FAST FACTS
* Model: 2016 Honda Accord EX-L * Exterior color: Crystal Black * Interior color: Black * Engine: 2.4-liter four-cylinder * Horsepower: 185 * Transmission: CVT * Fuel economy: 37 mpg highway, 27 mpg city * Dealer: Honda of Cleveland * Price (as tested): $29,390
The story of the Honda Accord is one of evolutionary excellence. Ever since Honda introduced the Accord 40 years ago as a hatchback designed to compliment the smaller Civic, the Japanese car company has been doggedly trying to craft the perfect family car.
With the arrival of the 2016 Accord, it’s getting pretty darn close.
Honda sells more than 300,000 Accords each year because of a potent combination of durability and efficiency. For 2016, the mid-size Accord gets some exterior design tweaks and a host of high-tech safety and infortainment upgrades. Introduced in 2013, the ninth-generation Accord was due for this mid-cycle face-lift.
Our tester this week is a Crystal Black Accord sedan in EX-L trim provided by Rodney Bethune, general sales manager of Honda of Cleveland. The Accord sedan comes in five trim levels, LX, Sport, EX, EX-L and Touring. Prices range from about $23,000 to about $36,000. Our tester stickers or $29,390 before discounts.
The front-wheel-drive Accords come with two engine choices, a four-cylinder, 2.4-liter motor that makes 185 horsepower, and a 3.5-liter, V-6 that supplies about 50 percent more horsepower. Our tester comes equipped with the four-cylinder engine, which outsells the V-6 and returns about 31 miles per gallon of gas in mixed-use driving.
Two other Accord variants, a two-door coupe and a four-door hybrid, are also available.
STYLING AND COMFORT
Most mid-cycle upgrades involve some sort of fascia redesign. For 2016, Honda adds a thick chrome accent strip to the nose of the Accord, narrows the vertical dimensions of the headlights and adds some classy LED fog lamps for good measure. The effect is to make the Accord look a touch more modern.
To our eyes the design tweaks make the Accord look more finished, too, like a kid who had just gotten his braces off. Other cosmetic changes to our tester include new machine cut, 18-inch alloy wheels, new LED taillights and a slightly resculpted rear-end that some think makes it look a bit like a Mercedes.
Inside, the big news is an array of new infotainment interfaces that don’t need an HDMI cable connection to make friends with your iPhone or Android smartphone. A simple USB connection will do. Most new Accords come equipped with Apple’s CarPlay and Android Auto to make using some of your favorite phone apps seamlessly. Meanwhile, a new 7-inch display screen eliminates the need for most dials and switches.
Honda also adds several new driver-assist technologies. All new Accords can be upgraded with Honda Sensing, a suite of safety features which includes an emergency braking system, lane-departure warning, lane-keeping assist, road departure mitigation (that makes the car harder to flip) and adaptive cruise control.
The Accord has an expansive 119 cubic feet of interior space. A 60-40 fold-down second row seat connects to an over-sized trunk adding even more cargo-carrying versatility. Our black-on-black tester features leather seats which are heated in the front. The top-level Touring trim offers heated seats in the back, too.
As always in the Accord, it’s easy to find a good driving position, and outward visibility is first-rate. Controls and gauges are intuitive and easy to read, making the interior of the Accord is a low-stress environment.
DRIVING IMPRESSIONS
On our test drive along Keith Street and into Tinsley Park in Cleveland, Tenn., the Accord was in its element on a well-worn commuter route. The 2.4-liter engine hums along almost silently until you ask it for more. Then, it gathers and launches the car, while emitting the most melodious engine sounds in the class. Listening to this violin-quality engine note brings to mind that Honda is, first and foremost, an engine company; making millions of motors a year for everything from string trimmers to motorcycles.
While other carmakers are searching for efficient performance with small, turbocharged engines, Honda manages to do just fine with its normally aspirated four-cylinder powerplants. All four-cylinder Accords, except base models, come equipped with smooth continuously variable transmissions, which are more efficient that traditional gear-boxes.
Combine these sweet power-trains with pinpoint handling, and Accords actually inject a little driving excitement into a rather vanilla segment. Honda says the 2016 Accord has improved body rigidity and retuned electric power steering that “delivers even more linear and precise response.”
BOTTOM LINE
The Accord has a host of competitors in the mid-size sedan segment, not the least of which are the Toyota Camry, Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata and Chrysler 200.
Still, for our money, the Accord can hold its own with any of those cars, and remains a compelling value in the segment.
Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6645. Follow him on Twitter @TFPCOLUMNIST. Subscribe to his Facebook updates at www.facebook.com/mkennedycolumnist.