Malaysia’s Honda Accord makes more power than Thailand’s – 11 PS/17 Nm more, why?

The all-new 10th generation 2020 Honda Accord was launched in Malaysia earlier today. The previous model’s 2.0-litre and 2.4-litre naturally aspirated engines have since been retired, replaced by a new 1.5-litre turbocharged unit that’s shared with the Civic and CR-V, with different tuning of course.

While the same engine makes 173 PS/220 Nm in the Civic and 190 PS/243 Nm in the CR-V, the engine has been tweaked for the flagship Accord to produce 201 PS/260 Nm.

Since the Toyota Camry Hybrid, Kia Optima GT, and Ford Mondeo is no longer on sale and the new Volkswagen Passat 2.0 TSI no longer makes 220 PS, the Honda Accord is now the most powerful D-segment sedan on sale in Malaysia.

Curiously, our local specifications Honda Accord actually makes more power than the Thailand market one, which makes just 190 PS/243 Nm, identical to our CR-V.

Why is that so?

Since 2016, cars in Thailand are no longer taxed solely on engine capacity, but also on the engine’s CO2 emissions. The cutoff point is 150 g/km, after which a passenger car will attract 5 percent more excise duty.

So what is the Accord’s (non-hybrid) CO2 emissions? No prize for guessing, it is 149 g/km and obviously this will require a bit of compromise in power output.

Thailand’s excise duty structure also offers lower taxes for cars that are capable of running ethanol biofuel (gasohol). Thailand mandates three blends of gasohol – E10, E20, and E85 for 10 percent, 20 percent, and 85 percent ethanol mix into their petrol.

Thailand’s Accord has been tuned to be compatible with E85 gasohol.

Malaysia has no such requirements/incentive so we get to enjoy more power and more torque from the same engine.

However, our local Accord’s fuel consumption is also slightly higher. Claimed fuel consumption (UNECE R101 test cycle, similar to NEDC) is 6.3-litre/100 km, which is 0.2-litre/100 km more than the Thailand specs car.

So that’s your answer to why our local Honda Accord makes more power than not just all of its D-segment rivals, but also Thailand’s Accord.

To recap, the all-new Honda Accord is priced at RM 185,900 for the 1.5 TC variant and RM 195,900 for the 1.5 TC-P variant.