A 10Best victor 26 times, the Accord has pretty much exhausted all of the glowing adjectives that D. Webster ever cataloged. The descriptor that characterizes the car right now, however, is “aging.”
Until we tackled our handling loop, in fact, the Accord felt like a midpack finisher. Its transmission offers only five speeds. It tied with the Camry for dullest c0ckpit styling. Its 190-hp engine churns out the least torque. There’s no exterior latch to open the trunk. And it proved the noisiest at full throttle—a barrage of intake roar and singing belts and thrumming valves.
On our handling loop, however, the Accord quickly became an ally, processing all dynamic inputs with confidence and immediacy. It felt uncrashable. The steering reveals road textures; it talks to you about remaining lateral grip; it gladly pursues one steady path with no midstream corrections. The brakes allow those gratifyingly smooth panic stops that you can magically hold on the edge of anti-lock. The chassis is so rarely surprised that it makes its driver feel invincible.
Sample logbook entries: “Close, short-travel pedals with no wasted movement.” “Crisp, purposeful steering that requires little attention.” “A platform so sound that not even Sherman in one of his forefathers’ tanks could bend it.” “Never hunting for gears midcorner.”
The ninth-gen Accord arrives this fall, so the “old” car’s performance here is all that more stunning. Notice, however, that the Accord finished one meager point ahead of the Optima, which was only two points in front of the Sonata. Pretty much a statistical tie. Had even one editor been harsher in judging, say, the Accord’s lackluster interior, the car’s second-place ranking might well have been snagged by the Optima.
Notice that in steering feel, brake feel, and handling, the Accord marginally bested the Sonata this time out. For one thing, this Accord was 0.5 second quicker than the “Practically Chic” California car, but it also demonstrated better braking distances and slightly better skidpad grip.
