Accord hybrid is superdare. Review on Honda Accord

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2017 Honda Accord sedan shown

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$23, 190

Listed MSRP is for a 2017 Honda Accord LX Manual Sedan base trim with no options. Includes destination fee. Does not include sales tax.

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The Accord delivers driving fun in a practical package, which helps make it a 10Best winner for 2016. A 185-hp 2.4-liter four and a six-speed manual are standard in the coupe and sedan; Sport models make 189 hp. A CVT is optional, as is a 278-hp 3.5-liter V-6 with a six-speed automatic; the coupe offers a six-speed manual. The hybrid sedan got 45 mpg in our testing. EX models and above feature Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but some may find the button-less infotainment system annoying to use.

Jump to Instrumented Test – 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid

21/32 mpg

EPA

5.6 sec

0-60

278 hp

HP

127 mph

Top Speed

Tested: 2016 Honda Accord sedan

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Instrumented Test

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2017 Honda Accord Hybrid

2017 Honda Accord Hybrid

It plays the numbers.

OCT 2016 BY BENGT HALVORSON PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS DOANE AUTOMOTIVE

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Numbers aren’t why we recommend the Honda Accord. This sedan instead has made our 10Best Cars list for years because it wows with its affordability, practicality, and comfort and then manages to include something visceral for those who like to drive. The Accord hybrid, however, which returns to production for 2017 after a year’s absence, doesn’t quite engender the same warm feelings.

However, any model that flaunts a hybrid badge really is a numbers car. With each dab of the brake and each lift of the accelerator, they recover precious watt-hours in an attempt to save thousands of gallons of fuel over the life of the vehicle—which can add up to serious dollars, particularly when today’s environment of cheap gasoline eventually comes to an end.

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Even with hybrid versions of the Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata, Toyota Camry, and Chevrolet Malibu all now in the mix, the Accord hits some big-deal EPA mileage numbers: 49 mpg city, 47 highway, and 48 combined, with a peak output of 212 horsepower. These measures top those of many rivals.

Among all these alternatives, it’s a veritable proving ground of clever engineering approaches, and the Accord hybrid is the outlier in its class. It’s laid out almost as an electric car, with the four-cylinder engine turning an onboard generator—most of the time, that is.

No Transmission, Plenty of Shiftiness

The front-wheel-drive Accord hybrid eschews the transmission as we know it, instead using a clutch and two electric motor/generators. One motor is geared directly to an Atkinson-cycle, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine—making 143 horsepower and 129 lb-ft of torque—with a clutch connecting them to the differential; the other motor is geared directly to the differential. This enables three distinct driving modes: an EV mode using only battery power, a Hybrid mode that uses electricity to propel the car with the gasoline engine powering the generator, and a more elusive Engine Drive mode employed between approximately 44 mph and 75 mph under certain conditions, during which it will clutch the gasoline engine in at a fixed ratio.(Major hipster cred: You’ll have the only electric-gasoline fixie outside of a Koenigsegg Regera.)

Drive moderately, and there’s confident response when you tip into the accelerator and a nice, linear feel to the acceleration—more linear in the lower sweep of the speedometer than you get in the conventional, four-cylinder/CVT model, thanks to the electric motor’s instant torque. Even with a moderate prod of the accelerator, the Accord hybrid launches confidently using only the motor. The gasoline engine typically fires up by about 20 mph but is quick to shut down as soon as city cruising speeds are reached. If you’re gliding along at a steady 55 mph, the Accord hybrid’s system cycles the engine off for a half-mile or more at a time, combining power sources once again only until you get to the next downhill stretch.

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