The Japanese pronunciation of Turbo sounds deceptively similar to taboo – funnily enough, none of the big three from Japan seemed very fond of turbo-charged engines. Well, a Ferrari wears one on its sleeves; the Germans have boldly stuck to turbocharged power in supercars and plain daily drives; the French have held on to small, boosted engines like they are dearer than sales in this region. Until now, the Japanese have held out like they are the last bastions of naturally aspirated glory, but finally, they have started exploring fuel-economy options other than CVT and VVT. The all-new Honda Accord has been launched with two engines – both turbocharged.
THE UPSIDE: Smoothly powerful, fuel efficient, evolved driver assistance, premium looks
THE FLIPSIDE: Some might miss the V6, 2.0 T available only in one trim
THE SPECS: 2.0 L Turbo 268 hp and 370 Nm torque @1500 rpm, 10-speed Automatic Transmission // 1.5 L Turbo 198 hp and 260 Nm torque @1400 rpm, CVT gearbox, Fuel economy: 1.5 L Turbo: Up to 18.4 km/L 2.0L Turbo: 14.3 km/L
THE PRICE: 2018 Accord 1.5 T LX: 94,900 Sport: AED 104,900 EX: AED 119,900 2.0 T Sport: AED 139,900
THE DIMENSIONS: Length: 4890 mm Wheelbase: 2830 mm Width: 1860 mm Height: 1450 mm, Weight distribution 60:40 for CVT, Boot space: 473 L Rear legroom: 1026 mm
Ready to roll out from the lobby, the Honda Accord made me do a double take. Woah! A fastback Accord in ‘San Marino’ red! That’s a great way to start building impression. The Honda Accord has always maintained itself half a notch above the midsize sedan category with looks, features and finish that were rounded off with a hint of premium. And once again, in its tenth generation, it has done just that with a totally new package of engines, transmission and a driver assistance kit that is nothing short of comprehensive.
Pulling away from the lobby with my parking brake on, I heard my cabin stewardess (present in voice and spirit only) alert me to it. Attention to detail… I am beginning to like the new Accord.
The Design
Slightly lowered at the roofline, and looking longer than ever, the Honda Accord rear got the Audi A7 flashing for a moment. In reality, the new Accord is one and a half cm shorter yet the prudent use of the engine housing has stretched the wheelbase by 54 mm (more than 2 inches). The new Accord is a shade wider, a tad lower and gets four and a half cm added legroom and 43 L of extra boot space. Access through the rear seatback and folding seats allow longer things to be loaded!
Cabin and Controls
The cabin too, looks less Japanese and more European – especially the subdued leather seats and the very classy, dashboard plastic. The inserts look better than carbon fibre, may be because I have been looking at too much carbon fibre trims recently! You can’t miss the central tablet fixed above the dashboard. So, wasn’t there one in the earlier Accord? Oh yes, to get the facts straight, not one but two, and I am glad I don’t have to comprehend this duality of multimedia existence anymore!
The screen is 8” in the higher trim with Bluetooth, radio, Apple and Android connection, navigation and USB, and a menu button called All Apps (which is a bit all over the place!). While the touch screen is easy and responsive, the only things that look flimsy in an otherwise premium setting are the buttons on either side of the tablet. What used to be a monotonous setting has made way for a colourful and nicely laid out screen with interesting graphics for each icon. The music streamed in nicely in the top of the line I was driving. These are the little things that save an automobile from being a boring cart to most people!
The first drive of the 2.0L Turbo
“It even sounds almost as good as a V6 and on Emirates road, what I am listening to mostly is the wind noise, and the crooning radio.”
Taking the wheel of the 2.0L T, the floodgates of change were lifted on me. The 2018 Honda Accord 2.0L Turbo doesn’t have a gear lever! Instead you select gears from a stack of buttons on the console – quite like in the Acura, Honda’s own luxury marque! Torque is what hits you next – 370 Nm of it, and as early as 1500 rpm cycles! The turbo peaks at 3500 rpms, and the quick shifting 10-speed transmission means the thrust is more on efficiency than performance. Thankfully, the Sport mode is sensitive enough to improve the acceleration, and feels way more effective than the earlier V6, thanks to the early torque. The 3.5 L V6 used to produce 278 horsepower and 342 Nm of torque at mid to high engine speeds. Which is more horses than the new engine’s 247 hp but the 2.0 T drives the Accord with more torque and delivers slightly better mileage.
In the Sport mode, I turned to the paddle shifts. They not only held out gears till I got close enough to the red line, the tranny dropped gears successively when I wanted to gather more traction as I slowed down. That said, the auto does override enough to stop bad decisions from messing with your engine.
On UAE’s typical highways, it is a silk-smooth ride and on slightly undulating roads, only mildly bumpy. The Accord behaves like a well-bred family car – with an inbuilt stability at quick and tricky maneouvres, even when I briefly handed it ‘freewill’. The new Accord employs a dual pinion for a more responsive handling and smoother assist. The variable ratio makes for quicker steering response when driving faster. Coupled with a multilink rear suspension, responsiveness is improved, if not the feedback – between the two, that is what matters in a segment where comfort reigns. Honda is still holding on to a slightly large-ish steering – albeit with grids for better grip – unlike many carmakers who are keeping the hands closer.
What do you prefer – a large-sized steering or a smaller one? Comment below.
Advanced Safety and Driving
“Honda has complemented the premium feel of the Accord cabin with a complete package of Honda Sensing of driver assistance and safety.”
Airbags safety is standard across all variants of the 2018 Honda Accord – Advanced front airbags, side and side-curtain airbags, knee airbags for the driver and front passenger! Kudos to that!
Blind Spot Monitor, Lane Keeping Assist that goes beyond just warning, Forward Collision Warning and mitigation, Adaptive Cruise Control with low speed following. The last feature is new and indeed the essence of ‘Adaptive’ cruise control that adapts to the speed of the car ahead and resumes the pre-selected speed when the opportunity returns.
The Head Up Display is new and it is rather complete – speed, navigation cues, safety features engaged and even a rev meter that shows the engine speed. The telephone connectivity and navigation comes with a voice command option, too.
“The immensely popular Honda Lanewatch® camera is very much there in both the top trims! This is more of a convenience feature, which simply means you can get a wider view of the right lanes, while changing lanes, even when you have a stiff neck. But what is equally useful is the new multi-angle rear view camera.”
The most desirable package – the only one that bundles up the powerful 2.0L Turbo engine and the 10-speed gearbox with all the technological edge come at a price. So, what about the car that starts at AED 94,900? Let us find out.
Read the Honda Accord 1.5T review
