Honda's bread-and-butter car, the venerable Accord, returns for 2011 with a few changes, including 'freshened' exteriors, improved fuel economy and some other tweaks designed to keep this vehicle's faithful fans happy. Sedan and coupe models received the partial makeovers, including our test model, the 2011 Accord Coupe. The coupe has a bolder grille, new front bumper shape, revised brake lights and new wheels for 2011. Coupe prices begin at $22,780 (plus $750 freight) for the base LX Sport model with a five-speed manual gearbox, and range as high as $31,730 for the EX-L V-6 model with navigation and either a six-speed manual or five-speed automatic. Our tester was the EX-L four-cylinder model with navigation and the five-speed automatic, which listed for $29,105 (plus freight). There were no add-ons, so the total sticker was $29,855, including freight. This model came with a long list of extras that turned it into a premium sport coupe, including a leather interior, power front bucket seats, a one-touch power moon roof, dual-zone automatic climate control, power windows/mirrors/door locks with remote, and a lot more. This car seats five, and on the passenger side, the front seat comes forward for easy rear entry and exit, in a so-called 'walk-in' feature. We didn't have anyone to use the back seat while we tested the vehicle, but we did crawl back there to check it out. It's roomy and comfortable for a coupe, and knee room was adequate as long as the front seats weren't all the way back on their tracks. The dash has cool-looking backlit gauges, a tachometer and a maintenance-minder system. In the coupe, the trunk has just 11.9 cubic feet of space, compared with 14.7 cubic feet for the Accord sedan. That's partly because the coupe is nearly four inches shorter overall than the sedan. But the rear seatback folds in a 60/40 split to allow for expansion of the cargo area when the back seat isn't needed for passengers. The rear seat also has child safety seat anchors, but it would be something of a chore to have to put a child back there with no rear doors for easy access. Larger kids who use booster seats usually can hook themselves up, so that would be OK. We rode in comfort in the front bucket seats, even on a long drive, more evidence of the careful attention to detail we've come to expect from Honda. These cars are designed with comfort and convenience in mind, and nothing seems to have been left to chance. The four-cylinder engine in the coupe is a 2.4-liter with 190 horsepower and 162 foot-pounds of torque. That's up from 177 horsepower and 161 foot-pounds of torque with the 2.4-liter four-cylinder in the sedan. EPA ratings are 23 mpg city/32 highway with the five-speed manual, and 22/33 with the five-speed automatic. Available is a 3.5-liter V-6, which cranks out 271 horsepower and 254 foot-pounds of torque (251 foot-pounds with the manual transmission). This is lots of power, which can add plenty of fun to the Accord Coupe, but the four-cylinder should be adequate for most people's needs. With the V-6 in the coupe, EPA ratings are 17 city/26 highway with the six-speed manual, and a much better 19/29 with the five-speed automatic. Honda says the automatic coupes and sedans with the four-cylinder engine get new gear ratios for 2011 that help increase fuel economy by 2 mpg in the city and 3 mpg on the highway. Other changes that raised mileage included better aerodynamics and less engine friction. The sedan's exterior design has been tweaked to make it look more expensive. It gets a new grille, front bumper, trunk lid and wheel design. Honda says great care was taken on comfort and ease of operation, with sporty front bucket seats with 'generous lateral support,' and frequently used climate-control switches and buttons moved to the left side of the control stack for better access. The split-folding rear seatback has a lockable pass-through to accommodate long items such as snow skis. The V-6 engine includes Honda's variable cylinder management system, which cuts out two or three cylinders during level cruising to help save fuel. EPA ratings for the six-cylinder engine and five-speed automatic transmission combination in the sedans are 19 mpg city/30 highway, which is an increase of 1 mpg on the highway rating compared with the 2010 model. A performance-oriented version of the coupe, the EX-L V-6, has a separate V-6 engine without the cylinder-deactivation feature. It comes with the six-speed manual gearbox. Also continuing is Honda's Advanced Compatibility Engineering body design that helps improve occupant protection in the event of a crash, and also enhances compatibility with other vehicles in frontal crashes. Other features include antilock disc brakes, a double-wishbone front and multilink rear suspension, and, on the sedan, either 16-inch steel wheels or 16- or 17-inch alloy wheels, depending on the model. Available on the EX-L sedan and coupe is the Honda navigation system, included on our car, with an 8-inch screen and interface dial. It has such features as the Zagat restaurant guide. A Bluetooth hands-free phone connection is standard on EX and EX-L coupe and EX-L sedan models. The four-cylinder coupe models have the 17-inch alloy wheels, while 18-inch alloys come on coupes with the V-6 engine. 