Hey readers! It's been a long time since I've posted on this blog. In fact, it's been more than half a year. I'm really sorry to the negative three people who read this blog regularly, but here is a new post! School is finally winding down, so I thought that I'd review the new Accord my family bought last September and give an update on how it's doing.
In the highly-competitive, yet stagnating, field of midsize family sedans, the Accord has reigned as the best or second-best seller for many years. After a controversial eighth generation that ran from 2008 to 2012, the ninth generation is considered Honda's comeback to producing quality products.
My biggest beef with this new Accord is its refinement. I'm not referring to refinement as in the smoothness of the suspension or how quiet the interior is; I'm speaking of refinement as how the car works. How the drivetrain responds. How the car responds to bumps. In this sense, our Accord has been less than exceptional.
First of all, I've come to disdain the CVT transmission. I used to scoff at reviewers who automatically dismisses a car because it has a CVT transmission, but now I empathize with them. Yes, it is very smooth most of the time (more on that later) and seems to work in keeping fuel efficiency high. Unfortunately, accelerating the car feels exactly like what it is - a computer is constantly varying the gear ratio of the transmission to keep engine RPM where it thinks it is best. Though Honda's CVT is supposedly more responsive than most and it does act instantaneously to throttle inputs, the response is simply does not feel the same as, say, the 2003 Honda Odyssey I drive. A common comparison for describing how a CVT's acceleration feels is a rubber band; it feels stretchy, not direct.
Alas, I think the duller throttle response is something endemic to most modern cars. When I test drove the 2016 Camry before we visited the Honda dealership, it had the same stretchy feel as the CVT Accord even though it had a normal automatic transmission. Perhaps manufacturers are dialing down throttle response on purpose to force people to drive more efficiently.
Aside from the feel of the CVT, which I have now dedicated two paragraphs to rant about, the rest of the drivetrain isn't that rosy either. Specifically, the engine isn't the sweet, silky four-cylinder that Honda is known for. In the first Accord my dad test drove, the engine shook so hard at idle that the front passenger seat visibly shook while empty. The problem is much more subdued in our Accord, but quick search on the Accord forum shows that many other Accords display the same idle vibration.
What our Accord does do is shake at low RPM, such as the first second or so after taking off from a stop or when the car starts up cold and the engine stays at 1200 RPM or so. It doesn't always happen and seems to have gotten less frequent. Still, it was annoying for a brand-new car.
Also annoying is the sound the engine when it's working harder. Above 3,000 RPM, the engine wakes up and emanates an obnoxiously loud moan. It's more pathetic than sporty, and the CVT's characteristic of holding the engine at a constant RPM intensifies the cringe-worthy ruckus. At least the engine's power is punchy. The car really scoots with authority when you dig your foot deeper into the accelerator pedal.
The most infuriating trait of all, however, is the symphony of intermittent squeaks and rattles that come from certain spots in the interior when the car goes over rough pavement. I have yet to take the car to the dealership to get the most frequent rattle resolved (life, you know?), and the noises drive me insane when I notice them. This would be aggravating to me on a car with 120,000 miles, much less an Accord with 12,000 miles. It's a shame since the interior is premium feeling with mostly pleasing textures and well-damped buttons, knobs, sun visors, etc.
Once you take a look at how the car is put together, though, the rattles become unsurprising. The hood doesn't sit flush with the fenders. The trunk lid is too high. The rear doors are raised compared to the body. The dashboard panels to the right of the climate controls are misaligned. It's like the factory workers just didn't care. Again, a quick search on the Accord forum shows that fitment problems are rather common.
Now that I've gotten the negatives out of the way, it's time to move on to the positives! Namely, the car is really nice minus the CVT, engine, and poor build quality. Driving it is a breeze, and the chassis is fairly capable in curves. The engine delivers punchy power even though we consistently get 32 to 33 mpg in mostly city driving and up to 39 mpg in ideal conditions. Ride quality with the base 16-inch wheels is excellent, if a little loose compared to when the car first drove off the dealer lot. Road noise has become more prevalent probably due to the tires wearing down, though the interior is still miles ahead of my old Odyssey or the Sentra in terms of isolation. And the design is still as elegant as the day we bought it. Some may think it's dowdy. I think the chrome, claret-colored paint, and conservative, yet crisp proportions pair well.
Would I buy the Accord again considering the ownership experience I've had? It's hard to say. I really do enjoy many aspects of it. Still, the build quality issues in particular put a damper on my enthusiasm. Our Accord was already three model years into its generation when we bought it, which gives me little hope that the problems we've experienced is fixed in the 2016 model.
What about other cars? Over winter break, I actually had the opportunity to ride in a rental Passat 1.8T for a few days. After that got a flat tire, we got a Ford Fusion Titanium. I actually ended up driving that car from Reno to Las Vegas. What I got from the whole experience was ... a lot of cars feel the same. Each of them had nuances, but none of them felt any "better" than the other.
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter much what car you drive. As philosophical as that sounds, a car is just a tool to get you places. In that sense, I do have confidence in the Accord that it will serve my family faithfully for decades. Ultimately, that's really what's important.
What about other cars? Over winter break, I actually had the opportunity to ride in a rental Passat 1.8T for a few days. After that got a flat tire, we got a Ford Fusion Titanium. I actually ended up driving that car from Reno to Las Vegas. What I got from the whole experience was ... a lot of cars feel the same. Each of them had nuances, but none of them felt any "better" than the other.
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter much what car you drive. As philosophical as that sounds, a car is just a tool to get you places. In that sense, I do have confidence in the Accord that it will serve my family faithfully for decades. Ultimately, that's really what's important.
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