“Very little to dislike,†I found myself responding day after day during my week with the 2016 Honda Accord.
Rarely does a visiting test car generate as many questions and compliments. But the slightly restyled Accord, riding on the Touring’s eye catching, wheel-arch-filling 19-inch wheels, was deemed by friends, family, and neighbours to be quite the looker. And because it’s a car that’s squarely positioned in the affordable realm, they didn’t just compliment the Accord the way they did the $85,000 Audi A6 I drove earlier this fall. Rather, they’d ask, “Would I like it?â€
And indeed, there’s very little to dislike about Honda’s refreshed Accord. Perhaps the ride on low-profile 19-inch rubber is too firm for some midsize buyers. The continuously variable transmission, though not nearly as offensive as some examples of the breed, can cause tiresome droning from the engine when accelerating rapidly from rest. And outside of the wonderful Apple CarPlay and Android Auto systems, the touchscreen — with its flush-mounted “buttons†— is not the most intuitive.
Yet sharp handling, an impressive four-cylinder powerplant, decent interior space, and classy exterior styling make the Accord feel like a proper amount of car for the money.
This, however, is not your normal TTAC Accord review. We’re trying something different, and you’re experiencing the experiment in beta guise. My job is to bring you the vital figures and to put those figures in context.
( Keep in mind, this is a Canadian-spec car. Accord Tourings in the U.S. are top-tier Accords with the V-6 engine. In Canada, Touring is similarly the top-end Accord, but it’s available with the four-cylinder engine, a 6-speed manual transmission and is in many ways the Accord Sport with more equipment: same quick steering, same big wheels, but four fewer ponies. Our tester was optioned up with the CVT. )
Horsepower
With 185 horsepower at 6,400 rpm (and 181 lb-ft of torque at 3,900 rpm), the Accord’s standard 2.4-liter four cylinder generates seven more horsepower than the Toyota Camry’s 2.5-liter four cylinder; three more than the Nissan Altima’s 2.5-liter four; and 10 and four more horsepower than the Ford Fusion’s two entry level, four-cylinder powerplants. The Hyundai Sonata/ Kia Optima2.4-liter mill matches the Accord’s output, which tops all other midsize competitors’ base engines.
Verdict: Tied For First Place
Optional Horsepower
In the one trim level in which American Honda allows an Accord engine upgrade, EX-L, the 3.5-liter V-6 adds 93 horsepower for a total of 278. The extra cost? $2,075, or $22.31 for each extra horse. Only the Chrysler 200’s 295-horsepower 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 and the Volkswagen Passat’s 280-horsepower 3.6-liter V-6 provide more powerful engine upgrades.
Verdict: Third Place
Fuel Economy
Rated at 27 mpg in the city and 37 on the highway with 2.4-liter engine and continuously variable transmission, the Accord’s most efficient (non-hybrid) form is four mpg better in the city and three better on the highway than the 2.4-liter/six-speed manual combo. Opting for the V-6/six-speed automatic drags city economy down to 21 mpg in the city. The highway impact is less noteworthy, with the 3.5-liter V-6 rated at 34 mpg. There are, however, non-hybrid four-cylinder versions of the Mazda6, Kia Optima, and Hyundai Sonata expected to consume less fuel. The 2016 Nissan Altima 2.5-liter/CVT and 2016 Chevrolet Malibu 1.5-liter turbo/six-speed automatic have the same combined rating as the most efficient 2.4-liter-equipped Accord.
Verdict: Tied For Fourth Place
Cargo Volume
Different versions of the same car often possess different levels of cargo volume. With this Accord being the finest four-cylinder example you can buy, we graded it against the finest base-engine equivalents from rival manufacturers. Accord cargo volume in this case, at 15.5 cubic feet, is 2 percent smaller than the biggest Accord trunk. The size of the body TTAC readers can squeeze in may vary, as such specifications are shape and measurement methodology dependant. Incidentally, the two smallest trunks in the category belong to the two lowest-volume cars: Legacy and Mazda6. The Hyundai Sonata’s 16.3-cubic-foot trunk is largest.
Verdict: Seventh Place
Passenger Volume
Compared with the class-leading Sonata’s 106.1 cubic feet of interior volume, the Accord’s available space for passengers is 5 percent smaller. And it feels about five percent smaller, a deficit sufficient to merit notice, but not nearly so much as to cause the Accord to feel cramped inside.
Verdict: Tenth Place
Rear Legroom
Manufacturer-supplied legroom dimensions don’t hold a candle to hopping into the rear seat of a car to explore the surroundings for yourself. While few would argue with the sensation of expansive rear legroom in the class-leading Volkswagen Passat – officially 39.1 inches – most would have trouble believing that the Mazda6’s rear legroom is even a hair more substantial than the Accord’s 38.5 inches, let alone two-tenths of an inch superior.
Verdict: Fifth Place
Sales
Not since 2001, prior to what will become a 14-year streak for the Toyota Camry this year, has the Accord been America’s best-selling midsize car — and consequently the best-selling car overall. It is a perennial podium finisher, however, and despite a 10-percent drop to 320,501 sales through the first 11 months of 2015, the Accord will end this year as the Camry’s runner-up.
Verdict: Second Place
Length x Width x Height
With the tenth-generation Civic newly expanded, consider the Accord’s position in the Honda lineup. At 192.5 inches long, the Accord is 10 inches longer than the new Civic. The Civic is 70.8 inches wide; the Accord is two inches wider. From road to roof, the Accord is 57.7 inches tall, two inches taller than the Civic. The Civic’s 106.3-inch wheelbase is three inches shorter than the Accord’s. The third-gen Pilot is two inches longer, bumper-to-bumper, than the Accord; the Odyssey minivan is slightly more than 10 inches longer. Nose to tail, the Accord’s Acura relative, the TLX, isn’t quite as long, but the TLX is a little wider and not quite as tall.
Curb Weight
A basic four-cylinder Accord LX with the manual transmission weighs 3,170 pounds. The heaviest Accord, according to American Honda, is the Touring V-6 at 3,605 pounds. This four-cylinder, Canadian-spec Touring, is a 3,435-pound car. True midsize heft is seen in the 3,802-pound Chrysler 200C V-6 AWD. Mazda says their lightest 6 weighs 3,179 pounds. Chevrolet claims the basic 2016 Malibu L and Malibu LS will each weigh less than 3,100 pounds.
Observed Fuel Economy
As cold temperatures set in and I began enjoying the Accord’s excellent chassis, the big wheels and enthusiastic driving manner didn’t help fuel economy during our week with the Honda in early December. Yet in a mix of urban and suburban driving, and with very little highway mileage, we averaged 27.4 mpg on the U.S. scale, on par with the Accord’s city rating. Many potential real-world comparisons aren’t applicable, because at GCBC we’ve mostly tested non-standard midsize cars: V-6s and diesels and hybrids. The last 2.4-liter Sonata we tested did achieved 30.9 mpg, but in less spirited and much warmer conditions.
Steering and Tires
Like the Accord Sport, this Canadian-spec Accord Touring four cylinder uses quicker steering: lock-to-lock is 2.46 turns, not the 2.54 of other four-cylinder Accords. With bigger rubber — 235/40R19 Continental ContiProContacts, not the 205/65R16s or 215/55R17s of lesser Accords — turn-in is markedly aided.
Money
Destination included, Accord pricing starts at $22,940 in America, with an extra $800 required for the optional CVT. Adding Honda’s batch of safety kit, Honda Sensing, adds $1,000. EX pricing begins at $26,315. The CVT Sport is $26,800. The least costly Accord V-6 is the EX-L V-6 at $31,480. Accords top out at $35,415. The basic version of America’s best-selling car, the Camry, is $23,905, but that price includes an automatic transmission. The least costly Accord CVT is $165 less.
Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net , which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar  and on Facebook .