Scheduled to go on sale late this fall, the 2018 Accord is the best Accord yet by all means and margins. The tenth generation of the lineage that started in 1976, the new model will have to prove itself against the 2018 Toyota Camry.
The Accord isn’t merely the first car from a Japanese automaker to be manufactured in the United States (1982), but it also has some catching up to do against its biggest competitor. The sales figures for 2016 reveal the extent of the gap, with the Accord selling 345,225 units in the U.S. against the Camry’s 388,616. For all that, what does the new Accord have going for it?
Following a $267 million investment in the Marysville Auto Plant and the Anna, Ohio engine plant, you can bet your sweet bippy Honda isn’t taking chances with the newcomer. As a starting point, the mid-size sedan is currently offered with four-cylinder turbo engines of the 1.5- and 2.0-liter varieties. In other words, power is not of the essence here, but gas mileage.
The 2.0-liter four-banger is the most interesting of the lot, not only because it develops a warm hatchback-rivaling 252 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque. The big news is the 10-speed automatic transmission, which Honda says it’s a first in a front-wheel-drive car. The 1.5er, with its 192 ponies and 192 lb-ft, is connected to either a stick shift or a continuously variable tranny.
In terms of trim levels, the entry-level Accord 1.5 will be available in five flavors: LX, Sport, EX, EX-L, and Touring. The Accord 2.0, by comparison, boasts three configurations: Sport, EX-L, and Touring. The fuel efficiency-minded Accord Hybrid, which makes use of a naturally aspirated 2.0-liter Atkinson cycle four-pot, will go on sale as a Hybrid, EX, EX-L, and Touring.
"Re-imagining the new Accord and bringing it to life took an incredible effort by our project team and our associates,” declared Rob May, Marysville Auto Plant manager. “The privilege of producing America's best-selling car for the last 41 years is a significant point of pride for our associates," he added.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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