Honda Accord Hybrid Review

Finally, we have the Honda hybrid system itself. In daily use you barely notice it shutting down the engine at a stoplight with a soft shudder. The same when you nudge the gas and the engine comes to life, propelling you forward. In the city, this feature accounts for about 25 per cent of the difference between the standard Accord's city mileage and the hybrid's.

The heart of it all is the latest version - the third-generation version -- of Honda's Integrated Motor Assist, or IMA, technology. It makes a major contribution in two ways.

First On the conservation side, the IMA acts as a generator. It captures all sorts of wasted energy -- e.g., it regenerates heat into electric power when you brake -- and stores it as electricity in the hybrid's small nickel-metal hydride battery pack.

Second, when you need a real boost to merge in traffic, the IMA kicks in. The thin electric motor mounted between the gasoline engine and the five-speed automatic transmission provides as much as 16 hp and 100 lbs-ft of torque. Think of it as an electric supercharger

And the power comes on with a smooth and almost startling efficiency. The hybrid zoom is simply delightful. Here we have a fast and efficient, no-compromises green car. In fact, the hybrid is a full second faster at 0-100 km/hour than a conventional V-6 Accord.

Critics, some of them at Toyota, say the Accord is only a mild hybrid and they're right. Unlike Toyota's system, a full hybrid which can power the rival Prius hybrid solely on electricity, Honda's gasoline and electric motors always work in tandem.

Honda officials say their smaller electric motor and less complex overall system gives their company more flexibility to put build other Honda and Acura vehicles. Still, Honda president Takeo Fukui is on the record saying his company has no plans to build a hybrid sport-utility vehicle (SUV) in the next three years. Toyota will launch at least two hybrid SUVs this year alone and Ford has offered the Escape Hybrid SUV since last year.

Not that the Accord styling is unattractive. It isn't. The car looks quite nice for a family car. The problem is that the Accord Hybrid is virtually indistinguishable from a conventional version of the sedan.

Yes, there are a few modest details -- the hybrid badge, unique wheels, and a small, trunk-mounted spoiler - but nothing stands out and makes a statement about what the car is and does. Toyota's approach with the Prius is the exact opposite.

That said, the Accord Hybrid is loaded with just about every uptown goody available on the Accord line, including leather seats, a rear lip spoiler, a fancy stereo and power-operated seats, door locks, windows. It is very luxurious.

What you have here is a hot-shoe hybrid loaded with luxury features, but tamed by middle class styling. Apparently that is just exactly the kind of four-door Consumer Reports likes best.

As the majority of the weight of the hybrid system is over the front wheels, Honda has adjusted the Accords suspension, well, accordingly. Mildly upgraded are the springs and dampers which are given a slightly firmer rate to compensate, but the changes are difficult to notice, feeling mostly the same. With the electric motors ability to provide 90 percent of its 100 lb-ft peak torque at lest than 4,000 rpm, there is a notable effect on the front wheels. Slightly wider tires attempt to assist, but the economy-built tires have difficulty coping, particularly in the wet. Torque steer, something unusual to hear in Accord sedans tugs away in corners, another unusual trait not normally found in Accords. Meanwhile, a switch to an electric power assist makes for light if not numb steering. Honda has managed to cure one of my biggest comfort-related complaints that have to do with Hybrids in this latest Accord - maintaining temperature in Idle Stop mode, thanks to an air conditioner that too is a hybrid. When the engine is running, the belts operate the 4.6 cubic inch compressor, but when youre sitting still in traffic or at a stop light in idle stop mode, it switches over to a smaller 0.9 cubic inch electric compressor. Warm or humid air from surroundings continues to be chilled, backed only by the silence-breaking hum of the compressor, helping you keep your cool.

Investing in the Accord Hybrid has more going for it than just saving the environment, its chocked full of goodies that makes doing so a treat. Essentially, with the extra cost to fit the Accord with the new technology, Honda made the Hybrid the top of the line model, equipping all options available on the EX-V6 and more. Leather-trimmed heated seats, digital climate control, ABS brakes, traction control, and side curtain airbags are all standard. The Hybrid is also the most refined Accord, with extra noise-damping equipment, as well as a six-disc CD stereo system with noise cancellation. So hushed and isolated is the car at speed that you might find it difficult to argue something like the much more costly Lexus ES330.

One switch that stays blank, normally filled on regular Accords is the power glass sunroof. This was the only thing stripped from the options list, done so to help preserve weight. There is also the only option of a touch-screen satellite navigation system with voice-operated commands, a system pulled straight out of the Acura TSX. Other than this, the Accord Hybrid is very much a "what you see is what you get" affair, what you get, being everything.

• 3.0L 24-valve V6 engine with 253 HP and 232 lb-ft of torque
• Integrated Motor Assist (IMA)™
• Variable Cylinder Management (VCM)™
• Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS)
• Daytime Running Lights (DRL)
• Permanent magnet motor
• 5-speed automatic transmission
• Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) battery pack
• Digital fuel mileage indicator
• Remote entry system
• Immobilizer theft-deterrent system
• Electrically assisted rack-and-pinion steering
• 16" lightweight alloy wheels

Under braking and coasting, the IMA system also works as a generator to recharge 144-volt battery pack thats comprised of 120 Sanyo Nickel-Metal Hydride cells. While hybrids havent been around long enough to call this system age old, its standard fit in all hybrid vehicles. Innovation in this department comes in the form of improved efficiency; the Accord Hybrid posts a segment-leading 95.2 percent regenerating efficiency, increased from the Civics 93.5 percent. Aside from a slightly grabby brake pedal which starts the process, this is yet another one of the many non-intrusive features of the IMA hybrid system. 

The Accords IMA system, in combination with additional economy-minded tailoring, makes for some eyebrow-raising math. Take for example the city rating, which is 30 mpg; 25 percent of the reduced figure can be accounted for by the Idle-Stop system. Cylinder-deactivation lops off another 15 percent from the city figure, and a massive 57 percent when cruising on the highway, which is an impressive 40 mpg. When adding up all the aerodynamic-minded additions like the wheels, spoiler and antenna, the 0.30 to 0.29 Cd helps slim fuel consumption by 5 percent on the highway.

Main Competitors

• Toyota Camry Hybrid
• Nissan Altima Hybrid
• Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid