C/D long term 2013 Accord wrap-up

[kevm14]

Normally uninteresting.

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/201 ... -up-review

But with 189hp and 3,276 lbs, this car somehow traps 94 mph. I realize it has a manual trans, but still. Why is it so fast? And they observed 29 mpg with it over 40,000 miles. Frankly, that's amazing. And this would probably be a great successor to the Maxima. In 10 years.

It wasn't even that expensive, at $24k as tested.

[kevm14]

Classic Honda.

Its chassis is so stable, its steering so responsive that it encourages the kind of hard driving that would ultimately lead to three separate trips to the dealer’s lathe for brake resurfacing.

My uncle has a 1st gen Pilot who has the same problem. Honda was never good at brakes.

[kevm14]

Leather, navigation, satellite radio, and heated seats are not available on Sports, and we missed them.

This kinda sucks but that's why the car is affordable. I like to buy my used cars loaded (and heavily depreciated) so frankly this car is probably not going to appear on my list anyway.

[kevm14]

Ah. C/D was also suspicious of the trap speed and dyno tested the car (either that or they always do).

http://media.caranddriver.com/files/201 ... -specs.pdf

180 front wheel hp. That's right. Well that answers that. This is more like 210-215 hp.

[kevm14]

Even if it wouldn't make my list for options/value reasons, it sounds pretty good, as an enthusiast-biased appliance:

This is a car that, on the outside, appears to be a mere appliance. It is as capacious as a chest freezer without being difficult to park between the yellow stripes at the strip mall. It is handsome enough, neither unduly flashy nor slightly dumpy like the previous Accord. Its wife-acceptance factor is outrageously high, and if Honda produced a badge that read “Practical” instead of “Sport,” it would still fit. Yet the car is discreetly pleasurable to the enthusiast in so many ways, starting with that shifter. Indeed, all goodness flows from that interface, although the Accord’s magical suspension is nearly its match. Able to transport even carsick-prone offspring without spilling Cheerios and juice boxes, yet capable of dancing all the way home once said youngsters have been dispatched to their ballet lessons, the Accord Sport’s handling defines balance.

[kevm14]

Choosing a Sport means forgoing LED daytime running lamps, adaptive cruise control, collision- and lane-departure warning, satellite radio, and Honda’s new LaneWatch system, which shows a view of the passenger-side blind spot on the LCD when the right turn signal is on. All that equipment is nice to have, but it can add more than $10,000 to the price, and none of it really has much to do with driving.

Right. In fact, most of those have to do with NOT driving.

[Bob]

I wonder why the power is so underrated. Maybe they didn't want to cut into TSX sales?

[kevm14]

I really like the idea of this car, for some reason. I think it's the 6-speed manual trans that puts it over the top while factoring in the room, reasonable dynamics, decent power, good fuel economy and affordable price (in new car dollars).

Maybe it's the fact that I actually was enjoying fuel savings while driving the Maxima. Now that it's parked, I'm more conscious of the Caprice's fairly bad mileage.

[Bob]

I think this car embodies everything that was good about Honda when Honda was in their prime. It's nice to see them continuing to make products like this.

[kevm14]

I agree. And bonus, this 4 cylinder engine actually makes pretty good torque across the band. You can't even get a sunroof in the manual trans...I guess we're lucky they make it at all.