With a gap in its lineup between the mid-size Pilot and compact CR-V SUVs, Honda would appear to be filling that hole with an Accord-based crossover. Caught here wearing no camouflage, it is clear Honda is prepping to do battle with the new Toyota Venza.

Based on the European-only Accord Tourer wagon, this CUV displays the familiar U.S.-market Accord front end grafted to a Tourer body. The similarities stop there, though, with additional fender flares pinned to the side indicating a wider track and the C-pillar masking a lengthened wheelbase. From the back, a rear differential makes it evident the CUV will get power to the rear wheels in addition to those in the front, likely via Honda’s VTM-4 all-wheel-drive system. We expect power will come from the same 2.4-liter four-cylinder and 3.5-liter V-6 engines offered on the current Accord, the latter shown on this vehicle denoted by the dual exhaust.

What’s new, highlights, and safety info for the 2009 Honda Accord.

Introduction

Honda’s large family car, available in coupe and sedan form, isn’t just a perennial 10Best winner, it dominates the list. The last time the Accordwasn’t on the list was 1997, and the car has appeared a whopping 22 times. The reason? Simple: the Accord has everything you want in a sensible car—reliability, a comfortable and friendly interior, and good fuel economy—plus good engines and lively handling to keep pulse rates raised.

The 2008 model year brought the eighth-generation Accord, which was first introduced all the way back in 1976. The big news for 2009 is addition of a diesel powertrain later in the year. Power and torque for that engine are expected to be around 160 hp and 260 lb-ft, which should provide a very different driving experience from Honda’s high-revving gas engines. Those are still around, starting with a 177-hp four in LX and LX Premium trim levels in the sedan. The coupe starts in LX Premium trim with an upgraded, 190-hp engine, which also comes installed in the EX and EX-L trim in both coupe and sedan. Finally, EX V-6 (sedan only) and EX-L V-6 trims come with, you guessed it, a six-cylinder engine good for 271 horsepower.  Dunlop tire prices

The Ford F-series, which has been the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for almost 17 years, has been outsold in May by four small Japanese cars.

As May sales results continue to pour in, the Honda Civic appears to have taken the crown with 53,299 sold, followed closely by the Toyota Corolla at 52,826, Toyota Camry at 51,291, and the Honda Accord with 43,728 sold. All of them beat the F-150, which saw its sales drop 31 percent compared to May 2007, for a total of only 42,973.

We admit, we were initially skeptical when Ford, and then GM execs, made grim pronouncements about the “structural” change the industry is undergoing that is forcing them to close plants and lay off thousands of workers who make trucks, while adding shifts at plants that make fuel-efficient cars.

It’s an engine you can’t buy in a car you can with a different name. Allow us to explain why you care.

It’s rare that we test two-year-old cars, but this particular Accord is rarer—in the U.S., anyways—than burlesque houses in a Texan polygamy camp. Under the hood is a 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine, but twist the key in this Accord and it explodes to life in a lumpy jolt before settling softly into the characteristic, chugging idle of a small diesel.

If you are looking at the car on these pages and thinking, “That’s not an Accord!” you’re right and you’re wrong. It is not an Accord as we know it here in the States, but it is an Accord elsewhere in the world. What we know here as the Acura TSX is sold in Europe and Japan as the Honda Accord. Honda has confirmed that it will bring a diesel Accord to the U.S. in 2009. We’re not big on waiting, though, so we borrowed a 2007 Accord (which equates to our 2004–2008 TSX) with a similar diesel under the pressure.

For those who appreciate fine design and are willing to pay for it.

When pondering the prices of the Volkswagen CC and the Toyota Camry or Honda Accord, mid-size sedan buyers might ask themselves why the VW costs so much more. Well, I could draw you a picture of some dudes and a lady with a big butt hanging out in a park, but it wouldn’t be Georges Seurat’s Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. To simplify, one is art and the other is not, and you can guess which commands a premium.

The CC qualifies as art not because of its mechanicals—which come courtesy of the fine Passat—but because of its sublime design. Take the front seats, for example. They’re beautiful. The unbroken curved sections that frame the bottom cushions are particularly daring compared to regular car seats, and the seats as a whole serve as a great example of how interesting design doesn’t have to impinge on functionality or comfort; they strike just the right balance between sporty grippiness and long-haul cushiness. Styling permeates everything else, too.