Zander Drives Cars

Despite what Instagram comments sections might lead you to believe, the sedan is actually not dead. They very much still exist, and there are actually quite a lot of them. One of those sedans is the Honda Accord. For over 40 years, the Accord has been a solid staple in Honda’s lineup, continuing to hold sales while crossovers dominate. The Accord, now on its 11th generation, has always been one of those rare cars that appeal to normal buyers as well as enthusiasts, so this newest iteration has pretty large shoes to fill by appealing to two completely different markets. So, can it?

While some have complained about the new Accord looking too bland and corporate, which might be true, I think it looks great. The exterior looks like a cross between a Volvo S90, Volkswagen Passat, and apparently the Peugeot 508, according to my European followers. In fact, the more I looked at the new Accord’s shape, it looked more and more like it wanted to be a liftback, which would have been nice. We can only dream. Regardless of what cars the new Accord looks like, there is no denying that this is the most striking car in its class even in your standard grey.

Sometimes (almost never) people ask me, “Zander: do you ever come across small things that would make you want to buy the car just for it?” and the answer is yes, sometimes I do find tiny things that I love so much that I would buy the car just so I could have this feature. What feature is this? The air vents. I cannot tell you how much I am fanboying all over this mono-air vent design on the dash. I don’t care if someone else did it first, I like this the best. It looks so cool and modern without being flashy and I have not stopped thinking about it since I got out of the Accord.

Okay, enough with the air vent, weirdo. The Accord’s new interior is a pretty good place to be. The seats are comfortable, the fit and finish are on point with what you’d expect, and the minimalist layout is a welcome change to overly busy interior designs (ahem, Hyundai). Honda also scores bonus points with the back seats. I’m 6’2 and oh boy there’s a lot of room to spread out. Overall, this is a huge step up from the previous generation both in terms of design, function, and quality.

Honda’s touch-screen is exactly on par with its rivals when it comes to functionality. It does most of what you want it to do, and none of what you don’t. There are only really about three menus you can get lost in, and with a semi-split screen that can display music, a compass, or your hybrid stats, it’s all relatively intuitive as well. That being said, not having navigation as standard is a bummer but considering Toyota doesn’t have it either, I guess that’s fine. To make up for it, however, you do get integrated Alexa functionality, for the four people who still use it. I kid, I kid, I’m sure this is helpful in some situations. I’m just not sure which.

Similarly to the center screen, the driver’s screen is simple enough to use comfortably, while having enough functionality to remain competitive. You can’t exactly customize a full-screen layout, but the left “gauge” can be fitted to have little extra screens or displays in it, like media, tire pressure, or your hybrid usage. That being said, the steering wheel controls were a bit confusing to use, especially since some functionality is lost when the car is in gear. I know that’s supposed to be a safety thing, but when I’m juggling going 65 and trying to find out why I can’t see Mae Muller on the screen in front of me, it can be a bit annoying.

This Accord is the Sport Hybrid, and at $31,895 (the “Urban Grey” color was an added $455!), it is the cheapest of the hybrid models. For that, you basically get everything in a standard gas-powered Accord, just with the hybrid powertrain we’ll get to later. Like every base model midsized sedan, you aren’t going to be presented with a million-trillion luxuries, but you do get enough stuff to feel like you aren’t overpaying for what you get.

What you do get on the Accord Sport Hybrid are pretty basic creature comforts like a power driver’s seat, a remote engine start feature, USB-C ports, wireless CarPlay and Android Auto, the aforementioned integrated Alexa feature, dual-zone climate controls, a leather-wrapped steering wheel (nice), adaptive cruise control, a collision avoidance system, land keep assist with departure warning, blind spot information system, and a power moonroof.

All Accord Hybrid models are powered by a 2.0 liter 4cyl hybrid engine making 204 hp and 247 ft-lb of torque. Power is sent to the front wheels via an “electronically controlled variable transmission” or “e-CVT” for short. The Accord Hybrid gets to 60 in a perfectly acceptable 7 seconds and will sail all the way up to 117 mph, although supposedly it can hit about 130 without a limiter. Fuel economy for all Hybrid models is 46 mpg city, 41 hwy, and 44 combined, However, the EX-L model gets 51 mpg combined, for some reason.

Listen, it is no secret that this generation of Accord is less exciting than the outgoing model. The previous 2.0t was a secret beast, and the V6 models before that were seen as the king of the economy car. But, even with the distinct lack of power compared to earlier models, the Accord still offers a good drive. The hybrid powertrain offers the tiniest bit of extra punch when doing highway pulls, and the engine has no problem getting up to speed in most situations. That being said, when the hybrid mode is disengaged, the engine is quite loud along with the wind noise. Aside from that, there isn’t really anything I want to complain about, which is a good thing. Everything about this car is pretty solid. The only thing I should really mention is that when put into sport mode, the steering gets annoyingly stiff. I had to fight it to really get any movement, which is good if you want to simulate “sportiness” but there really isn’t any need to drive an Accord that hard.

Oh, and the “e-CTV”, it’s fine. The 9-speed auto is a better transmission, but this is miles better than any CVT in Nissan products. Again, this car isn’t meant to be driven hard, so the transmission shouldn’t matter.

The Accord has made its way onto Car & Driver’s “10 Best” list since the dawn of time. Is it “the best?” maybe. It is a very good car, I’ll give it that. The new look, both inside and out, makes this car feel lightyears ahead of the outgoing model, but the drop in power across the lineup does leave something to be desired. Regardless, however, you would be perfectly happy with the new Accord Hybrid. If it were me, however, I’d spring for the EX-L, which gets you more goodies, and slightly better fuel economy. Honestly, just buy it for the mono-vent.

Big thank you to Jeff and Dave of Anderson Honda for letting me come by and drive the new Accord. They’re great people and they have a large selection of new Honda inventory, including the new Pilot. Click here to view their site.