Loaner 2018 Accord

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I got a loaner 2018 Accord Sport for the day while my Pilot was at the dealer getting its LCA bushings replaced (service bulletin).

Coming from other Honda products, I felt right at home with this car. Despite the tech-intensive interior, I quickly became acclimated with everything. The digital instrument cluster was nice and clear; climate control and entertainment display were intuitive. Getting a comfortable seating position was easy. The seats were on the firmer side, and I found the bottom of my thighs getting sore after some time. The firm steering reminded me of older Hondas. Ride quality with the 19'' rims was excellent, even over bumpy roads. I love how Honda suspensions tend to firm up and soften up as needed. Brakes were solid, with a firm pedal feel and little travel. I was very impressed with the powertrain. The 1.5T is no slouch. It rapidly gets up to speed on the highway and it's easy to cross 80+ if you're not paying attention! The CVT didn't buzz or drone and is well-paired to this engine. Mash on the gas and the engine + CVT respond immediately w/o sounding strained.

I did notice a few oddities, but then again, this is a loaner that's likely abused by people:

- Excessive wind rush noise on the passenger B-pillar with the windows down.
- Occasional clunk when letting of the brakes.
- Idle appeared to dip low when no accessories were on, causing the armrest to noticeably shake. IDK if this is due to the aggressive fuel/electrical load mapping on these newer engines. When I turned on the A/C, the idle speed bumped up and smoothed out again.

[Linked Image]
 
Nice review so thank you. How many miles were on it? Prob not many since the dealer loaners here seem to be retired around the 5k mile mark.
 
Originally Posted by 2010Civic
I like the wheels. The only think questionable is the rear end.


I'm with you on both.
 
Interesting, the wheel size. They stayed at 14 inches for most sedans other than the high end caddies and such back in the day. Had a 94 Caprice, came with 15 inch wheels. My 2005 mini-van had 16 inch wheels. My 2014 Subaru had 16 inch wheels and I thought I had hit the big time.

Now 19 inches on what I view as a normal sedan, wow!
 
- Excessive wind rush noise on the passenger B-pillar with the windows down.
- Occasional clunk when letting of the brakes.
- Idle appeared to dip low when no accessories were on, causing the armrest to noticeably shake. IDK if this is due to the aggressive fuel/electrical load mapping on these newer engines. When I turned on the A/C, the idle speed bumped up and smoothed out again.




Don't really know how any of these "defects" really can be blamed on it being a rental-other-than MAYBE the brakes.
 
Originally Posted by SeaJay
Interesting, the wheel size. They stayed at 14 inches for most sedans other than the high end caddies and such back in the day. Had a 94 Caprice, came with 15 inch wheels. My 2005 mini-van had 16 inch wheels. My 2014 Subaru had 16 inch wheels and I thought I had hit the big time.
Now 19 inches on what I view as a normal sedan, wow!

Most Japanese cars had 12s and 13s up to the early 80s. Narrow ones.
 
Originally Posted by SeaJay
Interesting, the wheel size. They stayed at 14 inches for most sedans other than the high end caddies and such back in the day. Had a 94 Caprice, came with 15 inch wheels. My 2005 mini-van had 16 inch wheels. My 2014 Subaru had 16 inch wheels and I thought I had hit the big time.

Now 19 inches on what I view as a normal sedan, wow!



I wonder if the tire companies promote that...since come time to replace tires 19's will be significantly more expensive (id assume much more profit). Maybe im just being paranoid...
 
Incredibly enough, the large tires are a byproduct of the latest round of pedestrian safety regs. The new cars have to have a minimum of about 1 inch of space between the hood and the highest item under the hood in order to cushion the blow of a pedestrian head hitting the hood. This creates a styling chain reaction where the rear of the hood also is raised, the cowl gets raised, seats raised, roofs raised, and to keep the whole taller package from looking like, well, ummmm, a Prius, the wheel openings are cut bigger, and they have to be filled with larger tires.
 
Originally Posted by MrMoody
Originally Posted by SeaJay
Interesting, the wheel size. They stayed at 14 inches for most sedans other than the high end caddies and such back in the day. Had a 94 Caprice, came with 15 inch wheels. My 2005 mini-van had 16 inch wheels. My 2014 Subaru had 16 inch wheels and I thought I had hit the big time.
Now 19 inches on what I view as a normal sedan, wow!

Most Japanese cars had 12s and 13s up to the early 80s. Narrow ones.


Yep, remember them also. They were lighter in weight than today's equivalent model. Seem to recall a quote that today's corolla is just as big and heavy as on of the old Camrys
 
I think the new Accords look pretty good. I don't mind the wheels. You noted vibration as well as hard seats. Accords have had hard seats for almost 30 years now (probably longer). They've never had the soft, cushy, 70s couch-like seats of American cars that are designed for fat Americans. I personally liked the hard seats that my 1990 Accord and my 2004 Accord had. The vibes are just par for the course with a [censored] 4-banger car.

I thought all the Sport models had the 2.0T.
 
Originally Posted by Gasbuggy
Such a bummer they use a CVT.


Driving a subaru CVT made hate CVTs until I bought a 19 CRV. The CVT in the CRV is very fuel efficient and is ridiculously smooth. It's way better than those gear hunting lurchy automatics you now see in many cars. Your generation accord automatic transmission would drive me nuts from how hard it shifts.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by Gasbuggy
Such a bummer they use a CVT.


YES! I DETEST CVTs.

My girlfriend decided to buy a new Civic hatchback last year. I talked her into getting the 6-speed manual, mostly because I'm a big fan and advocate of manuals, and I feel that automatics and CVTs sap horsepower as well as detract from the driving experience of smaller cars. But, also, because CVTs just plain suck. And that's to say nothing of the substandard reliability of CV-type transmissions/transaxles.
 
Originally Posted by garlicbreadman
Originally Posted by Gasbuggy
Such a bummer they use a CVT.


Driving a subaru CVT made hate CVTs until I bought a 19 CRV. The CVT in the CRV is very fuel efficient and is ridiculously smooth. It's way better than those gear hunting lurchy automatics you now see in many cars. Your generation accord automatic transmission would drive me nuts from how hard it shifts.



I love feeling a shift, I know what you mean about the MPG focused autos not being great either. What really bothers me is when I put the pedal down in a CVT, it is 10 steps backward compared to an auto. Awkward cvt powerband and noise. I want to see that tach move. The performance numbers compared to the manual show you just how poorly they perform. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2rRmlf-vRE
 
Originally Posted by john_pifer
Originally Posted by Gasbuggy
Such a bummer they use a CVT.


YES! I DETEST CVTs. . . . .

Yep. IMHO, CVT's completely change the character of a car. That's certainly true of Honda's Accords and Civics. It's a real shame, too. (I can't speak to the CR-Vs, but they have an additional issue owners have to cope with: an apparently incurable cold-weather-related oil-contamination problem.) I "get" that Honda chose CVTs to improve the cars' fuel mileage, but to repeat myself, CVTs completely change the driving characteristics of the cars. That aspect of ownership apparently isn't particularly important to most buyers, though. That, too, I can appreciate: Honda and Subaru are certainly selling a lot of cars and SUVs with CVTs. Just not to me.
 
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