slipper

I had the opportunity to test drive a 08 Honda Accord sedan 4cyl EX-L and LX-P and i have to say im very impressed. It has exceeded all my expectations and if i was looking for a relatively inexpensive 4dr sedan or a entry level luxury sedan, i wouldnt look much further.

My first preconceived notion with the new 08 Accords would have to be the exterior design and my disappointment with it. In some of the pictures, i thought Hyundai Sonata from the front and Saturn Ion from the rear. Let me tell you this, the car is not very photogenic and looks way better in person. Definately nothing like the Hyundai and Saturn. When i first saw the car a couple days ago i saw it passing by at a close distance and i was very impressed. Its definately a step up from the 07 and prior Accords and much nicer and elegant looking than its biggest competition the Toyota Camry.

Interior is typical Honda but 10 times better. I drove a 06 Mercedes Benz C240 not too long ago and the Hondas interior puts the Mercedes to shame. It doesnt have the cheap rubbermaid plastic feel that a lot of Toyotas, Nissans, and almost every american car has... even in the lower end Accord LX model. I swear the grade of leather used in the EX-L model were a much better grade than that used in cars twice the price tag. I like the fact that they used a central information screen similar to what Nissan has been using for a little while. Interior space is excellent. Usually i can feel my head/hair touching the ceiling of some cars including my current car but i had no problems here. You can easily fit a 6' 5" person with no problems.

The only small problem i noticed was that there were quite a few buttons in the climate control/audio control/information display location so its a bit overwhelming when you first sit in the car. After the test drive i was still figuring out some of the controls. i dont think this would be too much of a big deal. It kinda reminds me of some BMWs with an overwhelming amount of buttons.

If you've ever closely compared a Camry to an Accord, you would easily notice a significant difference in ride. The Camry has a very soft ride catering to most "commuters". Accords also ride smoothly but slightly harsher due to the sportier suspension which caters to "drivers" and the sports car niche. The new Accord rides a lot closer to the Camrys signature comfortable ride but still retains a very quick and nimble steering reflex similar to the prior Accord models.

I only had a chance to drive the 4cyl models and this would probably be what i would choose if i decided to get the new Accords due to the gas savings and lower price point. Most 4 bangers have a noticable lag when quickly tapping the accelerator, i did not notice this and it was quite responsive. In terms of smoothness and drivability, the I4 feels a lot smoother than a lot of other 6 cylinders ive experienced. Power is on par with all the other comparable 4 cylinders on the market.

Overall i have nothing but praises for the new Accords. In typical Honda fashion, they blow away the competition with this new model. According to Car and Driver, the Accord has been the receipent of the 10 best award 21 out of the past 25 years. I have no doubt the Accord will be continuing this tradition for another model run.

MDXLuvr

Thanks. It is supposed to be much bigger than the last gen. Do you notice that when you are inside.? i.e. does it feel much bigger? Is the rear legroom much improved? The car seems quite impressive to me.

DISCO_J

Sounds like a sales talk and not a review.

Interior must be very very nice if it puts to shame a Merc C240, which btw i thought is great.

slipper

ohh trust me I am not a paid endorser.

Rea leg room is noticably bigger. I didnt pay too much attention. The car itself didnt feel too muh bulkier.

kumainu

Accord is now considered a large-size car instead of mid-size.

Honda will probably sell many more than the last gen.

mzk784

I saw couple of them today at a Honda dealer, the front design is not bad, but the sedan rear design looks scary, very disappointing, it seems Honda doesn't want to make an Accord that looks pretty both ends. the thing is the company can make beautifull stream-lined designs, most Acura line up are decent looking, the RL and TL designs are so nice, but why do they have to do this to the Accord ? heck, the last 2 generations are one of those cars that you have to force yourself to think they are ok. after a while it will work out, but why not make an Accord that looks nice the first time we see it ?

JonBoy

I agree with your review in terms of the interior and size, as well as the exterior looks. In person, the car looks a LOT better to me on the outside.

The interior is very spacious - tons of leg room in the back and lots of elbow room up front. It reminded me almost of an Impala or something, in terms of interior room.

The interior design is great - even on lower levels, it's quite classy. It does look a bit bland with dark grey cloth, though.

I haven't driven one yet, only sat in one and made vroom-vroom sounds.

rai

The Accord is now a large car. Its just 2" shorter than a Chrysler 300. I was looking at the specs and it's somethong liek 12" longer and 4" wider than a Legacy(don't quote me exactly I was looking a few days ago).

Its bigger than the TL and RL. I guess that's fine, but I wonder if we need all that room. I mean Avalon (etc..) type cars are one thing, I always thought of the Accord as a mid-size car.

I say the pics and the center stack reminds me a lot of our MDX. I don't drive it every day maybe just 5 times a month. So its not the same as if it was my every day car. But the button vomit is very hard to figure out. True it does have steering wheel controls for some stuff but I dis-like that.

Now that I look at it, it doesn't have near as many buttons as the MDX but it still reminds me of that interior layout.




I'm sure it's a great car and hopefully the next gen TL will be the Accord-PLUS (maybe SH-AWD)

climacus

The radio UI is a complete disaster.

Title | XM | FM/AM | Sound | CD | AUX

WTF? The button ordering makes no sense whatsoever. Most people only ever use the FM and CD buttons.

The fan speed control is on the wrong side for US/Europe, and is way too close and similar in shape to the CD skip button.

Tell me that picture is a photoshopped blog joke.

tantheman

By far the worst looking Accord I have ever seen. That front grill and bumper design lines and headlight swept back design is in consistent. The designer needs to be bangle-lized.



Tan