The electrically assisted steering, while nicely weighted and responsive off-center, provides no hint of road feel or feedback. There are other driving behaviors that diminish the Accord hybrid’s desirability. This is annoying-CVT disorder, where engine rpm and car speed are totally out of sync. After a momentary delay, the engine roars in anger to accelerate the car with a jolt of juice zapped from the generator to the drive motor. Unfortunately, its mean side emerges when you smack the accelerator to the floor at any speed. In each of the drive modes described above, the Accord hybrid is your best friend. We suspect it exists mainly for use in EPA highway-mileage tests. On our drive through wine country, we found this third mode elusive and impossible to maintain for more than a few seconds at 65 to 70 mph. In the interests of efficiency, no battery charging is allowed here the engine runs quietly at low rpm with its computer-operated throttle barely open. In the third mode, Engine Drive, a computer gently engages a wet clutch, connecting the engine to the front axle’s differential. Lift off the accelerator, and the drive motor becomes a generator to convert unwanted momentum to electricity for recharging the battery. When the engine does fire, it spins a generator to provide AC current to the always-engaged electric motor while concurrently sending juice to the battery pack. With gentle pressure and sufficient charge in the 1.3-kWh battery pack, you can sneak past 60 mph in EV Drive mode for a mile or so without rousing the engine. And while other members of the Accord family equipped with conventional powertrains show true sports-sedan verve, this hybrid wanders off in the science-project direction too often to impress those with enthusiasm for driving.įrom a stoplight, it literally motors off with smooth, silent electric torque answering the tap of the accelerator pedal. ![]() Now for the near misses: Although its EPA estimates are the best of the mid-size hybrid sedans, the new Honda doesn’t top the Toyota Prius’s figures or the 2014–2015 Accord hybrid’s city mpg rating. The one major carryover is the basic powertrain arrangement: What Honda calls a two-motor hybrid-drive system combines combustion and electric-energy conversion with fixed drive ratios.Īfter a few hundred miles of driving, here’s our assessment: The new Accord hybrid is quiet and comfortable for drivers and passengers alike, and seat-of-the-pants acceleration and braking performances should exceed most expectations. To create the new, better hybrid, Honda engineers gave it a more powerful 2.0-liter Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder engine two smaller, lighter, and more energetic AC motor/generators a more compact lithium-ion battery pack and electronic control unit significant aerodynamic improvements and reduced friction and a wealth of driver assists and creature comforts. Additionally, hybrid production was moved from Ohio to Japan to expand the global supply and more than double the number of cars available. Toward that end, the new 2017 Accord hybrid we recently drove in Napa Valley, California, embodies comprehensive improvements over the previous Accord hybrid that Honda built and sold here in modest volumes in 20.įirst of all, the new hybrid benefits from updates bestowed on the Accord range for 2016, in which the cars were facelifted, lightened, and structurally stiffened. By 2030, Honda hopes two-thirds of its global fleet will be electrified, come what may in fuel prices, government edicts, and customer whims. The 2017 Accord hybrid is a key step in Honda’s move to electrified vehicles with an expanding range of hybrids, plug-in hybrids, fuel-cell models, and battery electrics. The Japanese automaker ruthlessly identified and attacked its next goal, in this instance a 50-mpg hybrid to crown the ninth-generation Accord range. ![]() While many Kirins surely were tipped toasting the 12.7 million Accords that have been sold here-not to mention the 30 Car and Driver 10Best trophies the car has earned-Honda didn’t secure its place in the world’s most competitive market by dwelling on the past. ![]() Honda’s Accord, the car that more than any other model identified Japan as the force to be reckoned with in the U.S., is celebrating its 40th birthday this year.
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