Lots of changes are in store for the newest generation of the Honda Accord. The two-door coupe has bit the dust, as has the previous iteration’s optional V-6 engine and standard naturally aspirated inline-four. Thus the sedan-only Accord enters 2018 with two new turbocharged four-cylinders, a 1.5-liter and an optional, V-6–replacing 2.0-liter. And have you looked at the new Accord? Same isn’t a word to describe it. What hasn’t changed much, though, is the Accord’s price, which rises by $315 to $1265 depending on the model, or its trim-level structure, which still includes the familiar LX, Sport, EX, EX-L, and Touring versions.
The Accord’s base price now sits at $24,445 for an LX model with the turbo 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine mated to a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT), $315 higher than the 2017 model. Standard features on the LX include dual-zone automatic climate control, a backup camera, push-button start, and a 7.0-inch touchscreen with USB and Bluetooth connectivity. Last year’s Accord sedan offered a six-speed manual with the four-cylinder LX, Sport, and EX trim levels; this go around Honda is offering the stick shift only on the 2018 Accord’s Sport trim (starting price: $26,655), but it can be paired with either the standard 1.5-liter four or the more powerful 2.0-liter. The 1.5-liter Sport, which also can be had with a no-cost CVT, includes 19-inch wheels, a power driver’s seat, and an 8.0-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
At $28,345, the Accord EX 1.5T adds a few more bits of luxury kit, including heated front seats, a sunroof, remote start, and blind-spot monitoring, while the $30,845 EX-L brings leather upholstery, a memory driver’s seat, and a power passenger’s seat. The EX-L is the only trim that offers navigation as a $1000 option; the feature is standard on the $34,675 Touring 1.5T, which comes loaded with a head-up display, cooled front seats, heated rear seats, 19-inch wheels, extra chrome trim, rain-sensing wipers, and adaptive dampers that are controlled by a Sport mode button.
Although the Accord V-6 is no more, the new turbocharged 2.0-liter upgrade engine shares components with the bonkers Civic Type R’s powerplant. To us, that street cred makes it seem a worthy substitute. It had better be, given that the Sport, EX-L, and Touring trim levels so equipped (and dubbed 2.0T) cost $2000 to $4530 more than their 1.5T equivalents. The Sport 2.0T, at $31,185 with either a six-speed manual or a 10-speed automatic transmission, seems to be the pick of the litter, as the $32,845 EX-L 2.0T and the $36,675 Touring 2.0T verge on the upper limits of what we’d pay for an Accord (or any nonluxury mid-size sedan, for that matter).
The 2018 Accord’s slightly higher prices are understandable given that Honda has gifted every model a full suite of active-safety features. These bits, now standard on every Accord, used to cost $1000 extra on most models. Even manual-transmission cars get these systems, which consist of adaptive cruise control, forward-collision warning, automated emergency braking, and lane-keeping assist. For the most part, the Accord’s slight price premium over the Mazda 6, Ford Fusion, Chevrolet Malibu, Volkswagen Passat, Hyundai Sonata, and others can be chalked up to Honda’s inclusion of the aforementioned, previously optional safety tech; Toyota, which similarly added standard active-safety features to its latest Camry, prices bookend models of that sedan within just a few hundred dollars of the new base and top-of-the-line Accord models.
We don’t yet have pricing details for the redesigned Accord hybrid, which arrives early next year. Accord 1.5T models will be the first to reach dealerships, with an on-sale date of October 18, while 2.0T cars aren’t expected to go on sale until the end of November.
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