The Altima earns a 31-mpg highway rating, while the Accord’s six-speed automatic allows a 34-mpg highway rating for the V-6-thanks also to Variable Cylinder Management (VCM). In real-world fuel economy, we saw much better with the Altima than the Accord, but we put more miles on the Altima. While they’re nearly identical in performance, we might give the Accord the edge in sound alone the Accord snaps through the gears with a sophisticated snarl, while the Altima tends to drone when you push it.įuel economy. Meanwhile, the six-speed automatic in the Accord is smoother than Honda’s previous-generation automatics, as well as more responsive to downshift. Nissan’s continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT) gives the Altima V-6 a laid-back personality, and it gathers speed deceptively fast and easy the CVT also works far better with this V-6 than in Nissan’s smaller cars, raising revs quickly whenever needed for bursts of power, and offering steering-wheel paddle shifters that let you ‘pretend’ it’s a conventional automatic. Both engines are very strong, smooth, and refined, and it’s now a tossup, even when you consider the engine and transmission. The Nissan Altima has a 270-horsepower, 3.5-liter V-6, while the Honda Accord has a 278-horsepower, 3.5-liter V-6.
Between these two, it was a close call, so follow along and we’ll tell you the what and why. Are these models worth the premium for the V-6, and if you want to go the strong, smooth route with one, which is better? We recently revisited both the 2013 Honda Accord V6 Touring and 2013 Nissan Altima 3.5 SL with this question in mind.