2023 Honda Accord: Back On The Road to Normal
Like clockwork a new Accord arrives just when it was becoming too settled in the sedan market. With the 10th generation car, Honda’s largest family sedan gained a new sporty and dynamic tension with a fastback body leading up to a large aggressive grille. With the 11th gen car, Honda maintained the CCA architecture that had underpinned the Accord since 2017 and modernized it with a more sedate if not generic design.
In the process of updating its look, the Accord is now the most bland of the existing sedan holdouts, leaving the look of excitement to Toyota, Nissan and the Hyundai/Kia pair. While far from ugly, the new Accord’s looks are not the only thing that changed. The car’s overall character is now sharply focused to being a comfortable and efficient bridge to some possible electric future. In a nutshell could this be Honda’s last gasp at offering the Accord as we know it? The Accord has always been right in the middle of the market, as if to know what people wanted before they knew they wanted it. Even while it kept up this pace, there was always an underling element of sportiness. It’s still there, but the 11th gen car no longer wears it on its fenders and air intakes.
The most noticeable thing about the new Accord’s looks is how generic it appears in pictures. From some angles, especially in darker colors it looks elegant. The tapered tail lamps suggest luxury and refinement. From others angles, the front in particular it resembles what an American Ford Taurus might have evolve into. While not a looker, the late Taurus did have some character and a look that was firmly rooted in Ford’s design language. Honda seems to be borrowing from that design language if you look at it’s latest HR-V.
You could argue that the 2023 Honda Accord does not even look like a Honda and could have come from almost anyone. That might be true if it weren’t true that few are still building actual cars. For the few still building family sedans, they have done a good job of distinguishing themselves. Even the Subaru Legacy looks more exciting as sportiness goes. The Legacy, while not always exciting to behold has stuck to its guns in presenting a solid image and design language consistency.
The Accord has remained a sporty fun to drive car, despite some generations being less exciting visually than others. With six different trims for the American Market, Honda lets you go from basic to luxury with many variations infused with a touches of sport. Only now, Honda seems content to put the sporting nature of the Accord behind as it like other manufacturers are chasing aggressive EPA mandates on their way to total electrification (or whatever comes after fossil fuels). Unfortunately for fans of the previous Accord’s looks, Honda has reverted back to a conservative Accord for 2023.
Perhaps the biggest improvement aside from amazing efficiency comes from the interior. Already a high benchmark, the Accord interior steps it up a notch with better materials and a design that suggests the honeycomb vent/grille design introduced on the recently revamped Civic. With the Accord, the design has reached its sport/luxury conclusion. Also improved is Honda’s infotainment screen – now with faster response and sharper resolution. All of the improvements are highlighted by already good attributes that have stayed the same like the use of tactile buttons for volume and HVAC controls.
Looks aren’t’ everything as Honda must assume that the Civic is sporty enough for most demands but not for adults with a larger family. The Accord with it’s unoffensive looks should appeal to a broader audience. That appeal is based on its new found focus on comfort and efficiency. To that end sporty outliers like the last gen’s 6-speed manual have disappeared. In it’s place is a CVT – the only transmission available that can be matched to two engine choices. For most buyers the CVT will feel like the departed 10-speed automatic from before.
Both four cylinder engines offer a considerable level of efficiency. The LX and EX trims feature the 1.5-liter turbocharged engine. With 192-hp, it is similar to the previous year’s base engine. The 2.0-liter hybrid offers more power at 204 with the assist of an electric motor. The Hybrid can operate under limited conditions in electric only mode, but it’s main purpose is to boost fuel economy. The Hybrid model can achieve up to 41 mpg on the highway and 46 in the city. That’s better than most smaller subcompacts with none of the space, comfort or performance penalties.
The Hybrid is the sportiest model, but it’s only sporty by virtue of it’s blackout treatment that includes black ’19 rims. Actually to see this trim in person is to be surprised by its refined appearance. In all fairness, photos really don’t do the Accord justice. I suspect this might be the case with all trims. Performance is considered good, but the Accord has lost much of it’s driver-road connection in an effort to move the Accord towards luxury. This in itself is not bad, because the Accord’s suspension has been re-tuned to reduce road vibration. Even the CVT has been tuned to feel (and sound like a automatic transmission). The loss of the previous generation’s 2-liter turbo 252 hp option puts the Accord squarely on the practical cruiser side of the performance equation.
It will be interesting to see if Honda will further refine the Accord’s looks by infusing it with a bit more personality (like this Chinese variant). At some point small options Honda typically offers like body side moldings, front and rear spoilers and ground effects might bring the Accord closer to the look of other Honda cars. For now we should consider ourselves fortunate that Honda did not throw in the towel on the mid-sized family sedan like so many others have recently. With this Accord, Honda offers a true alternative to the Camry, with a car that has some sporting intentions but does not look the part. In the end, that might be preferable to the Camry’s overly aggressive looks and less than sporting performance.
The inside is a small improvement over an already impressive interior from the previous generation. Top changes include a vastly improved infotainment system and a upgraded take on the honeycomb grid theme established by the Civic. It’s clean, modern and inviting looking. The interior suggests a car that is more sporty than the sedate exterior, but its likely to appeal to Honda’s core buyer.
Autopolis 