This Honda Accord saloon is the perfect executive car. Those muscular front wheelarches, give it a powerful and purposeful look. Its overall exterior styling is beautifully balanced, very modern and highly refined looking. It looks the part, before you ever open the door to step in. When you do open the door, you find an immaculately designed and finished interior, using high quality materials throughout. The test car was finished in black externally, which looks very distinguished when sparkling clean, but like all black cars, it shows the dirt very quickly, so keeping that immaculate appearance, is a full time daily chore, especially in the Irish climate. Inside the car was finished in a light grey, with matt black on the facia and window sills, to reduce reflections and a high quality black, leather covered steering wheel. It looked and felt absolutely regal ! If I have a criticism at all, it is that those light grey carpets had matching light grey mats and in the wet Irish climate they tend to show muddy footprints all too easily. Black mats, would in my opinion, have been better, although I was able to wipe the grey mats clean easily enough.

Above and below : Immaculate interior

Sitting into the driver’s seat, I felt comfortable immediately and it took just a minute or two to adjust everything to my requirements. The seat is electrically adjustable for reach, height and backrest angle, the exterior mirrors are electrically adjustable and may be folded in, at the touch of a button, when parking. That superbly comfortable, leather covered steering wheel, adjusts for both reach and height. While I am not normally a fan of black piano finish trim, that along the top of the centre console, fitted in perfectly and made me look at this type of finish in a whole new light.
From a driving point of view the layout of the instruments and controls is excellent. The Accord comes very extensively equipped, from the satellite navigation screen at the top centre of the facia, all the way down to the two cupholders in the centre console, beside the handbrake lever, on the passenger side. When not in use they are covered by a hinged lid in piano black. At night the comprehensive instrument panel is lit up with individual lights for each function, so it looks rather like an aircraft’s cockpit.

That large screen also serves duty as a camera when reversing which is very handy. The upper section of the centre console is devoted to the comprehensive audio system, which also incorporates the satellite navigation. Below the red button for the hazard flashers, the numerous controls are devoted to an equally comprehensive, dual zone air-conditioning system. On either side of the gear lever there are two rocker switches for the heated front seats. They offer two positions, High and Low, so you can tailor the heat in your seat to your own preferences. My only disappointment is that it is only the seat cushion which is heated. I would have liked to have heat in the backrest too, for my lower back.
While there is a very comprehensive set of audio controls in that upper panel, they are insufficient to cater for the whole system, so the CD player is located below the air-conditioning. The steering wheel has additional controls for the audio, plus buttons for the cruise control and Bluetooth telephone equipment.
My test car was fitted with the five speed automatic transmission. This has the normal Park - Reverse - Neutral - Drive positions and in addition beyond Drive it has a Sport position. When Sport is engaged, the driver can also make sequential manual changes, using the paddles on the steering wheel. I found the automatic to be so utterly smooth and entirely effortless, with a set of perfectly matched gear ratios, that I never bothered with the Sport position. While the automatic does offer a slightly lower potential top speed, with a slightly more relaxed acceleration and a marginally inferior fuel consumption, which gives a small increase in carbon dioxide exhaust emissions, it is well worth it for the utterly regal and totally effortless performance it provides. To push the Green agenda here, would be like wearing sandals with your dickey bow and dress suit, to an a official gathering, instead of polished black shoes, as the sandals use less leather !

The instrument binnacle contains a matching set of large and small analogue instruments. They have white lettering on black faces, with matt silver bezels and are easy to see in all lighting conditions. The large tachometer also has a gear selected indicator and a digital panel to show the gear selected when using the Sport mode. The centre of the large speedometer has a circular digital panel showing a variety of information, like an open door, range to empty, trip recorder, etc. What amazed me about the fuel level gauge, was how slowly the needle moved from full, down towards empty. If that gauge is correct, you can expect around 750 km (466 miles) on a tank of fuel in urban/suburban driving conditions. That is around 33 mpg (8.6 lt/100 km), which is better than the published urban figures and not quite as good as the combined cycle figure. As the weather conditions were not exactly conducive to long distance driving, during the course of the test, I think that the result indicates that the officially published figures are probably spot on.
Talking of fuel consumption, the official figures for the urban cycle are 10.4 lt/100 km (27 mpg), with 5.9 lt/100 km (47 mpg) on the extra urban cycle. This gives a combined cycle average of 7.5 lt/100 km (38 mpg). Exhaust emissions are 178 gm/km, putting the 2.0 litre Accord with the automatic transmission into category E, which at present rates, demands an annual road tax of 630 euro.
While the government quite clearly do not spend the money they extort in the form of Road Tax on the building and maintenance of our roads and therefore any amount is nothing more than highway robbery on their part, the Accord certainly offers you very good value for your road tax, when compared with many other cars of similar quality and refinement on our roads.

Potential top speed is 211 kph (113 mph), so the car will cruise effortlessly at the legal motorway maximum, with plenty in reserve for overtaking. Its 0-100 kph acceleration time is 10.7 seconds, which is certainly not tarmac melting, but perfectly acceptable for smooth and graceful performances in the stop lights grand prix. Remember this is not a racing car or a super sports performance coupe, but a highly refined and comfortable executive saloon. If you feel that you need more velocity and acceleration, then perhaps you should consider its 2.2 litre diesel engined sister. It only offers 1 kph in extra top speed and is one second quicker in the 0-100 kph sprint, but its lower exhaust emissions drop it into group C, where the government will only rob you of 302 euro per annum, at present rates, in annual road tax.

Besides being a very refined executive saloon, the Honda Accord also makes a very attractive family car. It has a large boot and the rear seat backrest can be folded 60/40 to increase its versatility when it comes to accommodating awkward loads. It will tow braked trailers of up to 1500 kg in weight and unbraked trailers of up to 500 kg. Carrying loads on the roof will certainly do nothing for its refined executive looks, but if the needs must, it will take up to 60 kg. When towing trailers the braking system incorporates a programme called Trailer Stability Assist (TSA), which helps to avoid weaving under heavy braking and other awkward situations. The system also includes Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA), as part of the electronic stability programme, with anti-lock, electronic force distribution and emergency brake assist.

Above left : Normal luggage space ------------------ Above right : Maximum luggage space

Below the luggage floor, there is a black polystyrene block that holds the wheel changing tools, a plug-in electric air compressor and a container of latex. This seems to be a popular alternative for a proper spare wheel these days, but it is certainly not my preferred solution. Having being stranded abroad, hundreds of miles from my destination with similar equipment and then transported to my destination in a recovery truck with the car on the back, I naturally prefer a proper, full size spare wheel.

Above : Puncture solution kit

The electric power assisted steering, is beautifully precise and sporty with just 2.6 turns from lock to lock. Honda provide an excellent double wishbone design suspension front and rear. For the best roadholding and handling, it is hard to beat a proper double wishbone layout. On good road surfaces the drive is smooth and comfortable. On Dublin’s inferior surfaces it can be a bit hard and choppy at times, as the suspension faithfully transmits the irregular surfaces into the car’ s structure. Overall I can happily live with it, as the superb quality of the car, its furnishings and fittings, amply compensates for the rough ripples from time to time.

Technical data