This is the 2016 Honda Accord and its a stupidly important car to Honda’s future. Why you ask? Because according to the internet, literally trillions of Americans are running over to Crossovers and the lowly old sedan is being left in their wake.
In years past, you go in and swap your old smelly Accord for a shiny new one and the process repeated itself until you died. There was not a thought process behind it, it was more akin to muscle memory. Now with the advent of the Crossover that process is broken. Instead of traded up to a new Accord, the average buyer seriously contemplates the CRV or the Pilot. And let’s be honest here. Why wouldn’t they get a Crossover? They have more room, same amount of power and offer pretty damn good gas mileage to boot.
Well the reason is, no matter what you read on the internet, there is still a significant number of buyers out there that just want a damn car. They don’t want a high riding, poor handling, glorified wagon but just a car. Manufacturers know that and they are now aiming at buyers who just want a simple car, that offers great technology, safety and gas mileage. That’s what the 2016 Accord offers.
Lets start off with the looks. We are going to be honest here. We are not fans of the new corporate face. The absolutely beautiful set of LED headlights are ruined with the new ‘Honda Chrome Nose’. Unfortunately the new Chrome Nose is spreading across Honda’s lineup like a rash….an ugly rash. On the brightside though, the rear of the car sports an updated set of smoked LED infused and Mercedes E-Class influenced taillights.
2016 Honda Accord Sedan Touring
The interior is put together beautifully and appointed with leather, pleather and high grade soft touch plastics. In true Honda fashion there are no creaks, moans or rattles. The seats are plush and very comfortable but lack any true lateral support.
The infotainment system is brilliant. Not brilliant because the Honda one is actually frustrating to use but it has Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. To give you cliffnotes on the system. You plug your smartphone into the car and gives you direct access to either Siri or Google Now along with their respected Mapping software, contacts, calendar and streaming media. So essentially it’s your phone thrown up on the display. We’ll have a full review on CarPlay shortly but rest assured…your next car needs to have it.
2016 Honda Accord Sedan Touring
Performance wise the gem of this car is the motor. You cannot beat a Honda V6. The induction noise this thing makes as it’s sweeping toward redline is nothing short of intoxicating. But it’s a modern day engine, so along with the intoxicating noise it returns some stunning gas mileage and plentiful power (278 horsepower and 252 ft/lbs). I know that numbers wise it won’t set your brain on fire but as with most cases numbers aren’t all. The Accord will get to 0-60 in 5.8 seconds and hits the quarter at 14.2 and at 102 mph. Those numbers aren’t just quick but damn well commendable. See our list on cars slower than that in our Camry XSE review here. The only true annoying part of the driving experience, is the lack of manual shift ability with the automatic. There are no paddles and no shiftable selection on the gear shift. There is a ‘S’ mode but usually it’s never in the right gear and it’s better off in full Auto. We are not bloated enough to scream to the heavens for an actual V6 manual in this sedan variant, because we all know….only 3 people will ever buy it. The manual V6 is offered in the coupe though.
2016 Honda Accord Sedan Touring
So what do we have? We have a car, that if you can get over the front bling, looks great, performs well and has a great interior. Is this enough to get over the supposed mass migration? We think so.
2016 Honda Accord Sedan Touring
