I drove up our long-term 2008 Honda Accord EX-L V6 up to Napa, CA on Sunday -- and unfortunately not for the usual, winery-touring reasons. When it was time to come home yesterday afternoon, I knew I couldn't squander another lovely fall day on the I-780, I-680 and I-580. So I picked my way though mid-afternoon San Francisco traffic to California Highway 35, aka Skyline Boulevard.
Although there are a lot of cool, gnarly little roads branching off Skyline (which does have a view of the Silicon Valley skyline), the boulevard itself is only moderately curvy, which was ideal for our '08 Accord, which has taken some criticism for its size (extra large).
I really enjoyed the drive. Within the limits imposed by the all-season tires, the chassis feels good -- stiff, balanced, predictable. The steering provides some feedback (and you get some through the driver seat as well) and it feels quite accurate: Getting the Accord set up for corners is quite easy.
Instead of diverting onto Highway 9, my escape route from Skyline involved Black Road, which is narrow, twisty and often lacks a center line. Yet, I had no trouble keeping the big Accord out of the way of oncoming, smaller cars even when they were taking up more than their share of blacktop.
Complaints from the Skyline run center on the brakes. I didn't get any significant fade, but the pedal didn't feel firm and I think the rotors might be a touch out of round. When I noticed this, I tried to avoid taxing them.
Acceleration was also an issue on Skyline when I took advantage of a passing zone. Even with a V6, the Accord is simply too heavy to gather itself up instantaneously and what looked like an easy pass ended up causing a little anxiety. That said, I had no issues with the car's quickness on the interstate and it dispatched the I-5 "Grapevine" at my preferred pace. In addition, it's tough to argue with the fuel economy: I wasn't trying to be efficient and I got 23.8 mpg over 854 miles. I never did better than 22 in our CVT-equipped Nissan Altima.
I was also surprised by how comfortable I found the Accord. I agree with Josh that the car rides busily over the washboard slabs that comprise LA freeways. But in the Central Valley and NorCal, where the freeways are paved more normally, the car rode just fine -- compliantly, even -- and road noise wasn't a big problem. I even liked the driver seat, which I spent a total of 8 hours in yesterday. Yes, it's a firm seat, but I think that's what makes it decently supportive.
Finally, I like that audio information moves to the secondary display when you're busy watching the map screen: I could see the score of Sunday's Dodgers/Giants game. Unfortunately, it's XM rather than the local AM radio station providing the feed that manages the updates, so the displayed score sometimes lagged behind reality.
Erin Riches, Inside Line Senior Editor @ 18,825 miles
anoopk says:
05:59 PM, 09/30/08
Yeah Finally something to look upto and yeah people will call me a Accord basher. Again i love the nameplate,but again as u said Erin, its just too heavy. I love going out on long drives, and as edmunds.com has noted, the TOYOTA 3.5 V6 is the current best among the sixes.
I never would have agreed, but recently on a fast trip to BIG BEAR, in an AVALON(with the same engine in a 280HP tune) i got 28.9MPG.
Its also much faster than the Accord's. My humble request to Honda when they facelift this(3 yrs?)
LOSE WEIGHT and get the ENGINE standards back to HONDA levels.
Love u HONDA
Anoop
lenoroc says:
06:57 PM, 09/30/08
I really wish they offered a non-VCM version to see how both acceleration and MPG would be affected.
billt9 says:
06:57 PM, 09/30/08
Nobody can beat the grandpa spaceship Toyota Avalon's 0-60 in 6.0 seconds. It is ridiculous.
Only maybe GM has the resources to do so.
anoopk says:
07:14 PM, 09/30/08
INSPITE of VCM, it only gave 23.8.
Comeon Honda!!!
And yeah its ooooh so Grandpa AVALON and we ought to be beating Grandpa's right??
redliner says:
07:34 AM, 10/ 1/08
...off topic...
It might just be me, but the 2008 Toyota Avalons remind me of the 1990 Lexus LS. Their even about the same size.
1487 says:
07:36 AM, 10/ 1/08
I dont think 24mpg hwy is good for a car rated at 29mpg highway.
jaeger1 says:
07:59 AM, 10/ 1/08
I love all the qualifiers - it handles well on "moderately curvy" roads and "within the limits of its all season tires" and such. All true, though.
My Dad's '08 Accord is like that. Driven at sedate speeds, and taking a prudent line through gentle curves, it handles well enough (which car in this class doesn't?). But ask it to hustle just a little bit and you get a polite "No thank you." Ask it to hustle a lot and you get an impolite "I SAID NO!"
The size and weight are always there. Working in concert with the newfangled VCM and retro 5 speed slushbox, the result is a buzz-kill of Avalonian proportions.
Question - I take it from the overall blog entry that this trip was mostly highway and secondary roads, right? Not a lot of stop and go or heavy traffic? If so, explain to me why I am supposed to be impressed by the cutting edge VCM delivering under 24 mpg?
mikeolan says:
11:12 AM, 10/ 1/08
@Jaeger1 This car isn't meant to hustle- it's meant to transport fat boring people from home to work to the buffet.
lenoroc says:
11:28 AM, 10/ 1/08
@mikeolan
Or comfortably transport 5 ADULTS from place to place
desmolicious says:
01:52 PM, 10/ 1/08
@mike, jaeger and lenoroc.
Or comfortably transport 5 fat boring adults from buffet to buffet.
hondacura4 says:
02:02 PM, 10/ 1/08
"I dont think 24mpg hwy is good for a car rated at 29mpg highway."
Did you read the whole story? It wasnt all highway mileage as thats clearly stated. Im certainly not suggesting the Accord is a standout in fuel economy as its not.
"Acceleration was also an issue on Skyline when I took advantage of a passing zone. Even with a V6, the Accord is simply too heavy to gather itself up instantaneously and what looked like an easy pass ended up causing a little anxiety."
Unfortunately, the VCM system has shown its head again. Honda, please come up with a different solution as the VCM system SUCKS..... litterally.
lvranger says:
02:28 PM, 10/ 1/08
The accord actually looks stylish in the first pic. Now if we can all get transformed into giants or stilts come into style the accord can finally be praised for its good looks.
eljefe68 says:
02:51 PM, 10/ 1/08
An Accord on that road? My 79 Scirocco, 88 Prelude Si, and 94 Ford Probe GT were all proper companions for Skyline Drive. The current, bloated Accord would have my crying for the cars of my youth there.
Great pics, especially of Windy Hill (Pic #4). BTW, too bad you didn't take a picture of the final score of that game, he he. "And the Cy Young goes to Tim Lincecum."
aspade says:
11:45 PM, 10/ 1/08
"Even with a V6, the Accord is simply too heavy to gather itself up instantaneously and what looked like an easy pass ended up causing a little anxiety."
I call BS.
Yeah Honda's VCM sucks, yeah a Camry (or Malibu or whichever dog you have in this fight) is quicker and more responsive, but the instrumented difference is a matter of a very few seconds.
1.5 seconds slower is not the margin between an easy pass and an anxious one. If two seconds one way or the other are going to matter it's time to wait for a longer break in the oncoming traffic.
dougtheeng says:
06:24 AM, 10/ 2/08
""Even with a V6, the Accord is simply too heavy to gather itself up instantaneously and what looked like an easy pass ended up causing a little anxiety."
I call BS. "
I sorta agree with aspade here....I'm thinking that if you find a pass in an Accord to be stressful, I can't imagine how you would have dealt with my old '92 Dodge Colt or even my current MINI Cooper. The MINI isn't the fastest car on the road and it means you need to pay attention to your passes, thats for sure.
sgude says:
10:06 AM, 10/ 2/08
Even with a V6, it's all about gearing when you're making passes. Shoot, I don't even have to shift out of fifth and I still get a good surge of power out of my straight six (325i). It's all about gearing. My guess is the Accord doesn't like to downshift.
cocarguydj says:
12:22 PM, 10/ 2/08
""Even with a V6, the Accord is simply too heavy to gather itself up instantaneously and what looked like an easy pass ended up causing a little anxiety."
I call BS.
Yeah Honda's VCM sucks, yeah a Camry (or Malibu or whichever dog you have in this fight) is quicker and more responsive, but the instrumented difference is a matter of a very few seconds.
1.5 seconds slower is not the margin between an easy pass and an anxious one. If two seconds one way or the other are going to matter it's time to wait for a longer break in the oncoming traffic."
I am going to say that 1.5-2 seconds does make a big difference on a highway-speed pass. If both you and oncoming traffic are traveling at 60mph(88 ft/s) then the gap is 264-352 feet shorter than expected. If you are keenly aware of exactly how gutless your car may be(such as having a '92 Dodge Colt as your daily driver) then you adjust your passing habits accordingly. If in general the car you are driving feels powerful but then lets you down when you pull out to make a pass then I can see how it would cause a pass that seemed to be easy to be a little anxious.
I also agree with sgude that gearing and transmission programming plays a huge role here, not just the horsepower available.
mikeolan says:
05:51 PM, 10/ 2/08
I agree with sgude- it is most likely a gearing issue if it's terrible at passing. Honda's automatic with this generation Accord is a league behind the six speeds the competition offers and the bajillion speeds Nissan offers.
eriches says:
10:32 AM, 10/ 3/08
The Accord is not terrible at passing. And its transmission will downshift when called upon to do so. The issue here was that the passing zone was not super large. Although the road was clear when I began the maneuver, a Kia appeared on the horizon in the middle of it. And although I did complete the pass safely, I might think twice before doing it again. The engine was working, but the 3.5-liter V6 does not have the mid-range oomph to offset the car's weight.
eriches says:
10:35 AM, 10/ 3/08
To clarify, I don't think the transmission's gear ratios are out of sync with the engine's torque/power. The rpm were where they needed to be during my pass -- the car just wasn't quite as quick as I would have liked. Passing on Interstate 5, where there is vastly more space, was no problem. The V6 Accord is by no means a slow car.