As all manufactures are now rushing to be electrified by a certain date, and all seem to have a different date in mind, we have to ask what exactly does that mean? Is it that we will no longer use gas as we have known it for the past 100 year and be driving only electric vehicles within the next 10 to 15 years?
Or is it that all of our vehicles will have some kind of electric drive mode, yet we will still rely on the use of good old petrol for the longer drives? This type of scenario seems to make more sense to us as we have driven hundreds of cars over that past 10 years.
Having had multiple hybrid vehicles, we were excited to get some time in the new Accord Hybrid after viewing the release earlier this year from Honda. Right off the line, the new version is up 20 horsepower to 212 and more importantly 40 foot-pounds of torque to 232 total. These new numbers are the highest in the mid-sized sedan category — even more reason to get some time in the Accord.
After only a day with the new sedan, we were quick to notice that it was way more powerful, especially in the low-end range of everyday getting around. From a start, the Accord will leap off the line and get up to city speeds with very little effort, up to around 40 mph.
Getting to 60 and maintaining highway speed was also not a problem for the power plant in the Accord. About the only time we found it struggling slightly would be when climbing hills and trying to gain speed when on the freeway.
That being said, for 90% of our driving throughout the week that included just over 400 miles, we came in right at 45.4 miles per gallon. The EPA said we should only expect to get 43, so we were very pleased to get even more.
When we first started testing hybrids, we would make it kind of a game to see how high we could get the mileage numbers to climb, but now we just settle in and use it as an everyday driver. So these 400-plus miles were spread over what we would normally do in week. Excepting for a longer Saturday drive up through Salt Lake City to I-215 west, where we exited at 3500 south heading out to 8400 west.
After that, we headed back south, eventually ending up in Herriman, and continued south after hitting Redwood Road back into Utah County. This would normally not be a very exciting drive; however, we did hit a very heavy snow storm after getting into Salt Lake — a strange occurrence during our late March week with the Accord.
Great news was, excepting for the radar cruise control getting covered with snow, after which it immediately warned us and stopped working, the Accord, which only comes in a front-wheel drive with the hybrid system, handled it all with ease.
Even when the roads became covered with a very heavy wet muck and we had to slow down, the sedan pushed through it, and never once did we feel endangered or that it would not be able to continue the drive.
There were a couple of times on the way up to Salt Lake that we did have to slow on the freeway as the rain coming down was so strong even with the wipers on full they could not keep up if we continually maintained the 70 mph speed limit. However, the safety systems on the Honda kept working.
As we mentioned, the new Accord comes loaded with all types of safety systems that not only kept us safe inside the sedan but kept us safely centered in the lane. The adaptive cruise control will actually stop and go with traffic if needed. And with Hondas lane centering, it is like having the sedan pretty much drive itself.
This year, Honda has also made the lane centering feel more natural which we noticed right away, as in the past we sometimes felt as if the vehicle would push us more toward one lane of the other. The new system seemed to just keep us right in the center, allowing any little bit of a deviation from use without trying to move the sedan back toward where we didn’t want to be.
There was also an included collision braking system that would activate if we got to close to someone in front of us, with an audible warning and a warning in the heads up display. It was also capable of detecting pedestrians if needs be.
Inside, the new Accord was loaded with luxury and style aplenty, coming with leather heated seats both front and rear in the Touring trim level. A well thought out wireless charger was hidden behind a self-lifting compartment in the lower center dashboard. Combining that with the wireless Apple CarPlay made the technology package fantastic.
The CarPlay worked to perfection, hooking up flawlessly every time we got in the vehicle. There were also two well-placed USB chargers for the rear seat occupants.
Best part is the new Accord is built completely in the U.S. at the Marysville, Ohio, Honda plant. This is a huge bonus when getting a sedan that gets such strong mileage, we love that many of the previously foreign manufactures have put plants in America to help in producing their vehicles.
The new 2021 Honda Accord Hybrid turned out to be a very well-rounded choice if looking for a way to get the highest possible mpg numbers and still get around in comfort and style. It will still be interesting to see exactly where the auto industry lands over the next few years. Will we still need gas stations or not is the question.
Base price: $36,440
Price as driven: $37,435
April 17, 2021 at 01:00PM
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To add electricity or not — a question the new 2021 Honda Accord answers - Standard-Examiner
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