It’s new car time! The most exciting time in a person’s life. It’s a big commitment, especially for me. I buy cars for the long-term. None of this 3-year-lease-and-a-new-car for me. I buy them to keep until they are unserviceably old or I’ve outgrown them, which is why I was finally getting rid of my nearly 10-year-old Honda Fit (which, by the way, is the finest starter car I can think of).

Photo : Rob Ristuccia


Keeping things in the Honda family, this is an Accord Hybrid in Touring spec, which comes with the full suite of Honda sensing (more on that in a moment), a plush interior, and Honda’s two-motor hybrid system paired with a continuously variable transmission (CVT, also more on that in a moment). The Accord has been one of Honda’s most popular offerings since the 1970s and the 2019 hybrid version continues the tradition of providing a reliable and economical sedan that represents some of the best value for money you can buy.



I knew I wanted a hybrid because electric cars are still a bit out of my price range, so I was seriously considering the either the Accord Hybrid or the Honda Insight. In the end, I went with the larger car because it naturally had more space but was also more quiet and comfortable. Decision made, I brought home the Accord Hybrid Touring with just 64 miles on the odometer. Now with over 2000 miles of experience, I can confidently say, what a car this has turned out to be.


The two-motor system combines a 2.0-L gasoline engine with an electric motor to produce 212 bhp and 232 ft-lbs of torque in the Accord Hybrid. Power goes to the front wheels through a CVT operated by a row of buttons on the console (instead of the typical lever). All of this is wrapped in a forward-looking, modern shape that looks both sleek and luxurious.

Photo : Rob Ristuccia


Sitting behind the wheel feels a little bit like sitting in the cockpit of an airplane. The instrument cluster consists of an analog speedometer on the right with a configurable digital display on the left. The outside of the digital display contains a ring with a dial that tells the driver how much power the hybrid system is providing and the charging status of the batteries. The inside of the display can be set up to display just about anything you want (the only notable absence of information is tire pressures, which the car must know because it has a TPMS system; it just doesn’t share that information with the driver). Above the instrument cluster, the heads-up display (HUD) shows vehicle speed and replicates the power gauge (albeit using a line instead of a ring). The HUD is also configurable, and can also show navigation information, speed limit signs, or a compass. Configurability seems to be a theme with this car and I love that. I feel like I could own this car for a couple of years and still discover settings that I didn’t know about.



The cabin is very nicely furnished and the seats are quite comfortable. The driver’s seat is adjustable in enough directions to be a little overwhelming and includes a lumbar support. Perhaps most importantly for short people like me, the seats include a memory function so I can quickly return to my preferred position when a valet or car mechanic turns the car back over to me. The front seats are both heated and cooled; passengers in the rear only get heated seats but they do get their own climate control vents to provide cool air.


To the driver’s right on the dashboard in the Touring models is a touchscreen for access to many different functions (more than should be named here). The screen is large and clear, making it relatively easy to use while driving but you are probably better off doing as much as you can while the car is not moving. I do find myself missing the dial interface from my Mazda3 simply because not touching the screen means I don’t have to lean across the car to reach and I don’t leave any fingerprints that catch the sunlight and make the screen hard to read (#firstworldproblems).

Touring-equipped models also include Honda’s navigation system and Android Auto/Apple Carplay integration. Honda’s navigation system works very well although I do wish that the voice directions could be completely turned off. With regard to smartphone integration, Honda is currently working through some bugs that interfere with the navigation in Android Auto. It’s still usable, but many users seem to find that they have to enter a destination in the Honda navigation system first then switch to Android Auto, which is kind of annoying. I have no idea if this bug also affects Apple Carplay. Minor software foibles aside, perhaps the nicest thing about using navigation in the Accord is the way the directions appear in the HUD (using either the in-car system or Android Auto) so that you don’t have to take your eyes off the road to see where you are turning next.


Once you are fully settled into your seat, your displays are set up just how you like them, your destination is programmed into the computer, and your favorite music or podcast is playing on the excellent sound system, it’s time for a drive. This car is smooth. Very little noise penetrates the cabin and unless you are paying close attention, you won’t even notice the transitions between the electric motor and the gasoline engine. Pulling away from a stop is done with little drama, just a quiet surge of torque that will get you to 60 mph in about 7.0 seconds. At highway speeds, the car cruises comfortably with as much assistance as you want from active lane keeping and cruise control. The ride is composed and soft but not floaty.


There are four drive modes in the Touring-spec Accord Hybrid: Normal, Econ, Sport, and EV. Econ mode slows the throttle response to encourage slower starts that save fuel. Sport mode does the opposite, increasing the throttle response while also sharpening up the steering and stiffening the dampers. Put it in EV mode and the Accord will shut down the gas engine, using only the electric motor until you pass about 30 mph or the batteries run down and need to be recharged. The different driving modes are fun to play with, but I imagine most drivers are going to leave it in normal most of the time. EV mode is basically useless in anything but stop-and-go traffic but it is fun to try to see how long you make it last when driving around town.


The Accord Hybrid in Touring spec also some with a full suite of sensors that assist with parking and keeping you in your lane on the highway. The parking sensors are particularly helpful given that the 192.2-inch car just barely fits in my garage. Honda Sensing also comes with adaptive cruise control and active lane-keeping assist. I don’t use the adaptive cruise control much; however, I have learned to like the lane-keeping assist. At first, it felt very alien to have the car tugging the wheel back-and-forth, but eventually I realized that I had a tendency to ride further to the left in my lane that I probably should. Driving style adjusted, I barely notice it anymore.

Photo : Rob Ristuccia


My chief complaint about driving this car (and this is a really nit-picky complaint) is that I don’t understand what it’s doing a lot of the time. I’m used to driving cars with gasoline engines that make more power the more they rev and are connected to 4- 5- or 6-speed transmissions. Step on the gas, revs go up, noise gets louder (and better), shift to the next gear, repeat. Driving this hybrid isn’t like that. Step on the gas, the electric motor whisks you away while the CVT figures out where to put the gear ratios, then the noise comes on and stays constant while the powertrain does… whatever it’s supposed to be doing. An electric motor and a CVT create the false impression of a sluggish car that is lazy to shift and doesn’t make any power. If you learn to focus on what your neck is feeling instead of what your ears are hearing you get a more accurate picture.



And you can forget trying to understand what the hybrid system is doing at any given moment. You can pull up a display on the infotainment screen or in the instrument cluster that tells you where the power to the front wheels is coming from and whether the batteries are charging or discharging, but good luck trying to understand why it’s doing what it’s doing. Suffice it to say that teams of very clever engineers have spent a lot of time figuring out how to get the most out of the hybrid system under different conditions. Unfortunately, all of this works contrary to my urge as a driver to manage all the systems. Shouldn’t I be adjusting my regenerative braking using the steering wheel-mounted paddles while I alternate between Normal and Econ on my commute? Nah. Somebody already figured out what the car should be doing. Just let it do its thing.


You can trust the engineering, though, because this system works. The car never feels sluggish and it returns excellent mileage. For a 3400-lbs car to return 38-45 mpg in my commuting cycle (a mix of highway and around-town driving) is outstanding. Perhaps the most remarkable thing is that type of driving doesn’t seem to matter. Fuel economy is about the same in city and highway driving, which is quite different from gas-only cars where the mileage drops dramatically once you get off the highway. Even the different driving modes don’t seem to make a difference. One would expect that you would get better mileage in Eco mode and worse mileage in Sport mode, but that just doesn’t seem to be the case. The thing that seems to affect mileage the most is speed and temperature. No amount of hybrid cleverness can overcome the physics of air resistance while colder temperatures make batteries work less efficiently while simultaneously requiring more cabin heating.

Other complaints are minor. I can’t really complain that a 192.2-inch, 3400-lbs car isn’t as nimble as a Mazda3 or Miata. I knew what I was getting into when I signed the paper. Black is nice but I would have preferred silver or blue.


Photo : Rob Ristuccia

The only realistic complaint I have is easily fixed. Although the look of the car overall is very pleasing but I’m not crazy about the wheels. The Accord Hybrid comes with bespoke 17-inch wheels but frankly the designs on the non-hybrid version are much better looking. You can pair those with the hybrid, but it costs extra. Also, the OEM tires are designed to have low rolling resistance and maximize fuel economy, but they seem to lack grip in wet conditions. But it’s 2020. New wheels and tires are a mouse click away if you really want to change.


So how did I end up with this car? In my teens and twenties, I always owned sensible, practical cars with front-wheel drive and good reliability records that fit my budget. Later, as I got older and had some more money to spend, I started to look at things like power and handling and ultimately combined the best characteristics of my reliable economy cars with better agility and acceleration.

Having landed firmly in middle age, I find myself pivoting once again. I always thought that getting good fuel economy was important in a daily driver, but hybrids were always too bland, boring, and expensive for me to seriously consider. But when the time came to pass on the 2015 Mazda Mazda3 to Mrs. Adventures with Cars, I found myself more and more drawn to hybrid sedans.


At first, I strongly considered the Honda Insight. It’s a subcompact with stellar mpg ratings and the weight of Honda’s record for reliability carried along with its name. But the more I considered the options, the more I felt my age pulling me in a new direction. Did I really want another small car that could just barely carry everything that a family of three would need for a long road trip? Did I really want to hear the relentless drone of the highway for all hours at a time, my built-to-a-price stereo competing with the combined noise of tires and wind?

In perhaps the most middle-aged thing I’ve ever done, I decided the answer to those questions was “No.” It is time to start prioritizing comfort over athleticism. Enter the 2019 Honda Accord Hybrid to function as my daily driver. When I want athleticism, I’ll just take the Miata out for a rattly back road drive at high speed to cleanse my soul.

Advertisement