New Honda Accord review, test drive

Singapore, one degree seventeen minutes North. A lush tropical urban paradise that’s neat, clean and normally bathed in brilliant sunshine. But not today. Layer upon layer of dark clouds blot out the sun and the rain is now hissing down. Then, just to make things a bit more exciting, the wind picks up. It feels like I’m standing in a carwash.

The new Accord looks like it has just stepped out of a pool. Rivulets of water run down its muscular flanks and immediately, I see lines and forms not visible at first glance. It’s just so much nicer in the flesh. To begin with, Honda has got the overall balance of the car right again. I say “again” because the earlier generation Accord felt unnecessarily oversized and flabby. But this new one is tight, athletic and lean.

STYLE SHEET

The biggest difference dimensionally is that the nose is more compact. There’s nothing particularly fresh about it, but the manner in which the thick band of chrome gives the grille an air of three dimensionality looks attractive. And I like how the twin ridges on the bonnet smoothly spill over to the wheel arches. The roof also has a nice flow to it when viewed in profile, especially the raked rear windscreen. And I just love how those big 18-inch alloys help it ‘sit’ nicely on the road. The new Accord, however, looks too plain and generic from the rear, the design clearly from Honda’s “offend no one” style sheet.

The new ninth generation Accord is also a bit more compact and is built on a slightly shorter wheelbase. Honda says this has been done to make the new car more agile. Next on the list of big changes over the old car is an increase in chassis rigidity, also done to make the car sharper to drive. Now made of almost 60 percent high-strength steel, the new Accord is a massive 40 percent (on average) stiffer than the earlier car. There’s also an all-new strut-based front suspension, a new aluminium and steel front sub-frame for improved suspension location and a new electric power steering system.