1998 Honda Accord Article at Automotive.com

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Team Hybrid 1998 Honda Accord

Below is an enthusiast article written by the automotive experts at Import Tuner. A Show-Stopping Accord On A Student Budget

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IntelliChoice Value Rating

The chart above shows the purchase price versus ownership cost for each car from a specific vehicle class. The cars with better than average ownership cost/purchase price correlations are the best values, and these best value cars are represented by the dots below the curve. (i.e. the cars that have a lower ownership cost compared to its purchase price.) Those cars, which are worse than average or poor values, appear above the curve.

One way to view the graph is to draw a vertical line through any purchase price. You may see several dots that fall on this line - each of which is a car with a similar purchase price. However, notice the difference in ownership costs of each car represented by the vertical position of the dot. Two cars with the same purchase price can have thousands of dollars difference in ownership costs. This is what separates "good value" cars from "poor value" cars.

What is a good car value?

A "good car value" is one whose cost to own and operate is less than expected. The lower the cost to own and operate a car compared to what is expected, the better the value of that car.

But how do we know a car's "expected cost"?

For each car in the class, IntelliChoice plots the car's purchase price against the total five-year cost to own and operate it as determined by IntelliChoice research. Each dot on the above chart represents a specific car. Generally, we find that as the purchase price of the car increases, the cost to own and operate that car increases. This is why the dots on the graph tend to rise upward and to the right. This phenomenon also makes intuitive sense - as the purchase price rises, financing costs tend to rise, as do insurance, depreciation, taxes, and most other car ownership costs.

This is an important concept. It's normal for car ownership costs to rise as purchase price rises. Therefore, we can't just establish one "average" ownership cost number for each class, since cars in the class have different purchase prices. (This is why the "Relative" shown on each chart is different for cars in the same car class.)

Using statistical techniques, IntelliChoice "connects the dots" to form a curve that defines, for this car class, the relationship between the car's purchase price and car's ownership costs. This curve is our "expected cost" curve. The curve defines, for any car in the class, the five-year ownership cost that we would expect to see at each possible purchase price. If every car in the class were an average value, then all the dots would fall exactly on the curve. However, it's rare that any dot is exactly on the curve. Some dots are a little higher or lower, and some are a lot higher or lower. The dots that are a little lower are better than average car values, while the dots that are a lot lower are excellent car values (A dot that is a lot lower than the curve has ownership costs much lower than expected for a car of its purchase price). Conversely, a dot a little higher than the curve is a poorer than average car value, while a dot that is much higher than the curve is a poor car value.

Value is a relative term, not an absolute term. It is performing better than the logical expectation.

So is a Mercedes-Benz E320 expensive to own and operate? Certainly in an absolute sense. Most other cars cost less. But, when its cost to own and operate is plotted against cars with comparable invoice prices, the E320 costs less. So the E320 is not expensive to own and operate - it is a good car value. The Mercedes does not have low ownership costs, but it has low ownership costs for its invoice price.

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Article From Import Tuner Magazine

1998 Honda Accord - Dream Come True

A Show-Stopping Accord On A Student Budget / writer: Joey Leh
photographer: Henry Z. DeKuyper
/ Article provided by: Import Tuner Magazine

A Skyline GT-R may make a great dream car, but sometimes, JDM fantasies just aren't in the cards for all of us. Your first car may have ended up being an MX-3, G20 or Altima, and there's nothing wrong with that. You want to see your baby through and finally finished with decade-long build, but your pile of disposable cash always seems to be a little lacking. Not a problem, just ask Wayne Chen. This trophy stealing, candy infused 1998 Honda Accord was built on a student's budget with lots of time and plenty of sponsors.

Chen received this coupe eight years ago as a high school graduation present from his parents. Not quite a tire-shredding Corvette killer, it was a dependable, efficient daily driver. It wasn't until Chen attended his first Import Showoff event in 1998 that his passion was sparked. Seeing row after row of modified visions come to life gave Chen the inspiration he needed to build up his own ride.

Taking his project by the reigns, Chen brushed up with a few good reads on networking, marketing and sponsorship, then hit his first SEMA show. As opposed to the jaded post-The Fast And The Furious world of today, Chen's SEMA trip lined up plenty of good partners, many of who had never even heard of or recognized the import market. Chen, who happens to be the vice president of perennial show team favorite Team Hybrid, was all too happy to educate.

A full-time business school student striving for a MBA, Chen brought all of his time and spending money to the table to build this Accord. It took four long years and more sacrifices than Chen would care to recall, but the end result is a House of Kolor Kandy Apple Red-infused Honda that has taken home numerous trophies.

The exterior began with a custom Skyline-look body kit, molded with custom fender flares by Westcoast Spoiler. A Mugen rear spoiler was added to the car and then topped off with a TC Spoiler red carbon-fiber hood and eyelines. To those with a keen eye, you'll easily recognize the HIDs4Less projector headlights and Stage II HID lamps.

Filling up the mouth of the R33-esque front end is a genuine R33 Skyline intercooler, fed by custom chromed piping. Far from being an inter-fooler of any sort, this Accord is rocking a Comptech positive displacement supercharger, equipped with a Stage II high boost pulley. An Acura CL Type-S throttle body was installed to ingest larger amounts of air, while CL Type-S camshafts provide hotter cam profiles that are more befitting of this build. Funneling spent gases out of the V6 engine are a set of Comptech headers and a HKS Drager exhaust system. Extra fuel is provided by a Comptech fuel pump and fuel pressure regulator, while tuning is handled by a GReddy E-Manage unit. For those times when a supercharger just isn't enough, Chen added on a Nitrous Express 75-shot kit.

The next nagging problem was that this Accord was originally an automatic, plenty for commuting, but not nearly enough for fun times. Chen brought his car to 5150 in City of Industry, Calif., for a transmission swap to an Acura CL Type-S six-speed transmission. Completely reworked to put out more power than Honda ever thought possible in an Accord, Chen knew that some extra upgrades would be necessary. Wilson's Machine Shop in San Diego, Calif., custom modified a 1994-1997 Accord application Koyo aluminum radiator to fit Chen's car, since no drop-in model existed. Comptech's transmission cooler was also installed before the drivetrain could be considered finished.

With the body and power taken care of, the next thing to check off the list was stance. Nobody likes the 4x4 look, especially during a car show. Chen uses adjustable Ground Control coilovers, matched to Tokico Illumina adjustable shock absorbers. Those coilovers were adjusted for a low-down, show-car level, dropped over 18x8-inch gold Volk Racing GT-N wheels, wrapped in 225/40/18 BF Goodrich KDW tires. Filling up the dead void behind those new rollers is a Stoptech front big brake kit, which is light years beyond anything Honda threw on to an Accord. Suspension Techniques front and rear swaybars finish up the balance of the car, while Sprint adjustable camber kits help correct the alignment.

For all you show car junkies, we've saved the best for last-Chen's lavish interior design. No show car could be considered complete without a complete redesign, and this Accord doesn't disappoint. The dashboard and doors have been re-upholstered in black suede with red suede inserts, while red carpeting was laid down to match the crimson burn of the Sparco Torino seats. Behind the MOMO Fighter steering wheel rests an A'PEXi rev meter, HKS 60mm boost and 60mm oil pressure gauge, all custom fiberglass mounted, of course. More instrumentation rests in the lower center console, courtesy of Autometer. Air/fuel ratio, voltage and water temperature gauges sit inside a clean sheet of carbon fiber, right above the Ignited Performance ignition button.

Chen also makes use of the HKS CAMP system, which displays speed, RPM, fuel mileage, temperature, pressure and other vitals on the Alpine CVA-1005 flip-out LCD headunit. It's like having a selectable digital set of gauges that cuts down on clutter and looks a lot cleaner. From the Alpine stereo, high's and mid's get pumped out of Polk Audio MOMO speakers. Rumbling bass, however, is funneled out back by the Alpine EREG190 sub processor to Chen's trunk, where a PPI 6600 chromed amplifier powers up custom mounted Polk Audio MOMO 12-inch subwoofers.

With his stereo, suspension, engine, interior and bodywork completely transformed, Chen has finally called this project finished. It has taken a lot of time, money and effort, but the end result is exactly what Chen had in his mind all those years ago. With enough dedication, and the right partners on your side, any car can go from dream to reality. See for yourself.