What Happened to Two-Door Cars Like the Honda Accord Coupe?
- Two-door Accord variants were around since the beginning of the nameplate fifty years ago.
- Honda hasn't built an Accord Coupe for nearly ten years, but a used one can be an interesting contrast to a plain-jane sedan.
- The last generations of coupes were offered with an excellent V-6 engine, also missed from the Accord these days.
Like the sedan, the mainstream coupe is something of an endangered species these days, largely outnumbered by SUVs and crossovers on the roads. You might remember highways thick with the likes of Nissan 240SXs and Ford Probes, but now look around and you’re unlikely to see many two-door cars in your vicinity except for maybe a rental Mustang.
However, one of the last holdouts of the breed was the Accord Coupe, which Honda kept around until the 2017 model year. Now approaching the tenth anniversary of its retirement, there are still tidy, low-mileage examples of used Honda Accord Coupes for sale, and they can be a great buy.
Equipped with either a four-cylinder engine or the even lovelier V-6, these two-doors are a little livelier and more stylish than the bread-and-butter Accord sedan, but still very practical. Could Honda sell an Accord Coupe again if it brought the model back? Well, we'll get to that. And we’ll explore why coupes disappeared, and what alternatives to cars like the Accord Coupe still exist the on the new-car market.
Where Have All the Coupes Gone?
The Toyota Celica. The Volkswagen Corrado. Back in the 1990s, affordable sporty two-door fun was available in basically every manufacturer's showroom. Even Hyundai, still in its awkward adolescent stage, had the Tiburon. Compact coupes were especially popular—Honda also made a Civic Coupe for many decades—but well into the 2000s, several automakers other than Honda also made a slightly sleeker version of their mainstream mid-size sedans, including the Toyota Solara and the Nissan Altima Coupe. Surprising as it may sound now, coupes weren’t just for those seeking sporty and sleek transportation. Some were even purchased by parents who still needed back seats but figured clambering past a folded-forward passenger seat helped the kids build character.
Toyota Solara
Nissan Altima Coupe
As SUVs and crossovers became the family vehicle of choice for most Americans, though, sales of coupe models dwindled. Automakers struggled to justify offering these smaller-volume derivatives of sedans when even those four-door passenger-car models started to lose market share to more popular and profitable SUVs.
What Are the New-Car Alternatives to the Accord Coupe?
Luxury automakers like BMW and Mercedes still make coupes, but there aren't many mainstream two-door offerings still around. There's the aforementioned Ford Mustang, which with turbo four-cylinder power, remains within the envelope of semi-practicality. And there’s the Toyota GR86 and Subaru BRZ twins, though those are more focused sports cars. Toyota also seems set to bring back the Celica, though that may be only as a high-performance replacement for the GR Corolla.
Instead, it's back to Honda for the best Accord Coupe replacement on the market right now, the Prelude two-door hybrid hatchback coupe that returned to the lineup for 2026. While it's a bit expensive, the Prelude's adequate power, crisp handling, and dollop of style make for a nicely balanced machine. Some have complained about that car's hybrid powertrain, with enthusiasts clamoring that the punchier four-cylinder turbo motor of the Civic Type R should make its way into the Prelude.
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2026 Honda Prelude
The Accord Coupe went away because it wasn't for everyone any more. The Prelude is similarly aimed at a niche buyer, and its sales numbers are predictably small when compared to the more popular sedans and SUVs in Honda’s lineup. Still, it's nice for Honda to give you the option for a coupe in these modern times.
Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki's half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels.