Then I think it's a bad move to base the decision from the two cars in the OP based on wanting to go fast.
Have you test driven other cars like the Accord?
Why not an Acura RSX?
I want a car that's fun to drive. I am a car guy. I love them. It doesn't need to be fast in order to be fun. Take my car vs the previous gen Camry. Sure my Saturn Aura isn't the best to drive and it is just another family sedan, both have roughly the same power out of their V6's, etc. But, my car is much more enjoyable to drive. The suspension is firmer, the steering is better, etc. When I drove the Camry, the steering was beyond numb, the suspension floats, etc. It was the most boring car I have ever driven.
Accord is decent to drive, but styling is dreadful. The 2013 suffers from 2012 Civic syndrome, and as mentioned gutless below 5000 RPM.
Acura= Honda so no. Plus, they are wannabe luxury.
I would avoid anything and everything made by General Motors. That company can't make a decent vehicle even though they were given billions of bailout dollars. You would think they could build something compelling with all that money, but nope still pushing mediocre vehicles down the assembly line. The Cruze is a far better effort then the Cavalier or Cobalt were, but compared to the rest of the cars in the compact class it is towards the bottom and long term reliability remains to be seen. Most GM vehicles in the past do not age well.
With that said, if you did want a small American car then I would look at the new Ford Focus or the all new midsize Fusion. I love the fact that the new Fusion looks like an Aston Martin and the Ecoboost engines have good performance for being fuel misers.
Now Toyota and Honda are always good choices so if you decide to go that way you would not be making a mistake.
Funny how you degrade GM for their past and yet Ford had the same bad past.
My family has owned four GM vehicles. A 1996 Suburban, 2002 Suburban, 2006 Equinox, and my car a 2007 Saturn Aura. The Suburbans are bulletproof. The 2002 Suburban has 90,000 miles and is 11 years old with just regular maintenance done. The 2006 Equinox is 7 years old now with over 110,000 miles. It came with one factory defect( which took 3 dealers trips to correctly diagnose, but that is the dealers fault not GM's) and the fan control unit broke at around 60,000 miles. Other than those minor things, solid as a rock. My Aura is 6 years old with 30,000 miles. So far everything solid.
