autoblog | Sven Gustafson | 07/20/2018
Honda first unveiled the Accord in 1976 after the success of the smaller Civic convinced the company to soldier on as an automobile manufacturer following a string of product flops. The company chose the name “Accord” to reflect “Honda’s desire for accord and harmony between people, society and the automobile,” and sales quickly climbed, as Americans embraced its practicality, fuel efficiency and reliability.
Honda gave its flagship midsize sedan a pretty dramatic redesign for 2018, canceling the coupe version, giving it a larger interior, widening and lowering the car, moving to an all-turbocharged four-cylinder engine lineup and adopting the Civic’s more athletic quasi-fastback styling.
The Accord is offered in five trim levels — LX, Sport, EX, EX-L and Touring — and the Sport models are available with a six-speed manual transmission for those who like to drive stick. An Accord Hybrid is also now available, though we’ll mostly focus on the regular versions of the sedan.
Use this buyer’s guide to help you make an educated decision about whether to buy the 2018 Honda Accord. We’ll include safety and reliability ratings, engine specs and horsepower, fuel-economy ratings and pricing. We’ll also summarize Autoblog’s professional review of the 2018 Accord.
How safe is the Honda Accord?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gives the 2018 Accord its top rating of five stars across the board—for overall rating and frontal, side and rollover crash protection.
It also gets a coveted “Top Safety Pick” from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which conducts its own suite of crash tests. IIHS gives the 2018 Accord “good” ratings on all of its crashworthiness metrics and a “superior” rating for front crash avoidance and mitigation. Headlights, meanwhile, were rated “acceptable,” while its child-seat LATCH anchors earned a “good plus” rating for the use of extra LATCH positions.
How reliable is the Honda Accord?
J.D. Power has reviewed the 2018 Accord Hybrid, but its last review of the internal-combustion version of the sedan was for the 2014 model year. It gives the Hybrid version three stars each — “about average” — for overall quality and predicted reliability.
How much interior and cargo room does the Honda Accord have?
Head room is greatest in the LX and Sport models because it lacks a moonroof, at 39.5 inches in front and 37.3 inches in the rear. Above those trim levels, those figures are 37.5 inches in front and 37.2 in back.
Leg room is the same across all trim variants, at 42.3 inches in front and 40.4 inches in the rear. Cargo volume measures 16.7 cubic feet in all models.
By way of comparison, the 2018 Toyota Camry, a key midsize sedan competitor, offers 38.3 inches of front head room and 38 inches in back. It offers 42.1 inches of front leg room and 38 inches of rear leg room, while total cargo volume is 15.1 cubic feet.
What are the Honda Accord engine specs and horsepower?
Honda’s revamp of the Accord for 2018 included new powertrains. The standard engine is a turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder that makes 192 horsepower and 192 pound-feet of torque. Optional is a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that replaces the 3.5-liter V6 that last for more than two decades. It makes 252 horsepower and 273 lb-ft of torque. The hybrid model features a non-turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder, paired to an electric motor. Maximum combined output is 212 horsepower.
How fuel efficient is the 2018 Honda Accord?
As is to be expected, the 2018 Accord Hybrid owns the title of the most fuel-efficient variant, rated by the EPA at 47 miles per gallon in both city and highway driving.
For combustion-engine versions, the 1.5-liter engine is tops, at 38 mpg highway, 30 mpg city and 33 mpg combined when mated to the 10-speed automatic. Opting for a six-speed manual drops those ratings to 35 mpg highway, 26 mpg city and 30 mpg combined.
If you want the more potent 2.0-liter engine, you’ll top out at 34 mpg highway, 23 mpg city and 27 mpg combined with the 10-speed automatic, or 32/22/26 mpg for the six-speed manual.
How much does the Honda Accord cost?
The 2018 Honda Accord LX starts at $24,465, while the top-of-the-line Touring model climbs from $34,695 and the Accord Hybrid starts at $25,995. All prices include Honda’s $895 destination charge.
What does Autoblog think of the Honda Accord?
In his review of the 2018 model, Autoblog’s Reese Counts called it “the best Accord Honda has ever built.” He praises the car’s new engines, transmissions, ride and handling, and interior.
“Front to back, this car is really something special,” he writes. “It’s not only better than the last Accord, it’s as good or better than everything else in the class.”
Source: https://www.autoblog.com/2018/07/20/2018-honda-accord-buying-guide-sedan/