My wife and I are long time Honda/Acura customers. As a teen my favorite car was a ‘86 Honda CRX. I’ve had Civics, Pilots, a CRV, and Accords. Las year (2022) was my first hybrid car, the Accord sport. It was a great car, I really had no complaints other than petty things like lack of a sunroof, no auto dimming mirror with homelink, no wireless charge pad, and lack of power outlets, but I loved driving the car otherwise.
I just traded it in for a 2023 Accord sport L in red with black trim. Overall I believe I got a pretty fair deal on this new Accord as I had 18 months left on my 22 lease, and I was going up another few thousand in price with the higher trim level. I love the look of the car. The hybrid system is great, and it’s fun to drive. However, this one lacks fog lights which my sport had. It also has a cheap rear view mirror in it that doesn’t auto dim, it doesn’t have homelink built in, no wireless charge pad, no accent lighting, a really weird panel covering the air vents that you can’t mount anything to at all, and the passenger seat is power, and has a memory position, but you cannot raise or lower the seat. The front seats although leather feel cheaply made, and the backseat passengers get nothing! No air vents, no media outlets, power outlets, nothing!
There’s only one 12v outlet and it’s inside the center arm rest. Me personally I still plug in my dashcam/ radar, and air compressor when I need to add air to my tires. Also, there’s no satellite radio, you’d have to stream it from your phone through Apple or android carplay. Lame. I feel like these are little things that a higher trim level should automatically have, but Honda felt like cutting corners to save a few bucks. Having said that, I don’t think they’re the only car manufacturer doing this unfortunately. Having said all of that though, I do like the bigger center touch screen that operates more like the Acura ones.
The stereo system seems pretty good seeing as it’s not the touted Bose “premium” system you only get in the touring trim. You can set the steering wheel to normal, Econ or sport feel driving, so that’s nice. I also like how the break hold stays engaged even if the car is parked and turned off til you disengage it from the button, meaning every time you come to a stop it doesn’t move til you press the gas pedal. It has paddle shifters on the wheel which I’ve had in my other vehicles, but I never use them.
Also, Apple CarPlay connects immediately upon starting the car which was NOT the case in my 22, which worked maybe 50% of the time. Overall I chose to stay with the Accord hybrid because I like the overall reliability of Honda, I like the way it drives, and the gas mileage is pretty good, not to mention it’s not a plug in, so I’m not paying for electricity. Honestly though, I’m disappointed in Honda for being cheap and cutting corners and it’s showing in their reviews. They’re slipping a bit, but they’re still amongst the best!
MSRP Range: $27,895 – $38,190
