Honda Accord Hybrid: 50 MPG City - clone Toyota

no doubt, and it's a whole 'nuther market segment.

 

in full disclosure, i have nevr owned a honda. not by design, nothing ever struck my fancy. my daughter had a '99 accord, i never thought it was better than the camry. but she wouldn't be caught in a camry. so, i think toyota's challenge will be generational. they'll have to do better than, ' not your fathers oldsmobile'. we all know how that worked out.

 

I think Honda nailed it with this 9th generation Accord. The previous generation was a little large and many trims lacked tech features (had to get an EX w leather just to get hands free bluetooth, and EX-L w/ nav to get rearview camera). Now, even the base LX gets bluetooth handsfree, rearview camera, USB port and 16" nice alloy wheels. Minus a split folding rear seat in the conventional, it is a very nice car and although a bit conservative, IMO, it's classy.

If I could rent an Accord, I'd be able to check out all the reviewers claims about how well Accord drives, but unfortunately, Hondas are not available for rent. And I don't feel like dealing with sales people for fake 10 minute test drives.

btw, it's pretty lame that 2 months after release, Accord Hybrid is virtually not available to be seen except at auto shows.

 

It is different, being a full 2 motor hybrid with a eCVT.
The RLX uses their one motor with dual clutch transmission that is in the new Fit hybrid with 2 rear motors to provide AWD.

We have Carsense around here. It's a chain of almost new/used car dealerships. For test drives they just hand you the keys to go sans sales critter.

 

i've talked to people who have been handed the keys at high end dealerships like lexus. one even told my neighbor to keep it as long as he wanted to. he was trading in his caddy and left it with them. sure enough, a few days later, they had him in an ls460.

 

it's funny, my sister in law has driven accords (standards) for as long as i've known her. this time around, after testing the new accord, she tested a prius and camry. she wound up in the camry, and i can't really get her to define why she left honda. she mumbles stuff about the interior, she didn't like the changes, etc., but it may have been more a price issue than anything else, and they don't like to talk about money.

 

Post #98
"I took my (Accord Hybrid) car down to FL for New Years and I have some encouraging numbers. I am fairly confident that the colder temperatures reduce mileage by about 10-15%. Just before going to Florida I drove to KC in 25-30 degree temps and my calculated mileage was 40.35 over almost 500 miles of almost all highway driving. Leaving Missouri for FL the weather was about the same and I observed similar mpg of 40. As we went south and temperatures warmed into the 40's to 50. My numbers started to approach 45 mpg. For the first tank to FL I ended up getting 42.75. Starting in GA on a second tank with temps in the 40's I continued to get about 43-44mpg. Once we hit Florida where it was in the sixties I was getting 46-47 mpg on the highway. With about 100 miles of city driving in the Tampa area with an avg temp of 70 the second tank returned 46.33 mpg. I'm still in Florida now and consistently have returned 50-55mpg in all city driving. I think the car is telling me I'm at about 55 mpg over 100 miles. One trip which contained all city driving I got 68 MPG over nearly 15 miles. I also remember a couple 10-15 mile trips of about 60 mpg so it is definitely capable of hitting 50 mpg in warm weather. I will post my numbers with a link to Fuelly once I return from Florida next week."

2014 Accord Hybrid - Real World Mileage???? - Page 7 - Drive Accord Honda Forums

 

great report. sounds exactly like our hycam. can't wait to get to florida and see what it does. if honda can match our numbers, that will be a huge accomplishment for them. after that, all they will need to do is prove long term reliability.

 

Camry Hybrid 4th place .... nice Surprise, Fusion Hybrid 1st place over Accord Hybrid ...

 

It sells well, it's marketed well, certainly far better than the others are. The new Camry hybrid is nice, and their descriptions of it are apt one. It's just there. I've been in a Fusion hybrid, but just a regular Accord. The Accord is nicer to me, and very generous in the back seat. I can understand what they're talking about on the highway in regards to noise and all. (not one of the Prius best traits).

I thought the milage achieved was interesting to say the least, a category that they seemed to play down a bit, a minor difference. Yes, at 43 versus 45 not much monetary difference. I notice they spent no time at all relating their tests to the EPA sticker mpg. My personal driving review is that I prefer the Accord (while not having driven the hybrid yet), primarily due to the space and interior. For me, the Fusion seems to shrink in size once you get inside it.

It's nice to have a real-world comparison like this one, and there will be several more. People need to actually drive them to have a decided preference. The Camry did extremely well as far as fuel efficiency goes compared to what's on the sticker. Obviously, they'll need to do better with those numbers to compete, and I suspect they've been working on it pretty hard. But one thing does shine through when you see these cars in person. The Fusion is very nice, handles well, and never really reminds you you're in a hybrid. From everything I've read, ditto with the Accord. The Camry? It's a blandish interior, not unexpected from Toyota. Nothing offensive to be sure, but less appealing. Nothing in the Camry ever suggests you've gotten a bargain for your money. If history proves out, the Camry benefits will be long term in terms of reliability.

Now we have a race. Every car maker will have to continue to up their games, and try to not make mistakes that lead to multiple recalls, complaints over economy, etc...

 

Good points and I agree .... the Fusion Hybrid shrinks when getting inside. Very tall door lines, side windows deceiving from outside: Inside door / window cutouts smaller than windows. Maybe small children would have a hard time looking out back side windows. B pillar is pretty wide in Ford. Fusion back seat is absolutely smaller than Camry, Accord. Trunk space is pretty narrow. It failed my 42" long drum hardware case test: But, Fusion trunk has more pass through than other 3 here.

Accord interior very open and airy. Very good view all around. I like how the whole driver's seat tilts when using front of button, not only the bottom cushion, plus can move seatback alone of course.

Test drove Camry Hybrid XLE last year and it didn't excite me. Ran well but seemed little plain and bland. Like Consumer Reports said, HyCam would be like the straight A, super quiet kid in class who's just there but people don't really notice.

 

Many Fusion Hybrid owners at the Fusion Hybrid Forum feel that Ford's marketing of the Fusion has been TERRIBLE!!!! They haven't bothered to show what makes the FFH superior, the safety features, interior materials quality and the design. When we compared the TCH & the FFH, we found the Camry to be cheap, hard plastic like the Prius at very uncomfortable.

I really like this competition and I hope that Honda will earnestly try to sell the hybrid and that the competition will drive Toyota, Ford & others to innovate. Toyota released the original TCH which was the market leader as the first mid-size hybrid. Shortly thereafter, Ford released the original FFH which bested the TCH in many ways. Then Toyota innovated with the 2012 TCH which took over the top spot from Ford once again. Then Ford released the 2013 FFH trying to outdo Toyota. Now Honda has come in with the 2014 HAH which appears to be superior to both the FFH and the TCH in many ways. I hope the "big 3" hybrid automakers will push hybrids and increase their sales to something like half of their midsize sedan sales. Right now about 13% of Fusions sold by Ford are hybrids, and about 10-11% of Camrys sold are hybrids. I'd like to see half, at a minimum, of the Fusions/Camrys sold be hybrids.

Since the FFH has fold-down rear seats it has the most useful cargo space. When we compared we also found the FFH trunk opening and design to be awkward for large objects, but since its rear seat folds down it is the only one that can really haul any sort of volume. The TCH just wouldn't cut it there, neither will the HAH.

We don't feel like the FFH is small. The Prius is very small inside compared to the FFH. The Prius has larger windows, etc, which make it feel airy, but reality is that it is quite small. The FFH has lots of space for long road trips. We've driven two road trips at 4500 miles each and the FFH is a superb highway comfort cruiser. The Prius is our car for around town and in the winter, the FFH is our car for longer drives.

 

"Insight to mimic the Prius"

I really tire of hearing this. If anything the Prius mimicked the circa 1990 CRX (see image below) and of course the original 1999 insight. ANYWAY: Honda's new Accord hybrid has the ability to switch between Otto mode and Atkinson mode. The Otto mode activates above 3000 rpm when the VTEC kicks in, while the Atkinson mode provides the efficiency.

 

cam

camry was 'bland', 'beige', 'didn't really stand out'. blah, blah, blah. same old gearhead talk, gets tiring after awhile. it must drive them crazy that the majority of buyers don't listen to thier continual diatribe.

 

Very interesting.

Perhaps Honda should have "mimicked" Toyota's hybrid sales sucess...
Apparently they didn't, for almost 15 years respected original Toyota sucess. Very "gentleman" brand.

 

Toyota's the number 2 biggest carmaker..... a small company like Honda never had a chance of outselling the big guy in any category/size. You have unrealistic expectations. (But Honda is the 2nd best seller of hybrids, beating Ford, Chevrolet, Volkswagen, etc. Honda is doing just fine.).

 

^ Current Honda hybrid sales are abysmal, they are selling token amounts of Civic Hybrids and Insights. Scroll down the page a bit to "December 2013 Hybrid Sales Rank" here:

Mazda Dec. Sales Down 15.7%, Up 2.5% for the Year - CleanMPG Forums