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Comments
Similar to the Accord. Plastics are shared, but trim pieces can be different.
So NO, I don't have the base interior. My interior is comparable with the Altima 3.5SE and 3.5SL minus leather.
You don't have to agree with what I am saying because in all honesty you make some good points. Although you can be arrogant at times. REAL arrogant. Especially when you BLOW my words out of porportion.
I said that SOME of the materials are cheap. NOT ALL of them. I even acknowledged that to me, the Accord still has a better interior than the Altima, and I drive an Altima.
Yep, the Accord is one of the best in the class, but I think the Passat still holds the edge material, NOT design wise.
However, I DID acknowledge that the Accord was the best in the class. Its like if no one agrees with you, they are wrong. Whatever.
As far as roominess. In my opinion the Accord felt less roomy. Dimensions are just that, dimensions. Real world roominess can vary from person to person. You are not built like me so you wouldn’t know.
Again, I am not trying to make anybody agree with what I have to say because if we all agreed, the world would be boring.
Enjoy your Accord, just like I plan to enjoy my new Altima.
Coarse cloth or not.
Have a nice day.
That is all I was saying. Yes, the Accord is still the best in this class, but NOT so much better than the competition that it has NO competition. The Hey Day for most car manuafactures is over. EVERYONE is improving, including GM, Ford and Chrysler.
Thanks for any input.
You certainly deserve more comfort but your bundle of joy and yourself both deserve maximum safety (my opinion at least!).
Good luck!
Yep. Here is a news item from Honda that suggests exactly that. Honda will produce some Accords at East Liberty to “make room” for more production of TL at Marysville.
It appears, Honda is going to really take advantage of its flexible production process now.
Just yesterday I saw a '96 Accord and the new Accord side by side. The older Accord had a young woman who looked to be in her twenties, the new Accord had a silver haired gentleman, probably in his 60s. The '96 Accord looked trim, athletic and like a cousin of the new TL or TSX. The bloated new Accord looks unworthy of the Accord name, except for its driving dynamics which may be the best among its competitors.
I feel that the new Accord looks far more athletic (yes, Cheetah-like) than the 94-97 version. 98-02 Accord (I have a 98), looks like a “safe design” that doesn’t stand out, and is more conservative than the current. I still remember the old days here at Edmunds, when I was arguing about the “styling of 98 Accord”, and so many were putting it down back then. Today, I feel, 98 Accord is among the better looking sedans of its era. Mine looks like new!
There are rumors that Honda will do a major freshening of the Accord to coincide with the intro of the hybrid to get rid of the Buick look.
Repeat buyers will cause average age to increase. I would like to know if there has been a car, over an extended period of time, that has seen a drop in average age.
BTW, do you have any idea of the average age of a "new car" buyer in America?
I still don't see any Buick in the Accord. Buicks to me meant, trunk as long as the hood as long as the passenger cabin. Accord will see some cosmetic changes, as it always has in the third or fourth year of model cycle. That doesn't come as a surprise.
Sorry that I'm raising the average age of new Accord owners
I haven't seen a lot of Mazda 6's on the road, but those drivers are almost always 20 or 30 somethings. Never saw a group of retirement age people in one.
My dad drives a a 98 V6 Accord ( black with a spoiler, and it's beautiful. Still looks factory). If he was going to buy another car tomorrow, it would almost positively be another Accord. He would never look at an Altima or a Mazda 6.
Of course this is all anecdotal and others can rebutt this post with observations of their own, but I have to believe that styling (along with reliability) is a major reason why so many older drivers select Regals, Malibus, Accords and Camrys while, for the most part, ignoring Altimas, Passats, Galants and Mazda's 6.
Some friends of my mom's are in their late '70s, and I take her to visit them from time to time. They had a '96 Mercury Sable that they hated... thought it rode like a truck. They asked me for a recommendation for their next car, as they were considering a Buick Century. I tried to steer them toward a Camry, telling them that the Camry has smooth ride down to a science, without the floaty, boaty feel of a Buick. When it came time to buy, though, GM's over-the-top incentives along with a bit of concern about buying their first import branded car resulted in them going to the Buick.
Anyway, when these folks rode in my 2000 Accord, they said that the ride was too firm for them.
I'm not trying to over-empahsize the stereotype... as evidenced uptopic, not all folks in that age range want a soft riding car, but based on my experience and observations, I believe that many of them do. Their heyday with cars was the '50s and '60s, before Japanese imports had any presence in the US market. Buicks, Cadillacs, Mercurys and Lincolns were the cars to aspire to then, unless you were looking for a sports car.
Scion didn't come to the market with a mid-sized $20,000 family sedan did they? I mean come on.
I think the Accord also satisfies seniors who want a "sporty" Buick with Japanese reliability.
I guess it is a sort of physiological evolution, as a young individual you give in a lot more to peer pressure (read also as 'specialized press'). Probably you hope that fitting in and having the 'cool car' will give you the opportunity for giving a lift to that sweetheart you saw at the pub! :-)
In brief, you seem to be very understanding of how is your dad goes Accord and I am almost sure he is likewise (foreseeing the day you'll visit riding on an Accord of your own!).
btw I would not pass over a Passat except I have reservations about reliability, otherwise wonderful car ( I have driven my best friend V6 several times, even weeks at the time, and enjoyed it very much. Eventually I dislike hearing how unhappy he is when the car goes to the shop for various little things not working properly (again may be he is being to harsh since he used to drive a Civic that gave him no problem whatsoever during the 10+ y he owned it).
I have not looked if this issue of advancing age of Accord buyers has lingered long in this post and what is the cut but I wanted to offer the following consideration. Population statistics indicate a trend of above 40 yo folks accounting for an ever increasing portion of total population (think of the 'baby boomers', so even statistically speaking, number would be biased to show an increase in age average not just for Accords but almost any vehicle since ther are more buyers in that age segment that any time before). If this argument is not enough than I'll offer a second one based always on the 'baby boomers' and swelling of the older folk ranks. Since there are more older people and they average to have more purchasing power that any other population segment their preferring Accords would give Honda an edge for the next 2 decades or so. That gives plenty of times (and money) to rejuviante the product line!! ;-)
Now, anyone who has spent three or four decades floating along in Caprices or Sedan de Villes won't be happy with the Accord or any other midsize import outside of a Avalon or Lexus, but the new wave of baby boomer retirees over the next 20 years (moi included) will be accustomed to driving well-built, good-handling cars. The Accord fits the bill.
I just wish it looked more like the TL. That is a killer lookin' ride!
Note to Steve: Wonderful missive above, but it doesn't apply to me. Knock, knock, knockin' on 50s door in September! But, I like to think I'm a lot younger when I buy a car. Don't we all
Of course, it's a bad idea for a car company to try too hard to appeal to the very young. The Saturn ION attempted youth marketing to a fault. The car drives OK, but the interior looks like a child's playroom. How many teenagers or recent college grads really want that?
The new Accord is very appealing to people of all ages who want a solid, modern car that has some fun built into it.......Richard
also, if Honda is courting older drivers (not sure they are, since the TL is so sporty looking as opposed to elegant looking), it might be to improve the brand "image". lets be honest here - Honda didn't have the best image in the 90's with movies like "Fast and the Furious". the brand was kind of dragged into the lower eschilons of car brands (based on prestige) by that. maybe they figure a 17 year old will hate the new Accord so much, and leave it for someone else to buy?
I think most people would be surprised how old the average new car buyer is. There are not too many new cars with an average buyer that is less than 40 years old. Even the hip Honda Element has an average age of over 40. The problem is not choice of vehicle, but money. New cars cost more, and younger buyers tend to have less money and are more likely to buy used cars.
In fact, in the exchange uptopic, the person who described the Accord's ride as "unbearable" suggested that Honda soften the Accord's ride to make it more like a Camry. NOOOOOOOOOOOO! If you want a car that rides like a Camry, buy a Camry. But leave my firm riding Accord alone!
$25,000 for any car is hardly worth the extra money.
For your $25K (after all costs) you get all-around airbags, ABS, leather interior, XM radio, sunroof almost everything power operated, etc.
Whether it's worth spending more for an image is a personal choice. I can afford whatever I want, but stopped with the Accord EX-L because it had as much or more than what I wanted in any car.....Richard
I agree with Strager the 96 Accord looked athletic just like the current TL. The new ones just blends in with everything else. The 1998-2000 Accord also looked good and still looks good.
Alpha: about the Camry the interior I don't like it. Like I said before if they put the Camry Solara interior into the Camry then the Camry would be worth an actual look. Although I do like the 97-01 Camry's exterior better than the new one is still worthy of a look-at at the showroom.
As far as younger buyers the Accord Coupe is Honda's saving grace with this generation of Accord.
As a young buyer and a Honda follower for 10 years I don't like with the did with the 03-04 Accord exterior. I'm not a fan of the 03 Accord sedan styling and probably never will be. To me it was a mistake.
As far as Honda's image is concerned if Honda wants to get away from that young person image of the 90's they will regret it. Thats what Honda has always been built on: getting young people into showrooms. As far as improving who cares unless have a bad reputation like Kia or something.
Lastly, I'm really with Strager on this one: the Accord is a good car but the styling just doesn't do anything. The styling is trying to lean toward elegant and classic which to me it just doesn't do for me. Classic and elegant was the 92-93 Accord. If Honda wanted to go to back to something like that they should the current Accord styled differently.
I used to have a 98 Mazda 626: it was inoffensive looking but its wasn't styled like the current Accord sedan is. Everbody said how the 98 626 and 98 Altima were so bland. I think the late 90's Altima and 626 look better than the 03 Accord sedan.
In conslusion I think the 03 Accord was to win buyers from GM and Ford who have been buying those 2 makes for 20 years with the 03 Accord styling. It was a gutsy move but it turned me off as a Honda follower.
As far as the TL styling is concerned well the styling was too win people from German makes. Historically German Makes have more style in their cars than Japanese makes do. So I guess Honda went to work and styled a car(the 04 TL) that was going to win people who were owners of German Cars(BMW and Audi.) So far so good. Not only did Honda win buyers from German makes with the 04 TL you have buyers that were owners of the 99-03 TL trading in for an 04 TL. The 04 TL is a win-win for Honda.
In the first quarter this year, Honda sold 83,000 Accords and Nissan sold 63,000 Altimas. Assuming that 20% of the Accords are coupes, the Altima has already caught up.
Not a knock on the Accord or anything. In fact, I plan to scoop one up in a few weeks. But the Altima is a great car in its own right.
Guess this shows how dramatically tastes can differ. I respect your opinion, but disagree completely. Particularly the Altima...
And I find that quite amusing.
i agree also that the early 90's Accords are true classics. just like the 99-05 Jettas - cars that will never go out of style. i tend to think that the 03-04 Accord will be the same.
also, i don't think the Accord Coupe accounts for 20% of Accord sales. anyone have any real numbers for that? if so, the Coupes sure aren't big in the DC area....maybe on the West Coast? the big coupe around here is the 325Ci.
~alpha
But, what might be noteworthy is how the styling of a car ultimately affects its sales. For example, the restyled Altima has sold dramatically better than the previous edition, while the Accord sales seem stagnant. There are always a variety of factors that affect car sales, and, of course, styling is a big one for many people.
The current Accord sales are stagnant because they were already selling around 400k a year and that is all teh market there is for it. Similarly, the Camry sales are also stagnant for the same reason.
TAlon 95: Even though the late 90's Altima and 626 are reatively inoffensive looking they still look like Japanese Cars. Just for the record I think the 96-97 Altima's looked better than the 98-01 Altima's. I don't think the previous generation Altima is winning any best looking car contests.
On the Camry like anoy said in post 14525 I am not a huge fan but the current Camry its an relatively inoffensive loooking car color in the right color combo(I think the Camry looks good in that light to medium blue color mayself.) It should age ok. The 92-96 Camry's are pretty classic looking.
In my family everybody drives Domestic Big 3 cars. My Mom likes the new Mazda 6. She drives a Pontiac. I never thought she would even look at a Mazda product. She always used to laught at my 626 because of the way it looked. She said it looked like a little toy.
I keep reminding folks that you need to drive a recent LeSabre or Park Avenue if you think a Buick is floaty and boaty. Loaner Regals I've had also are good.
My 03 rides firmly with 225/60 Michelins on 16inch wheels and is still comfortable on city streets, rural backroads, and interstate highways. I personally didn't like the ride of the 03 Accord when I test drove, but probably would have 20 years ago when I used to buy Mustangs with HD suspensions. It's a matter of being accustomed to the ride and liking the same again when choosing the next car, whether it's a Camry, Accord, or LeSabre -- whatever is your taste.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
This may become an old stereotype with the new direction of Buick, but they've got a ways to go before most people will consider them to be much of anything other than big cars with VERY soft suspension tuning.
Again, just my opinion.
The Accord does drive firmly. It's not rough, but it is rather firm over the bumps. Didn't really notice it until I was riding home from the hospital a few weeks ago after having surgery. Now that I have recovered I don't mind it though.
Altima is selling better because Maxima is virtually gone. Sales have shifted towards Altima, from Maxima (the combined sales of the two cars is probably still the same).
Accord and Camry sell at virtual saturation point. It may be hard to sell 400K or more units of any sedan on a consistent basis.
I live in a mountain state (colorado) and drive the mountains a lot. I have 2 Accords V6 (99 and 01) and they are great.
What do you think about owning a 4 cly in areas like colorado.
I'm not sure why some consider the Accord's "saturation" sales point to be 400,000, though. The market for midsize sedans is in the several millions, so I would think that Honda wouldn't mind capturing greater market share as long as it has the building capacity.
I've always thought that a "sports edition" Accord would sell pretty well and maybe bring in incremental sales. Saturn is trying this with its Redline series, currently on the Ion and Vue, and the Vue is a pretty attractive vehicle in that body style, especially since it has the Honda V-6 under the hood. It's actually a vehicle I am considering, although Saturn's interior materials are pretty cheap.