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2017 Honda Accord Hybrid First Drive

Honda waited until the Accord Hybrid was on sale for an entire month before inviting journalists out for a test drive. Usually, these events are previews, a chance for those in the industry to get an advance feel for what's about to go on sale. Not this time. The new 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid has been available at your local dealer for a month now. It's high time we got caught up. We were able to do just that at a drive event in Napa Valley last week. We can't say that the new Accord was a hoot to drive, but an Accord isn't supposed to be thrilling. It's supposed to sell boatloads of units a year, and that's why a hybrid version is so important. With ever-increasing fuel-efficiency standards coming around the world and an uncertain future when it comes to gas prices, having a car like this in the stable is obviously important. Of course, the future is only one side of the coin. As we said, the Accord Hybrid is on sale now, in a time of relatively low gas prices in the US, where sedan sales are being outpaced by CUV and SUV sales. This is the reality that the Accord Hybrid is facing. Honda, though, is confident. Just how good does the automaker think the new Accord Hybrid is? We'll guess about twice as good. That's because Honda execs said they expect to sell about 30,000 units a year, about double the volume of the 2014 Accord Hybrid. That's the official sales plan, anyway. The car went on sale June 15, 2016, so we're already off to the races. Sure, only 31 Accord Hybrids were sold in the second half of June, but we can't draw any conclusions this early in the process. Without a doubt, 30,000 sales is respectable for a hybrid (Toyota sold 30,640 Camry Hybrids in 2015), but let's just note for the record that Honda sold 355,557 Accords last year. If it manages to sell 30,000 Hybrids a year, and Accord sales numbers remain stable, that'll be just 8.4 percent of the overall total. The car should easily appeal to 30,000 buyers a year. The car should easily appeal to 30,000 buyers a year. The clean and attractive exterior design hasn't been massively overhauled from the 2014 Accord Hybrid, but why change what isn't broken? The headlights are updated, the front fascia has sharper lines, the taillights are more impressive – and that's about it.

2016 Honda Accord Coupe V6 Quick Spin

Popular opinion is that Honda has not been a friend to enthusiasts in recent years. The company killed the awesome S2000, got away from building low-cost driver's cars like the CRX, ruined the Civic Si (on multiple occasions, most notably in 2002 and again in 2012), and kind of neutered Acura into a listless near-premium brand devoid of its original charm. But there are bright spots: We're finally going to get a Civic Type R in the US, and while the new NSX is a long way from the lightweight original, it's still an extremely impressive specimen. And then there's the Accord Coupe, which doesn't necessarily look like a typical performance Honda on first glance. Honda has been building the two-door Accord for decades, even as virtually every other mainstream brand has abandoned the segment. What's even more interesting, is that Honda makes one for the car guys. The company builds a V6-powered, two-door coupe with a six-speed manual transmission that probably accounts for maybe half a percent of the Accord's overall volume. Such a blatant disregard for things like economies of scale could only be achieved by a brand with a real passion for performance. Now that the Accord has been fully refreshed for 2016, we set out to revisit our V6/manual hero. Driving Notes This naturally aspirated V6 produces 278 horsepower and 251 pound-feet of torque, which admittedly isn't as much as you'd get from the slightly larger V6 engines you'd find in the likes of the Dodge Challenger, Chevrolet Camaro, or Ford Mustang. But the Honda is extremely willing to rev. That, combined with a startlingly smooth, linear torque curve, means the 3.5-liter Earth Dreams V6 is remarkably composed in both normal and aggressive driving. Low-end grunt is easy to access, despite the 6,200-rpm torque peak, while the throttle response is relatively sharp for what you might expect in an Accord. It sounds spectacular too, with a howly, Civic Si-worthy exhaust note and a notable lack of any piped-in induction silliness. It simply sounds like, you know, an engine – and a very good one at that. The buttery smooth, six-speed manual transmission has a light action, making this a true case where all you need to shift is a flick of the wrist. The clutch pedal is light and the catch point is almost too broad, meaning it's easy to ride the clutch until you get used to this setup. Once you adjust, heel-and-toeing this front-drive coupe actually becomes an entertaining activity.

Toyota tops Kelley Blue Book's Resale Value Awards

Kelley Blue Book announced its annual Best Resale Value Award winners, and we weren't too surprised to see the list dominated by Japanese automakers - mainly Toyota and Honda. KBB hands out the awards based on the projected residual value of mostly all 2013 model year vehicles, and Toyota skated home with a number of awards including 10 of the 22 overall categories and having five of its products in the top 10 for models with best resale value. KBB's Best Resale Value Awards were announced in the same week as the ALG Residual Value Awards, and there were many similarities between both lists, especially when it came to Toyota.
To come up with its winners, KBB measures depreciation over the first five years of ownership, and looks for the cars it expects to hold its value the best after this time; on average, the report says the 2013 model year vehicles will lose 61.8 percent of its value in five years. Of the 22 categories, 15 slots were filled by Toyota, Honda and Nissan products, while the Camaro and Porsche (Cayenne and Panamera) each took home a pair of awards. If Toyota has anything to be upset about in this list of cars, it's that categories for Hybrid/Alternative Energy Car and Electric Vehicle went to the Ford Fusion and Chevrolet Volt, respectively.
The overall top 10 models for the best resale value in 2013 are, in alphabetical order: