Honda used airline business-class seating as a model for the Accord interior and it's a marvel of space efficiency. Amazingly, the new interior is substantially roomier than last year's edition, but the exterior is just slightly larger. The front seats are wider and more comfortable than before, but the big news is in back where there's substantially more room for rear seat passengers. This makes the new Accord a true midsize sedan, whereas before it was considered a big compact.
Bigger front and rear door openings make it easier to get in and out of the car. It's also easier to load cargo because the trunk opening is bigger. The trunk itself is four inches wider for increased cargo capacity.
Everything inside the car has been redesigned. A new instrument panel features a two-tone finish with big gauges that are easy to read. Gone finally are the little silver metal switches that have locked doors for millions of Honda products, replaced with more aesthetically appealing plastic ones that match the interior.
Features associated with luxury cars abound, particularly on the high-level models. Sun visors offer sliding extensions, a HomeLink remote control system can be programmed to open garage doors, turn on house lights and turn off security systems. The air conditioning system, redesigned to reduce cool-down times by 30 percent, uses an air filtration system to keep pollen out and reduce diesel fumes from buses and trucks.
We spent a day driving the various trim levels of both the Accord Sedan and the new Coupe through Ohio's Cuyahoga
Valley and came away impressed with all of them. At one point, we staged an informal back-to-back test of the Accord
EX V-6, Toyota Camry, Chevrolet Malibu and Ford Taurus. Blasting up and down a rough, knarly little backroad, we
explored the limits of handling, power and braking. The Camry offered superb damping over the ripply pavement and
the Malibu surprised us with its handling prowess. By comparison, the Taurus seemed out of its element, heavy and
ponderous. The Accord provided the sharpest transient response when turning left, then right, then left again, and
it had the best brakes. The overriding impression was that the Accord seemed lighter on its feet and inspired more
confidence than the other cars.
Two months later, we spent a week driving an Accord EX V-6 in Maryland. The more time we spent with this car, the
more we were impressed with its competence. Ripples and potholes are smoothed out by the well-damped suspension, yet
corners can be taken with confidence without any of the yawing and pitching that can shake confidence at higher speeds.
In cruise city, the V6 engine just purrs along, barely audible. Stomp on the throttle and the VTEC cam setup growls with authority and quickly rockets the car into scofflaw county. We like both of those places and the Accord is a great car for traveling between them.