If you decide to buy a 2012 Honda Accord this year, you will be making a great choice.

In years past, for a family sedan, the Accord – hands-down – is one of the best choices out there.

This year though, the “hands-down” part might not be true.

Over the years the Toyota Camry, the Nissan Maxima, the Chevy Malibu, and more recently, the Hyundai Genesis and Sonata, have all been waving their arms, vying for equal attention. And for the most part, the Accord has swatted those hands away and remained at the head of the class.

This year, the hands aren’t going to the back of the class so easily.

With a lack of Bluetooth technology available in most trims, heavy curb weight, five-speed transmission compared to most others’ six or eight speed standard equipment, and less than stellar gas mileage numbers, the Accord is still a winner, but I think others deserve a good look too.

My favorite aspect of the Accord is the roominess. It’s huge!

It’s got a class-leading cabin size and my tall husband commented on how much leg room there was.

Front seats are still comfortable and roomy and the plush leather in my EX-L trim was beautiful. The heated seats were fantastic and really warmed up fast.

There’s a variety of engine models in Accords: The LX, LX-P and SE sedan trims are powered by a 2.4-liter inline-4 engine that produces 177 horsepower and 161 pound-feet of torque. The LX-S coupe and all EX models have a modified version of this engine that produces 190 hp. The Accord EX and EX-L can be equipped with a 3.5-liter V6 good for 271 hp – this is what my test model had. While acceleration was peppy, handling and steering sometimes seemed a little lethargic.

Mileage for my V6 engine was about 21 mpg for the week I test drove. My model was rated for 20/30 mpg, but I had all city miles and couldn’t get it to budge much past 21 mpg the whole week.

This is pretty much in line with the competitors, but if Honda could get those numbers down a tad, it could be a deciding factor for car buyers.

I think that’s what’s different for the Accord this year - you didn’t used to need a deciding factor in choosing between an Accord and another option. But with the improvements made in competing car models, Accord needs to step it up.

My test vehicle, the more expensive EX-L V6 with navigation had a bottom line price of $32,600.