those yet (unlike on their auto gearbox from 10 years ago). Continues to scare me away
I own an ’06 V6 6MT with 118K miles. Never had a problem with the gear box. To be honest, I thought that I’d be on my second clutch by now, but it’s still the original. I love the car…I’d buy a new manual V6 Accord sedan in a second, but I don’t think we’ll ever see those again (at least not in the U.S.)
Fantastic! I never even knew this existed. That red V6 badge and TL wheels are the kind of dorky details that are enough for me to buy one if I ever stumbled across it. This is the last bodystyle Accord I was still recommending to people as a 4 cyl, automatic appliance, so I like the idea that this niche trim is out there.
Me too! Sent you an e-mail on the address you used to register by the way. May have ended up in your spam folder.
If there’s a problem with these 6-speeds, it’s that the 3rd gear synchro wears out a little faster than you would like…but that’s about it.
Also, there’s an “A” on the Acura rims and an “H” on the Honda rims. Same otherwise.
The funny thing is the Honda is probably the better buy. The Acura has a notoriously awful transmission (not that it sucks – I mean because it breaks), and all the Acuras were automatics anyway. They did a CL Type-S with a six-speed, but only for one year. And the wheels were different!
There are stick shift TLs out there, just not very many.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2005-Acura-TL-3-2L-Navigation-Black-6speed-93K-/330930205651?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item4d0cfa33d3#ht_761wt_1184
Sadly only on the 04-08 body. The 99-04 TLs were all automatics, and the transmission was made of glass.
I’m pretty sure glass was considered too expensive a material so they used rubber bands and hot glue….
There is a TSB that replaced the 3rd gear synchro (many blogs called the problem 1, 2, crunch). The dealer orders it as a kit, 2 pages of parts on the invoice and about 1.5 days labor. All fixed at no charge and the problem is corrected. 8 years later and I still love mine. I’ve gotten many notes under my wiper asking me to sell it.
I also never knew these existed – I really should re-up my Car And Driver subscription. Not a big fan of that generation’s body though. Just in case someone is looking for one…
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/3835775520.html
One of my friends bought on of these when they were new, was one of the best bargains out there and quite fast for the day too.
This is an awesome sleeper. I may have to seek these out when it comes time to get a enw vehicle.
My wife drives an 05 TL with the six speed manual and it is a GREAT car. Kinda like the Saab Viggen I always wanted without having to date a Saab mechanic. The 3rd gear synchro is not a big deal and only slows down the 2-3 shift occasionally.
We test drove an 06 Accord V6 manual, but the suspension and brakes on the TL were far superior.
Happened to see an 04-06ish TL with a manual parked in my neighborhood the other day. What a coincidence! Can’t be a huge number of them out there, which is a shame, because that’s probably the best Acura ever (aside from the NSX). It was gorgeous, it had just enough power, and it was loaded.
After reading this post, I decided to search on AutoTrader and a few other sites to see how many of these Accord EX-L V6 6MT models I could find. I found 42 in all, and at least half of them were Carbon Bronze with Tan interior. The Beige/Tan in the ’03-’07 Accords is one of the ugliest shades of brown that I’ve ever seen and it doesn’t exist in nature…not even as poop! The ‘wood-tone trim’ that was paired with it was equally hideous. Not since the woodgrain Contac paper lining our kitchen shelves in the 70s has anything looked less like actual wood…
Carbon Bronze and Black was a much better choice, but was only available in 2007.
This car is the closest thing Honda has ever made to a spiritual successor to my ’94 Legend L 4-door (with 5-speed manual). There were so few manual Legends and the vast majority of those were in the ’94-’95 GS sedan, which had a 6-speed manual. Mine was also the ‘L Cloth’ which was Acura’s way of saying ‘Base Model’ after the actual BASE Model Sedan was dropped in ’93. The ’91-’93 BASE model never should have existed- it is amazing how black mirrors, door handles and side moldings can make such a gorgeous car look so damn cheap! But that’s a whole ‘nother story…
I didn’t know they made the sedans with a 6-speed – I thought that was confined to the coupes! I also didn’t know that body Legend (91-95?) had cloth available. I bet that 91-93 base was a rare bird…
The GS sedan was introduced in ’94. It had the 230hp (vs. 200hp in the L/LS sedan), 6-speed manual and 16″ alloys from the LS coupe. From ’91 to ’93, all Legend sedans (base, L and LS) had a 5-speed manual standard. The 5-speed LS sedan is the rarest of them all.
I despised the ’91-’93 base trim level. In addition to black mirrors, door handles and side moldings, the 15″ alloys had a flat finish instead of the polished ones on every other model. And for some reason, most of them were Frost White, which made it impossible NOT to notice the black trim. If you’ve ever seen a white Accord DX (esp. ’90-’93) you get the idea. The most insane thing was that the L was only $2000 more than the base in 1993. In addition to body-color exterior trim and polished alloys, it also included Bose audio and a power moonroof.
Dealers hated the base model more than anyone because they were almost impossible to sell. In reality, they probably were sold for $5000+ less than the L and always sold at a loss.
The L sedan was available with Cloth or Leather all the way thru the ’95 model year. Internally, they were designated as LC or LL. The L Cloth was fairly common thru ’93. I’ve had multiple dealers say that at least 90% of all trade-ins on manual transmission Legends were either ’88-’89 Accord LXi sedans or ’90-’93 Accord EX sedans with 5-speed manuals.
The Legend has always been (and always will be) “the ONE” for me. It’s my Holy Grail car. Prior to the ’94, I had a ’90 L Cloth sedan (final year of 1st gen Legend) with 5-speed manual. You’d be amazed at how fast 161hp can move a car that size with a 5MT…and I’d redline it all the time just to hear it rev!
Here’s a dirty little skeleton in Acura’s family tree, right up there with finding out that your grandparents were first cousins (and transsexuals) – ever heard of the Daewoo Arcadia? From 1994-1999, Acura licensed Daewoo to produce the 2nd generation Legend for the South Korean market (only!) and it was called the Arcadia. Now I have to go vomit…and pray to the Holy Mother for forgiveness and I’m not even Catholic! =)
My first “nice” car was an 87 Legend L sedan 5 speed that I swapped a cloth interior into. That was a FUN car – just like you said, rev to redline just to hear it. For years my dream car was the 95 GS sedan 6MT but by the time I was in a position to actually get one they were past their prime and hard to find. And I had had a taste of RWD and liked it. I now have a 2000 540i 6MT. But sometimes I reminisce about that 87.
My cousin bought the very first Legend sold in the Atlanta area in Nov 1985 at Nalley Acura. She was one of the 210+ (allegedly, but the real number was much greater) Pontiac Fiero owners who watched their car’s melt down to the metal space frame at a red light! She wanted something safer, classier and less likely to burst into flames and the Legend fit the bill perfectly.
It was an ’86 Legend with the 4-speed automatic, navy on navy cloth (leather wasn’t even an option until ’87). That was the car that started my love affair with the Legend. She kept that car for 17 years and it had over 300k miles on it. She moved to Los Angeles in ’89 and it survived a parking garage collapse during the Northridge Earthquake in 1994. It was trapped in the bottom level for over three weeks and she expected it to be a pancake when they found it. A single cinder block destroyed the hood and one headlight and it was covered in an inch or more of dust and dirt, but other than that it was fine!
She had to replace the transmission twice (once at 120k and again around 230k, but driving in LA is very hard on any car). She couldn’t afford a car payment and her $2500+/mo oceanfront apartment in Pacific Palisades (Malibu adjacent), so she just kept driving it and kept going and going.
She traded it in a new 2002 Acura MDX (when she married money) and the dealer gave her $5k trade-in and parked it in their showroom as a display piece! =)
One more way to tell: the smiling driver. I have a 2006 V6-MT sedan.
Great motor, fast, comfortable, 6th gear puts it at 3000 RPM at 70 or
75. Plus it has been super reliable, runs on reg gas (unless you want
another 15 HP, then run premium). Great seats, carries 5, big trunk, and
a smooth and precise shifter, solid stereo (skipped nav). First new car
I purchased, what a bargain. I would have preferred sportier wheels,
but as noted, we all got the same ones. The only option ordered was
Door and fender guard strips. It’s a sleeper for sure.
Hey Man, don’t knock my once-had sporty Accord coupe! It was actually pretty sporty, especially if it had 150,000 less miles on it.
Nice to read this blog post about this great car.
I have one of these, and unfortunately need to part with it. Aches my heart to do so. It is one awesome powerful, reliable, beauty.
I have an ad out for it on SF Bay craigslist:
RARE 2006 Honda Accord V6 6-spd 4-dr Sedan
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/4171963104.html
I had one of these, such a great car, actually looking to get another one right now as a cheap daily. Those sedans are soo rare.