Stand Alone; Accord coupe leaves little room for Camry comparisons.(Auto File)(an evaluation of Honda's 2003 Accord)

Think twice before grouping Honda's 2003 Accord with the family car fray.

For starters, it's hard to push a family car from 0 to 60 mph in just a fraction over six seconds. Yes, we were testing the $28,000 coupe version with a manual and 240-horse sohc V6, but we reckon the automatic-shifting V6 sedan's numbers would register only a second slower, which is stellar for bread-and-butter family hauling. Still, at less than $30,000 for the top trim level including navigation, leather and power everything, it's hard to argue against this car as a family value.

One owner dumped his certified family hauler, a V6-powered 2002 Toyota Camry that was, in his opinion, ``an oversized, bloated luxo-barge that floated over the road,'' upon testing the ``lower, sleeker and much lighter'' Accord sedan. We have nothing against the best-selling Camry, but the owner makes a great point: This here Accord ain't no Camry, whether coupe or sedan. It's much more, Infiniti G35 maybe, and definitely bred by makers of Acura front-drivers. ``It is the car BMW buyers think they are getting-at half the price,'' said the aforementioned owner.

BMW owners get to choose a manual shifter with their V6 sedans, but Honda sedan owners don't, which inspired a few complaints. At the same time owners described the automatic as ``buttery-smooth'' or even ``the smoothest-shifting auto ever driven.''

At the track, we could not hit 40 mph in first gear, but second maxes out just past 60 mph, which is great planning. If second cuts off below 60 mph, it could cost precious ticks in the straightaway. Then again, the Accord has a few ticks of the second hand to give, bettering the V6, auto-tranny Camry we tested by 2.38 seconds, the G35 auto-shifter by three-quarters of a second, the Nissan Altima by two-tenths and the Acura TL Type-S by three-tenths. It also outdid Nissan Maxima, Audi A4 and BMW 328i, and its 14.73-second quarter-mile is equally impressive.

We found so much torque down low that launching the ...