MM Mini-Review: 2016 Honda Accord Sedan
http://automobiles.honda.com/accord-sedan/
IN A NUTSHELL: With this car, you get your money's worth........always did.
What's Not-so-Good: Road noise
What's Good: Just about everything else.
I checked out a 2016 Accord 4-cylinder EX sedan (cloth interior) today, which, IMO, was one of the better bargain-combinations in the Accord trim line...it listed for $27,100. It had a White Orchid Pearl exterior and Ivory (light beige) fabric interior. The Accord line, BTW,
As pointed out earlier in this thread, there were a number of mid-cycle face-lift and minor restyling changes to the 2016 model from the 2015, mostly affecting the front end/grille, taillights, and some interior trim changes. (I was able to compare several 2015s and 2016s side-by-side in the lot). The most obvious difference, right off the bat, was the new grille, which had just a small but subtile hint of the Acura parrot-beak in it.
As usual with Accords, almost everything about this latest one seemed well-built, dedicated to quality, and assembled with Swiss-Watch precision....I was very impressed, as always, with the way this car came from the factory. There were, IMO, only a few small design flaws....which I'll get to in a minute. However, the Accord's once-significant lead in this segment has all but dried up, as most of its competitors (Camry, Sonata, Optima, Fusion, Malibu, Regal, etc..) are right on its heels in terms of how well they are built at the factory. In fact, in today's auto market, there probably is no such thing as a bad family-sedan, as the simple demands of today's automotive marketplace force the entrants in this class to be good, not just merely competent.
Underhood, the transverse 4-cylinder fits in extremely well, with loads of room to access and work on engine-block components, and no plastic engine cover to block anything...a superb underhood layout. The battery is up front, on the right, uncovered, and all dipsticks/filler-caps/fluid-reservoirs are clear and easy to access. A cross-brace between the two front strut towers adds frame/chassis rigidity for ride/handling and steering response.
Inside, the interior is not much different from last year, but shows some minor changes to the dash and console design, though the instruments remain the same. One reason I chose the EX model was that I thought its wood-tone dash/door trim was much nicer than the shiny blackish trim on the lower-grade LX model, yet, with fabric seats, it didn't cost as much as the EX-L model with seat-leather or the advanced EX models with special packages (see the web-site for details). The front seats were very comfortable and well-shaped, and there was adequate head room (though just barely) for tall persons under the sunroof housing. Almost everything inside seemed well-made, well-fitted, and of high quality.
On the road, the well-refined four has adequate power for most normal driving...a push-button Eco setting modifies the engine's power-curve for better gas mileage. The engineers have done an excellent job with the CVT transmission, though it lacks shift-paddles for the D/S/L ranges...one must do it with the lever. The transmission exhibits very little motorboat/rubber-band characteristics....easily one of the best CVTs I've seen yet. Steering response is reasonably good with the electric power-steering (though it is obviously no sports car), and body roll is also kept in reasonable check. Road feel is good by many electric-steering standards, but not comparable to older BMW or Porsche hydraulic units. Ride comfort over bumps is generally good by today's standards (it seemed noticeably smoother than the last Accord I drove just a year or two ago), and wind noise is generally well-controlled. Brakes have a very slight amount of sponginess, but not to any levels that I found annoying or taking away from their effectiveness.
Complaints? Typical of a number of Honda models from both past and present, road noise was not very well-supressed on many road surfaces, even with the Goodyear all-season tires......the Accord could use some more of the nice wheel-well insulation from the Buicks sold right next door to that Honda shop. The stereo sound quality was OK, but not what I'd call in the excellent class, and the all-video screen/buttons/slide-sensors, IMO, were somewhat awkward to operate...the LX models, with more dials/knobs, might be easier for some people. And I didn't particularly care for the floating-needle speedometer (a design first used by Mercedes and Volvo). But I wouldn't call the last two complaints...the only thing I think this car really needs is a little more insulation in the wheel wells.
So, in short, the latest 2016 Accord, IMO, continues the long-standing tradition of giving you what you save and pay your hard-earned dollars for. For 27K, this car is a bargain....though base models start around 23K.
And, as always, Happy Car-Shopping.
MM
