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2013 Honda Accord Sedan Review: First Drive
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2013 Honda Accord Sedan Review: First Drive

·
February 10,2013
·
4 min read

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Dubai, UAE - Al Futtaim Honda held it’s Honda Accord 2013 first drive event on Thursday, 7th February. We started at the Honda showroom at Dubai Festival City enroute to Fujairah and back in a two day trip. 

 

Day 1: First Drive: Honda Accord Sedan (3.5L and 2.4L)

We started out at 10am with a long drive to Fujairah Rotana Resort and Spa. We took a long route starting with Business Bay, on route to Al Ain highway towards Nazwa and through Nazwa to Dibba. The trip included stopovers for driver and car changes as well.

Despite all cars having a road book with numbers of the organisers, one of the journos got lost and we had to wait while she arrived to hearty applause from the convoy! 

We drove the first leg with 3.5L V6 EX and on the second leg the 2.4L EX version of the Accord Sedan. The 3.5L V6 gets 276 HP and has a Sport gear shift as well, which ofcourse means we hammered it in the Nazwa area, missing some camels narrowly on the highway! 

 

 

First Impressions

 

Performance

The 3.5L V6 is fast, smooth and has pretty good road grip, maybe not as good as Nissan Maxima 2012 but a notch below. Cruise control is regular version, it’s not active cruise control, which means the car won’t slow down automatically if you spot, say a camel on the road! Handling is also very good on sharp turns and there is good balance as well. 

The exterior styling has been updated with new lights, new bumper and new exhausts. Particularly appealing is the 3.5L Sport version which has a rear spoiler that goes well with the 18” alloy wheels and dual exhausts. 

 

 

The interior is also well updated with all the usual suspects and superior interior trim too. What is particularly interesting is the first-in-segment  Lane Watch video camera. This camera is installed on the right side mirror and shows you live camera footage when you change lanes from left to right. This feature is available only in 3.5L versions, not in any of the 2.4L versions. 

 

What is particularly missing though, is there is no Lane Watch camera if you change from right to left. There is equal security requirement if you change from right to left as well, so why only keep the camera on the right? Agreed, the hard shoulder is on the right for left-hand drive cars, however if the driver is getting used to using the camera, it makes more sense to have it on both sides. This is an update we recommend for the next year. Also we observed some road noise which was a bit more than Nissan Altima 2013. 

 

The 2.4L engine is good, but not particularly outstanding. It is reasonably good for everyday driving, not the most exciting drive but good nevertheless. 

The smaller engine option is good for those people who are looking for a fuel efficient, everyday car and need a good resale value. The 3.5L version though is where the action is and the drive is noticeably performance oriented. 

 

We spent the first part of our day on the road, testing the sedan. Later the evening was marked by some excellent hospitality and belly dance performances, some of which we captured on video: 

 

 

Initial Verdict

Both 2.4L and 3.5L engines are good for everyday driving. With Honda, resale value is always high. This time around the focus has been on interior updates. From that perspective, the 2.4L engine is good but not very exciting. It does not really give a tough time to 2013 Nissan Altima or the Camry on that front since it's quite similar to those competitors. 

The 3.5L is another story altogether and will definitely give a tough time to Camry and Altima. So check out the 3.5L if your budget allows for it. 

 

Check Out

- Day 2: First Drive: 2013 Honda Accord V6 Coupe

- Launch Report: 2013 Honda Accord 

- Full Specs, Prices and Features of 2013 Honda Accord Sedan and Coupe

 

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