The Honda Civic is the best selling car in Canada, it has been for the last 17 years. In the United States, the Honda Accord dukes it out with the Toyota Camry year after year for the top spot, the spot gets traded between the two, depending on which car gets a refresh first. Canadians prefer SUV/CUV’s and smaller cars, but there are still lots of Honda Accords on the Canadian roads.
The Honda Accord has been in production for a very long time, the current 2015 Honda Accord we had for our week-long review is the 9th generation car, which sees a bit of a facelift for the 2016 model year. Our review car was the top of the line 2015 Honda Accord Touring V6.
In Canada, the regular Honda Accord sedan is offered in six trims, there’s also a hybrid version of the sedan, and a coupe. The six trims on the sedan are the LX, Sport, EX-L, Touring, EX-L V6, and Touring V6. The cars without the V6 in their name are powered by 4-cylinder engines, which produce 189 horsepower at 6,400 rpm and 182 pound-feet of torque at 3,900 rpm. The V6 produces 278 horsepower at 6,200 rpm and 252 pound-feet of torque at 4,900 rpm. These sedans are offered with three types of transmissions, depending on which trim you choose, a 6-speed manual, a 6-speed automatic, and a Continuously Variable Transmission. Our test car was equipped with the 6-speed automatic transmission.
If you’re looking for a roomy mid-size sedan that’s fairly well equipped, the base Accord LX has a starting price of $24,050 (plus $1,820 PDI), or if you want to go all out, you can get the fully loaded Accord Touring V6 for a starting price of $35,630 (plus $1,820 PDI), or anything in between. Honda offers quite a variety of choices on the Accord line, which is great for the consumer.
The 9th generation Honda Accord sedan is a pretty decent looking car, with a very conservative design language. It is a mass market product, so a design that doesn’t offend anyone works well here. I believe cars with conservative designs do tend to age very well in the long run. Sure car enthusiasts might not like the conservative styling, but the Accord is meant as a comfortable and roomy family car.
Just like its looks, the driving dynamics of the Honda Accord are aimed at the mass market. The car has a soft and supple ride, which is almost in line with some of the entry-level luxury sedans. The Accord is great to drive around town and you really feel the comfortable suspension on the highway, it glides over bumps with ease. The ride quality is great for long trips, it won’t leave you tired after a long journey.
The V6 engine is very smooth and quiet, it’s perfect for city driving and has great power when it’s needed on the highway. The V6 can get a bit thirsty in city driving, but on the highway, it’s pretty frugal. If you are someone that drives a lot in the city, maybe give the 4-cylinder or even the hybrid Accord a try. The Accord comes with an “Eco” button, which not only reduces the throttle response, it can also deactivate some of the cylinders on highway cruising. The 6-speed transmission is very smooth, shifting through gears with ease.
The interior on the 2015 Honda Accord Touring V6 is pretty luxurious, it’s almost up there with the more expensive Acura TLX sedan. The interior is a very quiet and comfortable place to be in. The exterior of the Accord has grown quite a bit in size over the years, which pays dividends when it comes to interior room and comfort. The back seat has lots of head and leg room for even tall passengers, it can comfortably seat three adults.
The interior layout is pretty easy to understand and it doesn’t take long to get used to all the controls. The interior features a dual-screen layout, which some people don’t like, but I have grown quite fond of it. The top screen displays the navigation and the bottom screen on the center console displays information for the various functions of the cars and is a touchscreen.
The 2015 Honda Accord Touring V6 sedan is also full of the latest safety and convenience gadgetry we’ve come to expect from cars nowadays, below is a list of equipment our review car came with.
- ABS with Electronic Brake-force Distribution
- Vehicle Stability Assist with Traction Control
- 6 Airbags
- Honda LaneWatch™ blind spot display
- HondaLink™ with audio touch screen
- Lane Departure Warning
- Forward Collision Warning
- Hill start assist
- Tire pressure monitoring
- Active noise cancellation
- Dual zone climate control
- Heated front and rear seats
- Bluetooth connectivity
- Auxiliary input jack
- USB connectivity
- Navigation
- Multi-angle backup camera
- Keyless entry-level
- Push button start
The Honda Accord is one of the top selling mid-sized car in its class in Canada and it’s one of the two top selling cars in America for good reason, the car has lots of room and is very comfortable, it comes in a lot of different trims and is offered with a variety of engines and transmission. Consumers looking for a mid-sized car can go with a base model 4-cylinder Accord for a pretty good starting price and those looking for a bit more power or more features can go for a mid-level Accord, and of course, the customer that’s looking for lots of bells and whistles can go for the top of the line Accord Touring V6, like the one we had.
The Accord also comes with the peace of mind that is Honda reliability, the Accord will still run perfectly well after a decade of hard driving, and if you drive it properly, it can easily last 20+ years.
