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Preview: 2003 Honda Accord
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| From competent appliance to passionate performer? |
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| Updated |
Mar 17, 2005 19:41:50 |
| Rating |
 75 ( -10 -13.33% ) | | Author | Paul A. Eisenstein |
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Description:
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By traditional thinking, it might be hard to understand why the Honda Accord has continually dominated the mid-size sales charts. It?s certainly not the cheapest car in its segment, nor the best performer. It's not the roomiest. And it's certainly not the most stylish. Yet last year, Americans bought 414,718 Accords, handily outselling both the Toyota Camry and Ford Taurus.
The Accord has made its mark in a different manner, appealing to those who want something that's more a competent appliance than a stylish, but potentially unreliable performer. Yet with quality on the rise across the industry, with Korean competitors undercutting the Accord on price, and its key Japanese rivals turning up the heat, as well, Honda is shifting gears with the launch of the latest-generation, 2003 Accord.
The first complete remake since 1998, the new Accord is designed to generate a decidedly more emotional appeal. It's unusually stylish for a brand that traditionally seems to take pride in its non-descript nature.
Talk to Honda officials about the seventh-generation Accord and you'll hear things that wouldn't have come up in conversations about past-generations of the sedan. The body is stiffer, the double-wishbone suspension has been upgraded, tires and wheels are larger, they note, all factors intended to give the new car a more European road feel.
Longtime tradition
Longtime Accord aficionados will recognize another change, though it's something in keeping with Honda tradition. The original, 1976 Accord was roughly the same size as Toyota's compact Corolla. Each generation has grown a bit. The '03 is no exception, though it's the larger and more lavish interior that buyers will likely focus on. There are a number of new standard features, including a tilt/telescope steering wheel and anti-lock brakes. The latter is particularly noteworthy, what with some of Honda's American competitors considering the idea of paring back on content, especially in the safety arena, as a way to trim production costs.
If anything, Honda is putting more of a focus on safety, a clear selling point to the middle-American families that make up its core audience. A double five-star crash rating has been as much a factor in the sales surge of the Odyssey minivan as foldaway rear seats. With the Accord, Honda also expects to earn the top crash rating possible in federal tests.
Low emissions should appeal to the typical Honda buyer. The Japanese automaker claims it will meet or beat any of its competitors in this category, while also delivering better mileage on an apples-to-apples, comparable engine basis. The base, 2.4-liter, in-line four should deliver 24 mpg in the city and 33 on the highway, a 10 percent improvement'even though it gets 160 horsepower, another 10 for 2003. The upgraded Accord V-6, meanwhile, will now reach 240 hp.
The timing of the '03's intro couldn't be more important. Things have changed a lot since the last Accord came to market in 1998. There's the recently upgraded Toyota Camry, its prime competitor, of course. And Nissan has added heft to its promised comeback in the form of a stylish and swift Altima. Hyundai's Sonata is suddenly a credible player. But the Accord also faces the continuing American migration from cars to trucks. Indeed, Honda officials readily admit their own new crossover ute, the Pilot, could cannibalize Accord demand. In light of all that, Honda's strategy seems obvious.
There was a time when quality and reliability allowed Accord'along with the Camry'to clearly stand apart from the mid-size pack. Honda claims it has redoubled its efforts with the '03, tightening gaps, opting for better and more refined materials, taking aim at its few remaining quality issues. That's likely to keep the most fanatic of Accord's many loyalists from looking elsewhere in the years to come.
But by taking the new Accord a step further, by designing a bit of personality into it, if you will, Honda may finally win over skeptics who've long admired its bulletproof nature but wanted more than what they saw as a soulless appliance. |
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