Topic: CD Article: 2008 Honda Accord EX-L Sedan four-cylinder

[soj]

When a car first comes out, I find that they either capture my attention and imagination or not.  I'm afraid the new Accord is the latter category.  The styling leaves me cold and the "bigger and better" theme just seems out of sync with the emerging new reality.  No doubt Honda did their marketing homework and the car will probably sell well but I have to wonder where the model bloat train will stop.     

[jcon]

When a car first comes out, I find that they either capture my attention and imagination or not.  I'm afraid the new Accord is the latter category.  The styling leaves me cold and the "bigger and better" theme just seems out of sync with the emerging new reality.  No doubt Honda did their marketing homework and the car will probably sell well but I have to wonder where the model bloat train will stop.     

I agree that this Accord seems bloated but the Civic has grown to fill in the old Accord gap and the Fit 'fits' into the old Civic gap. The more things change the more they stay the same.

[soj]

When a car first comes out, I find that they either capture my attention and imagination or not.  I'm afraid the new Accord is the latter category.  The styling leaves me cold and the "bigger and better" theme just seems out of sync with the emerging new reality.  No doubt Honda did their marketing homework and the car will probably sell well but I have to wonder where the model bloat train will stop.     

I agree that this Accord seems bloated but the Civic has grown to fill in the old Accord gap and the Fit 'fits' into the old Civic gap. The more things change the more they stay the same.

Right you are, the current Civic is bigger that the first Accord but one still has to wonder where it will all end.  Honda has apparently said as much, the gains resulting from ever improving engine efficiently have largely been offset by increasing vehicle size because that's what the market wants.

[jcon]

When a car first comes out, I find that they either capture my attention and imagination or not.  I'm afraid the new Accord is the latter category.  The styling leaves me cold and the "bigger and better" theme just seems out of sync with the emerging new reality.  No doubt Honda did their marketing homework and the car will probably sell well but I have to wonder where the model bloat train will stop.     

I agree that this Accord seems bloated but the Civic has grown to fill in the old Accord gap and the Fit 'fits' into the old Civic gap. The more things change the more they stay the same.

Right you are, the current Civic is bigger that the first Accord but one still has to wonder where it will all end.  Honda has apparently said as much, the gains resulting from ever improving engine efficiently have largely been offset by increasing vehicle size because that's what the market wants.

They'll keep doing it until the Accord stops selling. By then the Civic will be full sized (and no longer the top selling car in Canada year after year) and the Fit will get a little brother (or sister). It won't stop.

[Jaeger]

When a car first comes out, I find that they either capture my attention and imagination or not.  I'm afraid the new Accord is the latter category.  The styling leaves me cold and the "bigger and better" theme just seems out of sync with the emerging new reality.  No doubt Honda did their marketing homework and the car will probably sell well but I have to wonder where the model bloat train will stop.     

I agree that this Accord seems bloated but the Civic has grown to fill in the old Accord gap and the Fit 'fits' into the old Civic gap. The more things change the more they stay the same.

I agree, to a point.  Nissan bloated the Maxima substantially in the last generation, and Toyota has always had the bloated Avalon - but these guys have Altima and Camry, respectively, to fill the mid-size gap.  Honda has bloated the Accord up to roll with the other fattys, but I don't see too many people cross-shopping Civic with Altima and Camry.  Put another way - I don't think the Civic precisely fills the mid-size gap vacated by the Accordalon.

Jaeger

[jcon]

Sure it does.

Just like the Corolla is filling in for the Camry.

Sentra for the Altima.

This is exactly whats happening.

Note that we are now seeing a leather trimmed Civic? No surprise there.

[mmret]

Note that we are now seeing a leather trimmed Civic? No surprise there.

This may be part of the Acura project, ditch the CSX and move up a notch.

[Rupert]

This cars consumption is 30mpg city/44 highway EPA. From my own experience with a much smaller car if I add the two together, divide by 2 and multiply by .8 I arrive at the milage figure that I get. The kind you get by just keeping up with the trafic. I suspect that the earlier Accords must have got better figures than quoted in the specs here. Engine efficiency is a function of compression ratio. CVVT I believe allows the CR to be higher but there are no major gains to be had here. Hence the move to hybrids. Weight reduction is probably the area where the best gains can be made, vehicle and human if you will (that includes me). Ever increasing size is certainly not going to help here. Having a large tank may not be a good idea for many. Carting 150 lb of extra weight around is contra-indicated for good milage especially up hill. Maybe filling your tank half way is a good idea if that is feasable.

Just spotted another spec sheet... EPA 26 mpg city/37 mpg Highway.(Canadian) converted from US gallons. Which is right?
If the latter figures are correct an on the road average might be 25.3 mpg.

[Schmengie]

I won't repeat here the laundry-list of things that I don't like about the new Accord as posted in other threads.  I will, however, repeat a question and hopefully get an answer this time:

How is it that the Accord - now by FAR the largest vehicle in its class (if you consider its classmates the likes of Altima, Camry, Sonata and Mazda 6) ends up with the SMALLEST trunk?  Is it specifically geared towards extra-large passengers with extra-small luggage?

This Accord is a whopping 7.5" longer than the trim Mazda 6 Sedan, yet gives up 1.2 cu. ft. of trunk space to the little guy (14 versus 15.2).  Does this make sense to anybody?

Jaeger

  Even my father-in-law's 2000 Cirrus does better than that. It's 8" shorter ( 186.0 vs 194.0), has a  2" shorter wheelbase (108.0 vs 110.0) but the trunk is larger at 15.7 cu. ft. vs the Accord's 15.0 cu. ft. AND it doesn't have the Accord's luggage crushing goose-neck hinges. A very cheap touch in a supposedly higher-end car IMO.