Make an Accord F
always tallied accurately with both my speedometer and sat nav.
Another great feature is the safety camera warning system, which sounds an alert when there are upcoming speed cameras, both fixed and temporary, taken from a database that is updated monthly.
Watching the footage back is as simple as ejecting the microSD card and hooking it up to a computer, with the file storage system very handily separated into ‘photo’, ‘video’ and ‘event’.
The ‘event’ folder is a collection of all the clips recorded after the device senses impact and these are not overwritten. Fortunately, the only recordings in here at the moment are evidence of the struggles I had on the initial installation as each fall from the windscreen was seemingly mistaken for a juddering crash.
With an 8gb memory card, the C330 is currently recording around an hour of footage, handily broken into three-minute chunks and of hugely impressive quality.
The one thing I didn’t bank on was the fact it also records audio - meaning pretty much every clip is accompanied by a section of the podcast I was listening to or, much, much worse, me singing along to the radio. After more than two weeks, the novelty of getting to the office and reliving the full drive there still hasn’t worn off - and each time I’m surprised by how good the footage is. I’m sure it will at some point and I’ll hopefully never be involved in an incident where I need the recording for evidence but knowing that I’ve got it in case of emergency does make me feel that bit more confident on the roads. OUR cylinder engines from Honda were for many years the smoothest and most refined you could buy and some car makers are still trying to catch up. The 2.4-litre petrol engine in the Honda Accord, which went out of production in 2015, is as smooth and powerful as BMW’s six cylinder 2.5-litre.
And as well as this petrol with an excellent 198bhp, there is also a 2.0-litre with 153bhp that’s just as smooth and no slouch.
For most though, the pick of the range is probably the 2.2 turbo diesel with 147bhp - or 177 in the Type-S - which is smooth, quiet and very powerful.
There is rarely any need to push any of the engines hard because they have great response and pull hard from low revs.
The lower powered diesel will dispatch the 0 to 62 miles an hour sprint in 9.3 seconds and the Type S brings this down to 8.5.
But the quickest of all is the 2.4 petrol, which can do the same benchmark in 7.8 seconds. Petrol economy ranges from 33 to 40mpg, while the diesels should do about 50 with the usual careful right foot.
Handling is top-of-the-tree in both saloon and estate, with little roll, wonderful balance, vast grip and safe, sure road holding.
These road manners match the engine’s verve perfectly and make the Accord a hugely enjoyable car over short or long journeys.
The ride is excellent at speed, soaking up the worst of surfaces with great ease, but it does get a little unsettled over poor surfaces in town.
A superb, smooth changing automatic gearbox was available with petrol and diesel engines and a friend of mine swears by his automatic diesel, which has done over 120,000 miles without a hitch so far.
Every model in the range comes well equipped with things like climate control, cruise, four electric windows, stability control, aux in and heated mirrors.
ES GT adds bigger alloys, sports suspension and Bluetooth, while the EX gets leather, USB, electric heated seats and auto lights and wipers.
Many will also have the excellent Honda sat nav system, which was an extra across the range.
Pay £8,500 for a ‘13 13-reg 2.0-litre petrol ES, or £11,950 for a ’15 15-reg EX 2.2 diesel automatic.