Road test: Honda Accord Euro

By Feann Torr

While the Honda Accord is certainly not the most well-known four-wheeler in Australia, its pedigree is quite intriguing, beginning life as a mid-sized 1.6-litre two-door coupe in the year 1976.

The mid-sized coupe, which today would probably be classed as a compact car, first came to Australia in 1977 and immediately cemented its position in Australia by claiming the Wheels magazine Car of the Year in '77. This also marked the first ever Japanese car to take the COTY honours.

Fast forward more than a quarter of a century, and the all-new Accord Euro kept stiff opposition (in the form of Mazda and Nissan) at bay in order to claim the Japanese Car of the Year in 2002.

With the new Accord Euro receiving critical acclaim overseas, we were pretty keen to see how the 7th generation Accord performed on Australian roadways, and to find out if all the recent praise is justified.

Make: Honda
Model: Accord Euro
Price: $40,800
Transmission: 6 speed manual
Engine: 2.4-litre, inline four-cylinder, 16-valves, VTC, VTEC
Fuel Consumption: City/Highway cycle combined - 9.1-litres/100km
Seats: 5
Safety: Driver and front passenger SRS airbag & side curtain airbags, ABS, EBD, VSA, T/C

Drive

2003 Honda Accord Euro

The Honda Accord has always had prestigious aspirations, and while this most recent rendition of the Accord nameplate is perhaps the most luxurious yet, it's the car's sporting character that shines brightest.

Even those inside Honda have admitted that it is no longer just a mid-sized prestige sedan, but rather a "...sports-sedan that will compete with the best from Japan and Europe."

Without exactly saying it, Honda Australia's product planning manager Justin Orr is taking a swipe at the Mazda6, Nissan Maxima and even the BMW 3-series.

Presumptuous? Brazen perhaps? No way.

After putting the Accord Euro through its paces, I can honestly say yes, this is a sports sedan, a very competent vehicle - heck, maybe even the best (four-wheeled) vehicle Honda's ever built.

From the moment you touch the classy chromed door handles and hear them shut with an accompanying solid-yet-soft sound often associated with high-end European cars, you know that Honda's really done its homework, and the car feels right on the money.

Slipping into what are very supple leather seats, the 'Luxury' model we drove was of the six-speed manual variety, and despite very short clutch pedal actuation and a fairly sensitive electronic throttle, getting to grips with the Accord took less time than usual.

Everything is very user friendly.

The cruise control, for instance, is brilliant. It's a fairly intuitive setup, is easy to operate without having to think too much about what you've got to do, and even the button presses have a classy feel about them.

The steering wheel also houses controls for the stereo and is well weighted, which makes guiding the Accord Euro around Australian roads a breeze. While most cars are just 'okay' in peak hour traffic or in ultra-conjested areas of the city, the Euro approaches all situations with composure and isn't easily flustered.

One of the most impressive things about the Accord Euro is the way it behaves in relation to its powertrain - or rather, its front-wheel drive transmission layout.

Front wheel drivers are notorious for their inherent understeering characteristic, and being a FWD vehicle with a good amount of poke, 140kW of power to be exact, I expected it to be a bit of a 'front end drifter' when pushed round corners.

To say I was surprised - and pleasantly so - with the car's balance would be a gross understatement. The chassis and suspension (not to mention weight distribution) have been brilliantly engineered, meaning the Accord has neither huge amounts of understeer or oversteer.

Honda's new prestige car: More to it than meets the eye

It is, in fact, a very neutral car, and the end result is impressive mid-corner grip, something I wasn't expecting of this vehicle. While we're yet to test the Mazda6, it's going to have to be bloody brilliant to pip this mid-sized luxo-cruiser.

While the Accord Euro handles keenly, with excellent grip from the 16-inch wheels, the engine needs to be kept revving for best effects, and when on song it provides for solid levels or acceleration, and always goes about its business in a calm and collected manner.

For detailed info on how the Accord tracks round corners and deals with increased lateral loads, turn to page 2, for Engine, Gearbox and Handling rundowns.

Exterior

I really like the look of the new Accord Euro, and while Honda is now offering a more powerful V6-powered Accord (let's call it the American version), it doesn't look half as suave as this fella.

From afar, the Euro has a high waistline (and therefore narrower windows), which lends it an air of security and luxe. The 16-inch, five spoke alloy rims look good, though wider spokes would have perhaps suited the car's demeanour a little better.

The front end is very swish, taking the best parts of the Mazda6's and Audi A4's headlight cluster: It has got a pair of blue-white xenon globes, high intensity indicators and halogen high-beams, all sitting happily behind a narrow, yet tastefully sculpted clear lens covering. The side indicators are made up of very large LEDs mounted in the exterior mirrors, in a tip of the hat to über-luxury gurus Mercedes-Benz.

The five-sided grille is quite large and a very prominent player in the Euro's overall appearance, and its shiny chromium border with ultra-large Honda 'H' insignia hints at the vehicle's lavishness.

Fairly short (for a mid-size sedan) front and rear overhangs look good and at the rear the slim-line brake light cluster mirrors the front lights, with circular bezels surrounded by an all-encompassing angular lens cover. Another of the visual highlights at the rear is the rather sporting twin-exhaust system, which not only allows the engine to liberate a little more power, but looks gear at the same time.

Interior

Euro looks with a hint of Japanese discipline

Stepping inside the Accord Euro, it's obvious that the Honda interior designers knew what they were doing from the outset, and the overall ambience is one of space, style and functionality

There's barely one aspect that looks as if it has been rushed or over analysed, and the end result is an interior that not only smells good, but that feels good and is practical to boot.

To start with, the supple leather seats are very supportive, with manual lumbar adjust and eight-way electronic movement.

The leather used is of a high quality and your bum will immediately appreciate this. There's also two-stage seat warmers thrown in for driver and front passenger, which is perfect when its cold outside, but you just have to have the windows and sunroof open.

The driving position is very good, which was a little surprising, as Japanese-designed cars sometimes aren't quite as accommodating for those 6' and above. The drivers seat has a tasty 40mm of height adjust, so you can apportion yourself plenty of head room, and the steering wheel has a good degree of tilt adjust and even reach [telescopic] adjust.

The rear bench, while far from the ultra-comfy cushions of the front seats, offers good amounts of back support, and leg and head room are very impressive for a car of this size too. The leather upholstery and fairly flat bench means that sole rear seat occupants may slide around somewhat, but other than this the rear bench is a nice place to be.

Back up front, and the instrument cluster is a no-fuss affair. Its simple, easy to read has one of the biggest speedometers in the history of the world, which I reckon is a very practical tool in today's era of Big-brother speed cameras and minuscule tolerances.

A deep glovebox is a more than welcome feature, and the centre armrest is also useful, and can be moved in and out to suit. There's two cup holders up front, and also two in the back, when you fold out the passenger armrest contraption.

I also really liked the blue-green marble trim of the 'Luxury' model, seen on the transmission tunnel and front fascia surround (stereo, heater controls etc.), as it gives the interior a unique look and not the typical prestige 'woodgrain' effect that's so popular these days.

The interior is subtle, practical, yet nicely plush

Scoot to the rear of the car and there's an electrically opening boot (via boot-mounted button, key-fob or dash-mounted button) that will swallow up to four golf bags, with a grand total of 459 litres of space.

When combined with the Euro's 60:40 split folding rear seats, the car can almost swallow a full-sized dromedary camel, such is its deceiving capacity.

There's dual zone air-conditioning, auto interior lighting, plenty of storage cubby holes, rain-sensing windscreen wipers and a high-definition stereo to round out the package.

This last item comes with 25mm tweeters and 17cm neodymium speakers up front with two parcel shelf-mounted 6x9-inch ferrite speakers in the rear, making for what is arguably one of the best non-brand name (Alpine, Clarion et al) stereo systems on the market. The clarity is exceptional.

All in all, the interior of the Honda Accord Euro is splendidly appointed and really impressed the pants off me (not literally). It's not an overly complex interior, but it allows you to do everything will minimal effort involved, meaning you can spend more time concentrating on the road ahead.

>> Page 2: Handling, Engine, Extras, Overall Score