According to physics, when a car is in motion, it has momentum. In a frictionless world, that would mean the car would carry on forever. But the world (and road surface definitely) does have friction, and so to overcome that, you need an engine to keep the momentum going. But, and this is how this V6 is different, to keep said momentum going you don’t need a huge engine, as a small one will do nicely as well. Small engines equate to less fuel required, and therefore savings. So what VCM does is, during steady speed cruising, the entire rear bank of cylinders is switched off. So the vehicle is essentially running on half an engine, thereby saving fuel. In this mode, the audio system speakers generate out-of-phase sound waves to cancel any undesirable noise due to the harmonics of 3-cylinder operation.

At higher cruising speeds, the engine switches from 3-cylinder operation to a 4 cylinder mode. The first, second, fifth and sixth cylinders – two cylinders in each bank – are engaged for balanced running. Noise, vibration and harshness are kept to a minimum by a pair of active engine mounts that automatically adjust their firmness to help absorb energy in 4-cylinder mode. However, if maximum acceleration is required and hence maximum torque, all six cylinders kick in.

My primary concern when I drove the car over a short distance was to see if the Accord V6 did what Honda said it would do – switch between the cylinders without letting the passengers and driver know. I couldn’t make out, of course, but I’d certainly like to spend more time with the car if I get a chance. Anyway, just so that you know, there is a light in the instrument binnacle with the letters ECO on it that lights up whenever it goes into three or four-cylinder mode. The bonus is that the car goes into ECO mode the moment you take your foot off the accelerator and start coasting – so in a sense it’s a bit like the Hybrid Civic, but without the regeneration of power.

The Accord’s handling has been improved thanks to lower profile tyres and revised suspension geometry to make it nimble on the road. The front suspension is a double wishbone setup with lower and upper control links, and the rear suspension is a multi-link design. Both the front and rear suspension components attach to subframes, which are then fixed to the unit body. Helping the suspension do its thing, and keep the car out of harms way, is Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA), which works like traction control during understeer or oversteer conditions – it brakes individual wheels and/or reduces engine power using the VCM feature. VSA is on by default, which means it’s rather difficult to get the Accord sideways deliberately or accidentally. I tried a bit of extreme driving while going through a few bends, but all that happened was that a small light flashed briefly to tell me the VSA had got into the act and prevented me from being naughty. You can switch it off of course, but then the instrument panel makes your life hell with warnings while it is off.

Most Accord buyers sit at the rear, which is not a bad thing as its quite plush back there, but for those who might feel like driving the car sometimes, the Accord offers paddle-shift gear operation that works in conjunction with the S mode of the automatic transmission just so one can pretend to control the gear shifts. The paddle shifts do make for slightly more entertaining driving, but the gearbox still feels far too controlled by the engine computer. Be warned that the gearbox will ignore what the ECM thinks are silly, potentially engine/gearbox-damaging gear selections!

Now, Honda-loyal customers who already had the earlier V6 version Accord, but were put off buying the new four-cylinder version, and those who had wanted to upgrade to a V6 but could not before this, will be happy to note that the V6 Accord starts at Rs 24.80lakhs. For that price, you get abundant cabin space in beige with wood finish on the fascia and a leather-wood steering wheel, cruise control, ABS with EBD, Brake Assist, and six airbags. Oh, and did I neglect to mention a V6 engine producing 270 horsepower.