Driving the Accord Hybrid Touring was a delightful experience. In town and on the highway it felt quiet, peppy, and comfortable. The hybrid drivetrain is extremely smooth and refined at low speeds, and the brake blending is done masterfully. Every aspect of the car is remarkably user friendly and well thought out.
Similarly, all of the interior controls are supremely straightforward, easy to acquaint yourself with, and feel expensive. These are all traits I expect from an industry stalwart like the Honda Accord, but there were two aspects of the car that really blew me away with their brilliance: the truly cavernous interior space, and the genuinely fun driving dynamics.
Logan K. Carter/ Jalopnik
The Accord is utterly massive inside. I’m 6-foot-8 with long legs, and I fit comfortably both in the driver’s seat and when sitting behind my preferred driving position, which is always slid all the way back and down. Sitting behind myself in the Camry was not as pleasant, particularly because the Camry’s roofline cuts into rear-seat headroom. When I crawled behind my preferred driving position in the Accord, I was met with enough space to sit upright without my head brushing the ceiling, and I felt like I had more legroom. The specs reflect that, as the Accord is rated at 40.8-inches of rear-seat legroom, where the Camry only offers 38 inches, but if you are anywhere near-or-below average height, you’ll still appreciate the Accord’s oodles of wiggle room.
As you may be able to tell from my photos, I shot the Accord Hybrid quite far up Angeles Crest Highway, higher than I usually go, and that’s because I was having so much fun driving it that I didn’t want to stop. This front-wheel-drive sedan sticks to the road like glue, a feeling that’s amplified by the powertrain’s middling performance. The steering is nicely communicative, precise, and direct without feeling twitchy, and the brakes can stand up to a lot of abuse.
Since there’s not an overwhelming amount of power, I ended up trying to hold as much speed as I could through the bumpy turns on this famous driving road, and the Accord never disappointed me, even achieving some off-throttle rotation that kept things feeling playful and positive. I was genuinely staggered by its roadholding capabilities, and how fun it was to push harder.
