READER RIDE
GOOD LOOKS ARE MORE THAN SKIN DEEP AND ONE OWNER THINKS HE’LL NEVER FIND ANYTHING ELSE QUITE SO NICE
ACCORD EURO
When is a classic car not a classic car? When it was born a classic and never stopped being one, even if it’s only 15 years old. That’s how I feel about my 2005 Honda Accord Euro, which I’ve owned for its entire life. Since I put my money down on the Euro (chosen over the very competitive Mazda 6) it has delivered on every part of its original promise. Its timeless good looks are matched by a biscuit-coloured interior that wins admiring comments from BMW-owning friends – always nice.
Performance is adequate, albeit not up with my previous 3.0 litre Toyota, and handling is sweet. Under the bonnet is a 2.4lt DOHC VTEC four claiming 140kW, matched to a five-speed auto.
The complex wishbone-and-multilink suspension really does the business on things like mid-corner bumps, and the ride is sophisticated. Seats are outstandingly comfortable over long distances, all the controls are well weighted and the whole thing still feels good after more than 200,000 km.
The only major fault was when the air conditioning failed just
short of its five-year extended Honda warranty, and the only major shortcoming was the amount of road noise on its original Bridgestones and various other tyres – the answer here is the Michelin Pilot Sport 4, which does everything well and is pretty much unbeatable for road noise.
So much do I love the Honda that I am now sniffing around for another Euro to replace it. The slightly bigger Euro (the last one) would do well, something about half the age and mileage. But it won’t be quite as pretty, and it won’t have that lovely light-coloured interior.
It’s much too early for most people to regard this one a classic, but I suspect one day – a decade or two down the track – a well-preserved one would be welcome at a Japanese car show.