By Shakti Budhiraja
Come February Honda will update the Accord with a facelift. There isn’t significant change on the new model, you need a microscope to spot changes. Instead of facelift, we describe it as interior and exterior improvements.
On cosmetic front, there is the new Honda family grille with horizontal slats seen on the current City. The City's plain gray grille is reworked with chrome to make it look up-market and soft. With a redesigned bumper, the front looks curvy than masculine.
The reworked tail lamps also gain chrome lining under the reflector extensions in the deck lid which is somewhat Chris Bangle’s work from the last generation BMW 7 series. Alloy wheels and turn indicators in ORVMs are new.
The heart remains unchanged, it will continue using the 2.4-liter 4 cylinder petrol motor producing 177 bhp and a 3.5-liter V6 churning out 271 bhp. However small tweaks to make it more efficient is expected.
Interior improvements include repositioning of switches for better driving ergonomics.
Feature like MID (Multi Information display), bluetooth compatibility, sunroof, and xenon lamps available in cars half the price of Accord are surprisingly absent.
Except City, none of the Honda models match the competition. Even the tiniest of optional features comes at a hefty premium.
It wouldn’t surprise us if Honda price the new Accord higher than the outgoing one. These not so remarkable additions don't demand a penny more than what the customer pays for the current model.
