| COMFORT AND EQUIPMENT RATING: |
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Honda's engineers have created a much quieter car than the outgoing model, but it's still not quite there yet; on British roads, there is some intrusive wind noise and tyre noise at speed, and the engines can both get a bit loud. The ride is on the hard side, especially in the stiffer-sprung Tourer models with the larger wheels and thinner tyres. However, the front seats are significantly bigger than the old model's, and are very supportive and comfortable. Honda has developed a new design for the seat base that pushes the pelvis into the seat for a more orthapaedically correct driving position. Much improved. Despite the Accord saloon sharing the same 2670mm-long wheelbase as the old model, the interior offers 5mm more front headroom and 30mm more elbow room. The Tourer has an extra 50mm of wheelbase and is 85mm longer overall. Front passengers sit on larger, more heavily bolstered chairs and rear accommodation is good. But it's still not as capacious as the Mondeo and despite 15mm more legroom and 75mm additional elbow room, the Accord feels cramped compared to the Skoda Superb. The Tourer's boot is huge, however, bigger than those of rivals such as the 156 Sportwagon, 9-5 estate, 3-Series Touring, C-Class wagon or even the Volvo V70. All Accords come with a top-drawer CD and radio sound system as standard, operated by a touch screen on higher-spec models. Upper-echelon variants to come with DVD-based touch-screen satellite navigation with integrated controls for the climate and ventilation system.
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