Reader Review: 2023 Honda Accord Touring Hybrid

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Having never experienced a vehicle with a hybrid powertrain, Jeff Braun looked forward to spending a week with the 2023 Honda Accord Touring Hybrid. He spent time on the highway and drove it to work on his 28 kilometre each way commute. The fuel economy, he says, was exceptional. “I traveled close to 600 kilometres of mostly mixed use between city and highway driving,” the Calgarian says, “and it only cost me $40 to fill it. To me, that’s quite remarkable.”

Time in the Honda also changed Braun’s perception of the automaker. “I always thought of Honda as very utilitarian – they do the job, and do the job well,” he says. “But after a week with the Honda, I honestly couldn’t find anything really negative to say about the car. I really liked the Accord and felt it had just enough luxury to feel good.”

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All new for 2023, Honda’s Accord is now in its 11th generation. Like most new vehicles, it’s not getting any smaller. In fact, it’s larger in most every dimension over the previous generation, but Braun says, “It did appear smaller than I was expecting when I first saw it. I quite liked the look of the sedan, and it’s got something of a sport back style. The silhouette is great, and the 19-inch rims helped set it off.” Braun says he looked the Accord up on the Internet prior to laying eyes on the vehicle. “I liked it better in person than I did in pictures,” he adds.

For family driving, Braun, his wife and two kids are used to getting into either their 2015 Ford Explorer or 2007 Chevrolet Trailblazer. At 6-feet 5-inches tall, it took Braun a moment to adjust to ducking down to get into a sedan, but he had no issue with the Accord and ingress. “We’d definitely be looking at a sedan if we were shopping now,” Braun says. “I think (some) automakers have made a mistake in going away from building sedans – and wagons. They work for most all driving needs.”

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Once inside the Accord’s cabin, Braun was once again impressed by the attention to detail Honda has paid to creature comforts. “It felt really quite luxurious, and not at all what I was expecting to find in a Honda based on my past experience of Hondas owned by other family members and some rental vehicles,” he explains. “The dash had a mesh detail and all of the accents felt of quality, as did the high-quality feel of the leather seats and leather-wrapped steering wheel – which was nice and thick, not too thin at all.”

The Accord was simple and intuitive to set up and drive, Braun says, with controls exactly where he expected to find them. There’s a 12.3-inch colour touchscreen, and although it sounds large, Braun says it did not dominate the dash and it was not overwhelming. He also liked the mix of tactile controls, such as the knobs for the HVAC functions, coupled with the touchscreen that Honda describes as “your portal to the centralized system that controls your settings and the loads of tech features.”

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Braun’s Accord Touring Hybrid is top-of-the-line, with only two other trims available. Base model is the EX, and it’s powered by a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine that makes 192 horsepower and 192 lbs.-ft of torque. Next, there’s the Sport Hybrid, followed by the Touring Hybrid. Both hybrids feature a 2.0L four-cylinder engine with Atkinson-cycle technology which helps improve fuel economy. The four-cylinder engine alone makes 146 hp and 134 lbs.-ft of torque, but when combined with the pair of electric motors in Honda’s new fourth-generation hybrid powertrain, combined total horsepower is 204, while there’s 247 lb-ft of combined torque.

“I quite liked the power,” Braun says. “It had plenty for getting around town, and there were no issues off the line or when merging. On the highway it had decent power, and there were no issues when pulling out to pass another vehicle. I think this is when the electric side of the hybrid system kicked in.”

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The hybrid powertrain has three drive modes, including Normal, Sport and Individual. There’s also an Econ button, something a driver can push that alters various vehicle settings to provide the best fuel economy possible. “I ran it quite a bit in Econ mode but would put it in Sport mode just to get some extra oomph. Really, though, it was a decent performing car in Econ and It was never noisy. In fact, it was very quiet. No wind, tire or powertrain noise was really evident.”

The Accord didn’t feel too stiff but also didn’t exhibit much body roll when cornering. It held the road well, and Braun always felt well-connected. “It went where you pointed it and everything felt taut without being jarring,” he says of the ride and drive.

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Braun had the entire family in the Accord and says everyone had plenty of room. In fact, a comment was made that there was more legroom behind the front passenger seat than there is in the family’s Explorer. “The trunk lid opening is huge and there’s a low lift over height,” he says. “I lowered the 60/40 split rear seat backs, and I was able to put a couple of mountain bikes back there. I took the front wheels off, but they fit with everything else intact – that impressed me a lot. If I try to stick my bike in the back of the Trailblazer, I have to remove more than I did to get it in the Accord. There’s a ton of room in this car.”

Honda’s pricing on the Touring Hybrid starts at $46,500 and that includes freight and fees. There’s a unique Aero Kit package available for the car that, for an extra $2,800, gives side underbody spoilers, different front and rear bumpers and a black decklid spoiler.

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“A car like this would work quite well for our family,” Braun says. “Our kids are getting older and the car works great in the city and it would also be an ideal road trip vehicle. I just knew I was going to miss driving it, especially as a commuter, because it just felt right.”

DRIVER’S JOURNAL

DAY 1

Received Car, really impressed with the overall look of the car with the 19-inch rims and sport back style. Reviewed manual, setup seating/Bluetooth/etc. My initial impression after sitting in the car, there is a lot more interior space and it is a more modern design than I was expecting.

DAY 2

Drove the family to soccer, Sightlines are great, very few blind spots, very easy to just jump in and drive as all controls were where they should be and felt natural. There was a lot of room for a family of four, ride was very comfortable with a full car, and the hybrid had a lot of power for around town. I was pleasantly surprised.

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DAY 3

Weekly farmer’s market trip, used different drive modes, CVT transmission was very good at mimicking shifts, and the piped in engine noise/shifting sounds decent. Definitely one of the better CVT transmissions I have experienced, no lag when accelerating or changing speeds.

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DAY 4

Took family to soccer game, ran errands, trunk is very large for the size of vehicle. Used E-mode for low speed parts around parking lots, really liked how consistent torque demand was and silent. Didn’t realize until later on that the car creates a whirring noise outside while in E-mode to warn pedestrians/etc. that the car is moving.  Couldn’t hear this noise at all in the car, that shows how good the sound dampening is.

DAY 5

Drove to Okotoks for the bi-weekly Costco trip, the trunk had no problem swallowing groceries for our family.  Adaptive cruise and lane assist work very well at highway speeds. Excellent highway cruiser with very little wind or tire noise, and even with the crazy winds we encountered, there was no indication of this while in the car.

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DAY 6

Commuted to/from work. Loaded my mountain bike in back and went to Bragg Creek for a bike ride. Easily fit two bikes in back with seats folded down. Gas mileage is incredible on the highway, this is where the drive modes came in handy, Passing was much better with Sport mode and a full car, but I could still switch back to Econ mode right after for gas mileage. Really enjoyed the wireless Android Auto for traffic updates/etc. Found the wireless charger pretty finicky with my phone, as it didn’t always work.

DAY 7

Commuted to/from work, used low speed adaptive cruise control in Deerfoot traffic, works really well, awesome for stop and go rush hour. Definitely made the commute less stressful, although with the adaptive cruise distance set to the shortest distance, the vehicle left a three to four car gap at 10-20km/h, and well, other commuters would change lanes into that space and then the Accord would slow down more to gain back that gap. So, the Honda was doing what it was supposed to do, but there was one case where five to six cars in a row ended up using that space and it ended up stopping on the road.