Honda Accord Hybrid / mmmh, what should we think of it

The author did his homework.

 

I found this statement rather interesting... "The Honda Accord Hybrid is a very discreet car. From the exterior, you can barely notice a difference"

Reviewers always mocked the look of Classic Prius, never taking into consideration how it would blend into the crowd later on. Their focus was very much on today, rather than the entire lifetime of the vehicle.

Guess what. The Classic model now blends in pretty well now. Their are a number of new vehicles that share some of the shapes it already had quite a few years ago.

In other words, it was ahead of its time. Sound familiar? How many future vehicles to you think will take on the attributes of the HSD Prius styling? I bet their will be a number of them.

 

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Yes, the only outward identifier is the word "hybrid" under the model name. There is also the little "lip" spoiler, but I recently spotted the same feature on a non-hybrid.

 

I disagree with Ray Moore. Base price of a Toyota Prius $30,530? Base price of the Accord #36,990? Not in any of the dealerships we visited. He compares the two cars where there are precious few areas for comparison. Those two cars are radically different in concept and utility. Our '05 Accord V6 averages 27-28mpg - virtually all local driving. The Accord hybrid will see appreciable improvement in freeway driving ONLY, because the combination power is delivered in series. In the Accord hybrid there are no fold-down rear seats, no available sun-roof, and no spare tire because of weight considerations. Honda would have to redesign the suspension to accomodate the extra weight. I could go on, but there's no point; because they're totally different cars. I don't understand why he bothered mentioning the Prius in his article. The Prius is clearly on the "cutting edge" of hybrid technology; the Accord is not, in my opinion.

 

Oops- I missed that absurd base price on the Prius. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

OK pay attention to the headline. Canadian Auto Network.
the price of the base Prius in Canada is $30,530 this is not a typo. This is in Canadian dollars. Cut about 23-25% off that for USD.

 

Now I remember noting that when I read it. Thanks Frank.

 

Frank and Ray, good point, Touche. Just one problem; in my negotiations with Honda dealers and Toyota dealers, there was an $10k difference in the base price of the Prius and the Accord Hybrid. So, unless Toyota has dramatically raised the price of the Prius in Canada and Honda has dramatically decreased the Canadian version of the Accord Hybrid, the base prices the author quotes don't make sense (unless I need to be enlightened once again). But I still say that bringing the Prius into the article the way he did seemed to me to be fruitless...

 

Emilyjohn: I can now confirm the base price on both the Prius and the H Accord are as quoted in the article. In Canadian dollars.

 

Tideland Prius did you read the Zack and Mac review of the Accord Hybrid in friday's Province? I thought it was fairly balanced and on Zack's TV program where he and Dagmar reviewed the car you could see why he didn't get very good mileage. Plus doing the review in winter. They are both agressive drivers so probably don't understand how to get the best or for that matter better mileage from them.

 

yikes! that's only 20.8 IMP or 17.3 US that's worse than I used to get with my Tundra V8 4X4 I used to average about 26 ( 10.8L ) with it on my normal commute. About half what I do with my Classic.

 

and without the cylinder de-activiation system and the special motor mounts and the noise cancelling which are all areas of potential problems. The battery like in the Prius is a non-issue as far as I'm concerened. Warrantied for far longer than most people will ever keep a vehicle. I sat in a HAH at the auto show at the Stadium and I was impressed with the car from an initial "touchy feely" but haven't driven one. I like my Classic and feel no need to change. Took the wifes Prius to work the other day and did about the same mileage as I do with my car, maybe a slight bit better but nothing really outstandingly better. All within the variable that I get dealing with different traffic on the route.

 

Did I read the article right?

On page 4, it says:
"During a conversation that I had with a representative from the Honda Company about the Accord Hybrid, he said that the company's direction told them that this car costs them close to $40,000 to build."

But on page 1, it says:
"The fact that is comes so well equipped bothers me because it ends up carrying a base price of $36,990, excluding freight and preparation."

That's a loss of $3,000 CDN and that isn't even considering the dealer's margin. That just feels wrong; am I missing something?

 

I can't give you an answer to that, all I know is the base price here in Canada is $36,990. Maybe Honda is going to try and beat Toyota on B and C versions of the Prius. Our B version has all options less the Nav and HID and the C version has Nav. HID are not available in Canada as we get DRL halogen instead. The wife's B version 2k4 was $35,165 MSRP. Not sure what they are now with the price increase, so I think that is what Honda is shooting for up here, competition for the B model Prius.