Her + His Car Reviews
2017 Honda Accord Touring V6
There are two sides to everything, right? To keep our car reviews innovative and interesting, we provide an animated, insightful, detailed and sometimes uncouth two points of view on the same car from - Her + His perspectives.
Her: Anne Fleming, Car Buying Advocate, women-drivers.com
His: Don Hammonds, Writer, AutomobileJournal.com
| HER | HIS |
|---|---|
| Price | |
| $35,665 | $35,665 with delivery charges |
| Performance | |
| One of the best-selling sedans in the nation gets a reinforcement this year with enhanced... everything. Let's start with a powerful 3.5 liter V6 that tunes in with 278 horsepower and delivers. From get up-and-go, this "top rated" car delivers value with affordability and reliability as its strong suits. | Power comes from a 278 horsepower 3.5 liter IVETEC V-6 with a six speed automatic. It corners flat, steers exactly where you want it to go, and has a superb braking system. There's room galore in the elegant, contemporary interior, and it is tomb-quiet inside. the "econ" mode system to help out with fuel mileage does its job unobtrusively, with drivability that exceeds what we have found with most intermediates we have tested. |
| Fuel Economy | |
| 21 city miles, 33 city miles and 25 overall miles. | Overall fuel economy is 25 miles per gallon, 21 city and 33 highway. It uses four gallons to drive 100 miles, and you spend $250 more in fuel costs over five years compared to the average new car. Each year you will spend about $1,450 on gasoline, and about $7,000 over five years, based on driving 15,000 miles a year at $2.45 per gallon gasoline. |
| The Vehicle | |
| What a delight. This comfortably, essentially lux Touring Accord delivers no matter the driving conditions. It's well equipped, comfortably suited, and roomy. The responsive car handles well on the highways and on/off ramps requiring quick navigation. Also, on the hills. A shout out to Honda for not wasting a cent on paddle shifters. Clearly they know their target audience; unlike others manufacturers who are packaging this 'feature' into the car that will oh-so rarely be used. The 19" alloy wheels frame the vehicle well. One of the newer safety features Honda brought to market a few years is the Lane Watch, which is integrated and used on the Accord. The innovative technology provides a broader view for the driver on the right side when passing a vehicle, or in an urban setting when being able to view cyclist and pedestrians. Since so few car manufactures are putting spare tires in new vehicles, buyers should be aware and will appreciate that the 2017 Honda Accord has a real (not fake or one that you have to blow up) spare tire. Thank you Honda. It's the little things that make a difference. I could not locate the on/off switch for the sound system for a few minutes. That was annoying and not intuitively placed. I could only lower/increase the sound from the steering wheel. Also, there here have been many critics of the infotainment system. |
The Honda Accord is a four wheeled wonder. I mean, here is a car that hasn't changed much in several years, but it runs rings around its competitors. While Honda has made judicious additions and refinements in the Accord in it current generation for the last four or five years, it still is the same basic model introduced several years ago. And it is still by far and away the best intermediate family sedan you can buy. Nobody even comes close--and that includes the archrival Toyota Camry. We will reserve final judgment until Toyota provides us a tester of the dramatically changed 2018 version of the Camry, but if we were choosing between the two, we would get the Accord, hands down. And... it is really the only legitimate choice for sports minded family drivers who deplore soft suspensions, poor cornering and crave fun behind the wheel. |
| Safety | |
| Drivers and Front Passengers Dual Stage Airbags, Drivers and Front Passengers Side with SmartVent Side Curtain Airbag, Side Curtain Airbag with Roll over Sensor, Vehicle Stability Assist, ABS, LATCH System for Child Seats, Side Impact for Door Beams, Vehicle Stability Assist. | Safety equipment is generous, including driver and front passenger dual stage airbags drivers and front passenger side airbags with SmartVent, side curtain airbags with Rollover Sensor, Brake Assist, Electronic Brake distribution, ACE Body Structure, tire pressure monitoring system, side impact door beams, LED running lights. |
| Technology | |
| Integrated Turn Signal Mirrors, Lane Departure Warning, 7" Display Audio Touchscreen and Honda Satellite-linked Navigation, Voice Recognition, Multi-View Camera, Honda Link, HD Radio Bluetooth, Pandora Internet Radio Interface, Sirius XM Radio SMS Text Functionality, USB, Push Button Start, Honda Lane Watch, Personal Climate Control, Rear Console Vent, Driver's 10 Way Seat - Heated, too. Leather seats, Leather Steering wheel, 60/40 Split Fold Down Rear Seats Auto-Dimming Rearview Mirror. Tilt/telescoping Steering Wheel. Home Link System. | The base LX is powered by a 2.4-liter 185 horsepower four-cylinder engine (185 horsepower, 181 pound-feet) matched to a six-speed manual transmission or continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT). Feature highlights include 16-inch alloy wheels, dual-zone automatic climate control, a 7.7-inch central display (not to be confused with the touchscreen that's added on higher trims), Bluetooth, a rearview camera, a height-adjustable driver seat, a one-piece folding rear seat and a four-speaker sound system. There is a Sport Special Edition version of the Accord sedan which has a 2.4 liter four with 189 horsepower 19-inch wheels, LED daytime running lights and foglights, cloth seating with imitation-leather bolsters, a power driver seat, a 60/40-split folding rear seat and a leather-wrapped steering wheel (with shift paddles if the automatic transmission is specified). It also has special-edition badging, heated front seats and leather seats with red accent stitching. The Accord EX also builds off the LX, but it focuses more on extra amenities than sportiness, adding 17-inch wheels, LED daytime running lights and foglights, heated mirrors, a sunroof, keyless ignition and entry, remote ignition (with the automatic transmission), the power driver seat, Honda's LaneWatch blind-spot camera system, a six-speaker sound system with a 7-inch touchscreen interface (the standard 7.7-inch display remains as well) and satellite and HD radio. Also standard is smartphone app integration via HondaLink (with smartphone-enabled Aha radio features), Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The EX-L trim comes with the CVT and adds leather upholstery, driver-seat memory functions, a power passenger seat, heated front seats, an auto-dimming rearview mirror and an upgraded seven-speaker sound system. A version of the EX-L can be had with a 3.5-liter 278 horsepower V-6with a six-speed automatic. If you are so inclined, you can order the Honda Sensing package, which includes adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking, and lane departure warning and mitigation. A navigation system is optional for the EX-L and EX-L V6. The top of the line Touring builds upon the EX-L V6 's standard equipment list and give and adds the features from the Honda Sensing package as well as 19-inch wheels, LED headlights (with automatic high-beam control), automatic wipers, front and rear parking sensors, a rear decklid spoiler, heated outboard rear seats and the navigation system. Right here is where we should tell you about the Accord's one and only problem--its infotainment system. It is frustrating and confusing. Trying to lower thee volume requires the use of a sliding control on the touchscreen and it is infuriating an unsafe, because you really need to take your eyes off the road to operate it accurately. And there are no redundant audio knobs to use either. To make things worse, the power on-off switch is located above the screen, a tiny hard to see little thing that blends in with the aluminum trim around the screen. Perhaps you can get used to this whole system with time, but if you think not, consider the Sport model, which doesn't have the infotainment setup. A rethink on the whole infotainment system is really needed. |
| Aesthetics & Styling | |
| Honda has done an extraordinary job taking the Accord from looking like a car with 'universal' appeal to keep it in the same realm, but amping it up with lux and chrome. It's has dual chrome exhaust finishers and looks even more appealing start to finish. Less plastic and more leather and indulgent touch points. Right in time. All well positioned money-wise. Who can beat $35K? Really! Oh, and a free tank of gas from your dealer. | To my eyes, this is probably one of the most beautiful family sedans on the market. The only other family sedan I consider gorgeous--but in a different way--is Chevy's Malibu. Chevy Malibu is pretty good looking, but with a less traditional fastback roof. I suspect the Accord will age better because it is so classically understated and elegant. It looks like a million dollars with sexy black and chrome wheels, tastefully applied exterior chrome and honkin' huge dual exhausts around back. It has everything you will conceivably need as standard equipment--and then some.
The interior makes me wonder why Honda is even bothering to compete with luxury cars with the Acura. In my mind, the interior is little different from the much more expensive Acura TLX lineup, and the Accord, in Touring version, is only about 10 to 15 horses shy of what consumers would get with the Acura TLX. And according to Consumer Reports, the TLX has a worse than average reliability rating--while Accord exceeds in that category. There really needs to be way more styling and performance difference between the TLX and the Accord, which I think is prettier than its more expensive counterpart. |
| Warranty | |
| 3 Years Honda Roadside Assistance or 36,000 miles. See Dealer for more information. | The warranty is pretty much like most cars these days--3 years, 36,000 miles on the whole car. |
