Well, sort of.
After 7 years and over 170,000 kms, my Dad decided it was time to replace his 2002 Altima 2.5. He was a bit reluctant – as the car had served him very well – but when the service department told him it was definitely time for a set of 4 new tires, he decided he wanted one new car instead. Funny what can trigger a purchase, eh?
The HuntAnyway, he was definitely looking at another 4-door sedan, so we started off by getting a short list of likely candidates. Unlike me, my Dad doesn’t consider new car shopping to be a fun leisure activity, so I knew we weren’t going to drive everything. The Passat got eliminated right off the bat – a next door neighbor of his has one – and tells a tale of service woes that my Dad wanted no part of. The candidates we would look at were: Altima, Accord, Camry and Sonata. We decided that we would give the 4 and 6 cylinder versions a good look and then see where we were.
I figured the Altima was a long-shot, as I have never in history known my Dad to buy the same model car twice. He was already grumbling about wanting something “different”, but I suggested he give it a whirl anyway. The Smart Key and start / stop button for the engine almost singlehandedly displaced his desire for “something different” – almost.
He liked the Camry well enough, but LOVED the Avalon. Of course, it was a good deal more money, but after a test drive it was the clear front-runner. The Sonata he thought was pretty good, but it just didn’t capture him in a “buy me” kind of way. I suggested he might want to take a peek at the Azera, but the salesman was a complete jerk and wearing on both our nerves.
The Accord eventually won the day. Probably the strongest thing it had going was the professionalism and courtesy of the salesman. This guy was a model of what you would want when car-shopping – polite, intelligent, informed. Definitely NOT one of these chuckleheads who spend all their time bashing and spreading disinformation about the competition and suggesting you would be a drooling idiot to buy anything but his product.
We drove both the (base) 4 cylinder and the top of the line 6 and Dad was impressed with how much he likes the cheaper car. When it comes to motors, smooth and quiet rank far ahead of powerful and responsive, and the Accord 4-banger sure is smooth and quiet. He found he was liking the cars and the bigger end of the scale (Avalon, Azera) and the Honda has “big” in spades. A feature that appealed to me was that the Accord offers stability control on even the base model – which is where he seemed to be leaning as he prefers cloth to leather and can live without a sunroof. I think that the Avalon was still his number one choice, but the price difference between that and the base Accord was as huge as the cars themselves. Before long, the deal was done, and a new dark grey (I forget what ridiculous marketing name they attached to it) Accord was his.
The Car
Okay – some thoughts on the car.
Holy freakin’ cheese – this thing is big. I mean, I knew the dimensions and had seen them before in the showroom, but it was when he pulled the car into my driveway and I had an established frame of reference that the size of this beast really hit home (pardon the pun). Fortunately for Honda, “big” was a positive selling feature for my Dad, and gave this full size player a decided advantage in the mid-size field. Surprisingly, the ginormous exterior didn’t translate as literally when it came to interior space. It felt perhaps fractionally larger than my Altima in front seat space – same deal in the back. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a comfortable and spacious vehicle. But way-bigger-than-the-competition outside doesn’t translate into way-bigger-than-the-competition inside. And for all that girth, it had one of the smallest trunks – if you routinely transport a golf foursome, they better not be packing big fat cart bags.
I’ve heard it said that this car looks better in person than in photos, and to that I say it depends on the photos – and very much on the colour. Dark colours really suit this thing. It looks pretty good in black and in the dark grey my Dad chose. It comes in a putrid green that wouldn’t flatter any car. In silver – which looks good on most cars – the blandness of the overall design is almost overwhelming. And in white, this thing is a refrigerator on wheels. Avoid at all costs, unless you were intentionally going for the mobile appliance look.
InteriorThe interior quality was very good, but I had been led to believe by the opinions expressed by some that it was decidedly a cut above its competitors. Now, if you go for the tan leather and the nav and such – this thing looks like it could be the interior of any Acura. VERY nice. But comparing base models to base models, it’s certainly very good, but no watershed vehicle. I preferred the cloth in the Accord to that of the base Altima, but liked the more user-friendly layout of the controls in the Nissan. The Honda hits you with a cascade of buttons and switches in the center stack that are rather more than seems necessary. And then there’s that god-awful bat-cave dug out of what would have been an otherwise smooth and flowing dash. The designer of THAT feature deserves 20 lashes for such an aesthetic felony. No faulting the primary gauge layout, however – large and legible and well lit.
On the road.Driving off for the first time, two negatives announce themselves immediately. First, is the automatic door locks. I HATE those things – particularly where, as here, they don’t UN-lock when you stop and put the thing in park. I am quite capable of deciding when and where I want my doors locked and unlocked, thanks all the same. The second is that Honda seems to have taken a page out of the GM’s book of tricks (the mid-eighties edition) and sought to disguise what is a pretty weak motor by dialing in an extra-aggressive throttle opening at initial tip-in. The result is that the car jumps briskly off the line (lurches, if you’re not careful) – then falls rather flat and builds speed rather sedately. It’s all a big tease. I am not a fan of automatic transmissions in general, but this is one I could never learn to love. The shifts are VERY smooth (which registered as a strong positive with Pops) but they sure aren’t quick - and down-shifts seem downright reluctant – almost as if the tranny is saying to you; “Are you sure you want to give it that much throttle? That’s not good for fuel economy, you know. Maybe you should rethink this. No? Well, okay, if you’re really sure. Heeeeeeeere you go.”
Cruising on the highway (where Dad does about 90% of his driving) – this is a non issue. The ride is serene and noise levels are commendably low. Next time we drive down to Buffalo or Detroit to take in a Cowboys game, I’ll gladly take his ride.
On the handling front, things are pretty well damped with low to moderate cornering speeds resulting in pretty flat cornering. But you do not want to push this thing. Try anything remotely aggressive and the car lets you know right away that it finds such behavior morally repugnant. I can’t confirm this for certain, but I believe it will actually tell your mother that you’ve been bad. Carry some extra speed into a corner (or ramp) and you get the immediate message that there is a LOT of mass that wants to keep going straight. Even the 6 cylinder I drove with its 17” rims didn’t fare much better (Dad’s has 16s). If you stay within the mission statement, however, it is entirely competent and composed.
I would rate the handling of the Accord ahead of the base model Camry, about on par with the Sonata and behind the Altima. If we are talking 6 cylinder models, it drops to third behind the Camry SE and WAAAY in back of the Altima 3.5 SE.
OverallOverall though, most of the shortcomings that I perceive with the vehicle come from my preferences. The guy who bought the thing loves it. His only complaint is that the near complete absence of ANY tint in the windows means that glare is your constant companion – something that will only get worse once all that relective white stuff starts to cover the ground (which it already has, in some areas). A tint is high in the to-do list.
On the whole, my opinion of the car hasn’t changed much. Not a car for me, but that doesn’t matter. It’s a great car for him.
