Well, I?ve now done 14k miles in the Accord, so I thought I would share my impressions of it now it?s had time to settle down. Overall, I?m delighted with it, I look forward to driving it, it?s fast, comfortable, and vastly better at twisty back roads than I could have ever imagined.
The interior has shown no signs of deterioration so far ? there are no squeaks or rattles, and for me the seats are fabulous, although my girlfriend doesn?t get on with them so well. They seem to be sized around a taller person, and she finds that the passenger seat doesn?t offer the back support she?d like, and it doesn?t have all the adjustments of the drivers seat. Another minor niggle ? why electric seats without memory? I don?t understand.
The heating system is another niggle for GF. She hates having cold air blown on her. The dual zone climate is brilliant, as she can always have it set to 2-3 degrees hotter than me, but there is no easy way to get it just to blow the air out onto the window, her default setting in all cars. Doesn?t worry me at all, but again shows how cleverer isn?t always better.
On the move, the main impression is enough power for rapid progress to be completely effortless. There?s loads of torque from about 1500 RPM, and almost no turbo lag from about 2000. Coupled with long gearing, back roads need nothing more than an occasional change from third to fourth to make extremely fast progress.
The steering is very nicely weighted, with plenty of feedback and good feel, although with the 17? tyres this goes a bit toward tramlining. I don?t find it a problem but others have. Handling doesn?t appear to be electronically managed either ? it has ESP as standard, but the light has only ever come on twice, both times to correct offside wheel spin when pulling out on a wet road with quite a bit of lock.
Cruising is massively smooth, the ride is a fantastic compromise between limo and hot-hatch, and the handling remains completely solid when empty or fully loaded. Road noise is a little more than expected, but I think that?s the big wheels making a difference, and it?s certainly not annoying on most surfaces. The fantastic stereo tends to cover it anyway, although there is no aux input for an mp3 player, which is annoying. I believe I can have one fitted for £100 if I decide that the 6-disc changer is annoying me.
Brakes are powerful, but need more of a shove than my last car, which I?m still getting used to. Saying that, when I first drove the Xsara I nearly head-butted the steering wheel first time I touched the brakes, so this isn?t really a criticism. I did get a little brake-fade when slowing for a fifth successive roundabout when FULLY loaded, which I was a bit surprised by.
So far, so good. What I wish I?d known about when I bought it was how thirsty it is. Despite several false dawns, I still only get 40 mpg. The engine has loosened up nicely, power reserves are huge, and I don?t drive that gently (or particularly hard), but on cruise on long trips I?d expect more. Feedback from Honda is that this is what they?d expect, and a full check reveals everything is working as they think it should be. For such a large, powerful car, on the face of it 40 mpg is great. But buy a Passat or a Octavia, and you?ll be getting 55 on the motorway. That?s a big difference. Saying that, I got 38 on a long trip fully loaded with hilly sections on A roads and with 2 bikes on the roof, so it?s not particularly sensitive to how hard you drive it or other factors, which is good. On the same trip in my old Xsara I would expect a 30% drop in MPG with bikes and load. And it has now completely stopped burning oil, as predicted.
Honda dealers have been uniformly fantastic so far, whereas I never even got to drive a Passat as the VW dealers I tried were rude and ?couldn?t be bothered? (quote in one case).
So, fabulous car, absolutely love it, no complaints other than thirst.
Gord.
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