2005 Honda Accord EX V-6 Engine, Price

Perhaps the Accord's sorest point is middling grip displayed during our stopping tests--149 feet from 60 mph. "One forty nine?" was heard over the walkie-talkies. "You've got to be kidding." Here the finger points to the modestly sized Michelin Energy MXV4s, then back again at Honda for not asking Bibendum for grippier tires. However, the combination of their eager wheelspin--and the car's 240 bubbling horsepower--took the Accord to 60 mph in a group-best 6.6 seconds.

At a price of $29,850, our EX V-6 version, with "NAVi", was overequipped for this meeting (most notably, its nav system), and we knew this going in. A last-minute snafu resulted in the correct and revised, four-more-horsepower 2006 version not quite reaching our doorstep in time. A better price comparison would be the reasonably-trimmed LX V6 at $25,650 (possessing a typical roster of popular features, but substituting drum for rear disc brakes). All of which highlights an unavoidable conundrum: the Accord's sticker premium.

Are they worth it? Depends on your investment portfolio, but for the extra cost of a fancy option package elsewhere, the Accord delivers a driver's sedan without peer in its category in construction and taste. Our advice? Break the piggy. Tip over the couch. Find those nickels to make up the difference.

Which brings us back to our 47-year-old in the bathroom mirror. And a second lightbulb that's now appeared above his noggin reading: A Wonder Bread sedan can be not only a friend. It can be a relationship.