Honda Asia, based in Thailand has started the marketing of Honda
Access in Asia. Honda Access is the 'official' division within Honda
that designs and develops 'official' accessories for Honda cars, including
bodykits and performance parts. For the moment, Honda is only marketing
the bodykit range of Honda Access, the Honda Access Modulo
bodykits. Starting from the Honda City MMC last year, every new or facelifted
model marketed by Honda now comes with an offer of optional bodykit to
appeal to the enthusiasts.
When Honda Malaysia launched the MMC or Minor Model Change for the
Honda Accord earlier this year, I missed the media test-drive event due to
an unforeseen circumstance. In that event, Honda Malaysia showed off their
Honda Accord Modulo to the media. Subsequently I received a call
from the Honda Malaysia marketing team inviting me to check out and test
the same unit, which I eagerly accepted. While the review of the car will
be forthcoming, I decided that the car itself deserves to be given a
special feature car article.
The Honda Malaysia Honda Accord Modulo comes fitted with the
following Modulo bodykit items
Front Lower 'Lip'
Rear Trunk Spoiler
Honda Access door visors
Side-step 'Garnish'
Side skirts are standard on the Accord. The 'side step garnish' is a
metal plate that is put on the bottom of the door sills and is meant to
protect that part of the body and paintwork from wear and tear from
the shoe soles of the driver and passengers when getting in and out
of the car. I did not take a photo of this accessory during the photo
shoot.
The unit loaned to me is in Nighthawk Black Pearl and looked fantastic.
As is the norm, Honda Malaysia did not change the front grille in order
to retain the Honda badge. Enthusiasts who have purchased the optional
bodykit will probably want to change the grille as well.
I was given a brochure featuring the optional accessories for the
Accord when I picked up the car. From that brochure, the photos of the
4 accessory items are shown below.
I took the photographs of the car inside my friend's window-tint
workshop. Unfortunately the prestine condition of the Accord Modulo
also meant that the paintwork reflected parts of the workshop clearly
and I think this spoils the photos a little. Nevertheless, I think the
great looks of the Accord still shows up fine in the photos.
In use, the 2.4l Accord MMC was great to drive. It has a much better
throttle response than the pre-MMC unit that I tested. When driving
around city roads, unsafe speeds approaching 120kph and upwards were
reached without any effort, such was the strong mid-range torque from
the engine. I have also dyno'ed the car to check its power and will
be publishing the results as well as comparing it to the pre-MMC
Accord in a follow-up article in a short while. In the meantime,
enjoy the photos.