Speaking of competitors, is the ILX not competing with the Accord V6 at this price point.
I'll take Accord Sport V6 engine over a four any day.
That's the problem, the Accord just seems like a better value. Pricing aside, the finance rates on an ILX are 3.9%. Accord and Civic Right now are .99%. That's thousands of dollars in the difference right there over 60 months. Also, freight and PDI on an Accord is about $1600. It's $2000 on an ILX. So MSRP isn't all you have to look at. You can get an Accord Sport with a nice 6 speed manual for $26,000. The horsepower rating is a bit less than the ILX on paper but in reality both engines are probably pretty similar in output. Accord runs on regular fuel, ILX on premium. The base ILX doesn't even have heated seats, and cheap plastic block out's where the fog lights should be. For the same $30,000 you can have an Accord EX-L which has almost every option you can get, including leather that Honda offers. When you step up the the next level of ILX after the base, you can head over to Honda and get a EX-L Accord V6 that pumps out a smooth 278 horsepower on regular fuel. No doubt the ILX has a few pluses vs the Accord, such as the 8 speed trans vs. a CVT but you will be paying many thousands more for whatever pluses there are.
