Accord is ‘worthy of its awards’
As seen in
What do you say about a car that has won the Canadian Car of the Year award from the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada and the North American Car of the Year award as well?
This 10th-generation Accord is new from the ground up, with a lighter but more rigid structure, two new turbocharged engines, and our test car featured a 10-speed automatic transmission.
There are several trim levels of the Accord offered. Four trims, the LX, Sport, EX-L and Touring trims, are available with a 1.5-litre engine putting out 192 horsepower and 192 foot pounds of torque.
Continuously variable transmissions (CVT) are standard equipment with six-speed manual transmissions available on the LX and Sport trims.
We tested the 2.0-litre engine, which is available in the Sport and Touring trim levels. The 2.0-litre Touring trim also gets a new 10-speed front-wheel drive automatic transmission. The Accord is also available as a Coupe or Hybrid models.
I have driven both the Touring sedan package with both the 1.5-litre turbocharged engine and the 2.0-litre turbocharged engine. I must say I was totally satisfied with the 192 horsepower performance of the 1.5-litre engine and CVT transmission, but the 252 horsepower and 273 foot-pounds of torque from the turbocharged 2.0-litre engine brought a wide grin to my face.
Select Sport mode on the console switch, and both the engine and 10-speed automatic transmission with steering wheel paddle shifters, provide spirited performance to say the least.
If you want a little better fuel economy, ECO mode gives the car a more sedate feel. Most of the time was spent driving in Normal mode, which provides good performance and smooth driving style for passengers.
The 2.0-litre Accord Touring also comes with adaptive suspension, which provides good handling on twisty roads and a smooth ride from the Mcpherson front suspension and multi-link rear suspension. The rear suspension design also maximizes passenger space, with an almost flat floor for rear seat passengers.
All new Accord models come with a full suite of Honda Sensing safety and driver assist technologies, including collision mitigation braking system, lane departure warning with road departure mitigation, adaptive cruise control and traffic sign recognition. Our Touring model also includes front and rear park sensors with rear cross-traffic monitoring and driver awareness monitor.
Other safety features include a multi-angle rear-view camera display with dynamic guide lines, vehicle stability control and traction control, ABS braking and rain-sensing wipers.
LED lighting around the car features headlamps that switch between low and high beams automatically, while a heads up display keeps the driver’s focus on the road instead of down at the gauges.
Driver and passenger comfort is provided by heated front and rear seats, heated steering wheel and ventilated front seats. The driver’s seat has 12-way power adjustment with memory feature, but the passenger front seat has only four-way power adjustment with no adjustment for height.
This is my one big disappointment with the car, as the lower seat cushions are short for my bigger body size and the lack of height adjustment on the passenger seat limits the comfort for anything more than a trip across town.
The gauge display and touchscreen dash display are easy to read and the navigation system was easy to use when stopped, but many of the controls are limited when the vehicle is moving.
Voice recognition and steering wheel controls are available to control many features and settings but for some reason the system didn’t respond well to my voice.
Active noise cancellation through the audio system helps keep the interior quiet and a wireless phone charging dock at the front of the console is very handy.
Other features I like on the car are the capless fuel system — no more leaving a fuel cap at the filling station, and walk-away automatic door locking.
It took a while to trust that the doors would lock automatically as I walked away with the key fob, but after a few times sending my passenger back to check, I trusted it to work.
The 2018 Accord is a great car, worthy of its awards and sure to win a dedicated following from its owners.
At a glance
• Engine: 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged; 252 horsepower at 6,500 rpm, 273 ft.-lb. torque from 1,500-4,000 rpm
• Transmission: 10-speed automatic
• Fuel economy: 8.2 L/100 km city; 6.8 L/100 km highway
• Base MSRP: $35,790 (Touring 1.5L); Price as tested: $38,790