It's all mine at last, it may only be an X reg car, that makes it 11 years old. As it was first registered in 2000. We haven't had it that long though, we bought it second hand about 4 years ago. It has proved to be good, reliable and comfortable, I might add. Now I'm no Jeremy Clarkson, so if you want to know all the in depth technical details and specifications, you can find all this out by visiting Honda's website.
In the mean time I'll try to explain this car to you as best I can.
The Car
The model I have is a Honda Accord 1.8 VTEC SE exec, 5 door hatchback, petrol automatic, with semiautomatic gear box, central locking and factory fitted immobilizer.
Silver in color with a full black leather interior. I love the leather interior, it is so easy to keep clean, any spills just wipe off, unlike cloth interiors, which leave a nasty stain most the time if there happens to be any spillages. The interior of the car always looks nice and clean.
It has a type R rear spoiler and the original Honda wheels. My husband always wanted to change the wheels he thought the original ones always looked too small, I'm quite happy with the wheels myself, as long as they go round, I couldn't care less what size they are.
It has electric windows, mirrors and sunroof, and is fitted with air con. I never understood this, as the car has a sunroof, I didn't think a car needed both, but maybe that's just my lack of knowing anything as usual. With heated front seats, in the winter this is wonderful, being leather, the seats are very cold in the winter and having the option to heat them up, is a very nice touch I think. There is a downside to leather seats though, in the summer they can get extremely hot, as can the steering wheel.
The rear seat has an arm rest which can be pulled down in the centre.
In between the front seats, aside from the semiautomatic gear box, there is another arm rest that opens up to reveal a storage compartment, it also has a fairly decent size glove box.
A great cd/stereo which my husband bought and put in himself, the stereo that came with the car was a tape deck and radio, that had to go straight away.
Twin airbags in the front for safety.
The steering wheel along with the front seats can be adjusted for comfort for when your driving.
There is loads of room in this car and it is extremely comfortable.
The boot is big as well, loads of room for shopping etc.
The overall look of the car is lovely, big and spacious making it very comfortable and being automatic makes it a breeze to drive.
Engine and Fuel
With fuel prices rocketing at the moment, I'm not going to try and estimate the exact amount of money it takes to fill the tank but it does cost quite a lot to fill it. In the past, this has proved very expensive for us, but now, as I have the car and don't really drive that much, a full tank of petrol lasts me a very long time. I don't know what the exact fuel consumption is but for any information like that, I would suggest visiting Honda's website like I mentioned earlier. The engine size is actually 1850, which is odd I know, but it apparently goes under a 1.8. Personally I'd like a smaller engine and feel such a big engine is unnecessary for me, but because of the situation we're in, I will be keeping this car till such time I can change it for a smaller one. I am happy with the car, it hasn't needed any major work done since we purchased it, and we haven't had any modifications done to the car either. When it's time for the MOT the only thing that usually needs attention are the brake pads, apparently Honda's are good at wearing them out.
Speed and Miles
I don't really know what all this 0 to 60 is all about, but, I do know that it takes no time at all to reach 60 MPH from standing still, if that's what 0 to 60 means. When my husband was driving it, he had hit very high speeds quite easily, but unfortunately I'm not at liberty to say exactly what speeds. All I know is, that this car can keep up with the rest of the big cars out there and performs really well. We take regular trips from Derbyshire to Lincolnshire on average, about 80 to 90 mile drives and the Honda seems to love these long runs we do. It seems to work out better on fuel doing long distances rather than doting around town, I suppose these cars are made for motorway driving really and do seem to perform better on a longer run. I don't know what the mileage on the clock was when we bought the car, but I do know, when the car had it's last MOT April 1st 2011, the reading on the clock was 94000 plus miles. But for the past 4 years of owning the car, my husband was having to do 20 odd miles to work and then 20 odd miles back again, every day.
Automatic
Being automatic makes driving this car so easy, with not having to make any gear changes my car just seems to glide along, quietly with no knocks or bangs, I have a very nice and smooth ride each time I go out in it. As the car is semiautomatic I do have the option to drive the car in either way, but automatic is much better for me, especially now, with having Rheumatoid Arthritis which affects my hands and feet, an automatic car is a far better option for me. I feel totally safe and confident when driving my car. I like not having to deal with the clutch, the automatic is so easy I love it. Parking it is another matter though, I hate parking this car I think it's far to big to park and I miss my little 106 when it comes to parking.
Condition
For it's age I'd say the car was in great condition, our mechanic has said we'd be crazy to get rid of the Honda, we should hold on to it, as Honda's seem to be built to last. As it's about 11 years old now, I don't think it's doing bad at all. There's a few scuffs here and there on the body work and a few very small areas of rust and the paint work on top of the bumper (drivers side) is a bit scuffed where someone backed into it, luckily it was only the paintwork that was damaged. We have bought new tyres for it and some other bits and bobs, but we've never had to pay a great deal out for it in all the time we've owned it. We paid around £4,000 about 4 years ago and we think we got a good deal.
Insurance
My Honda is in class 23 insurance bracket, I was on my husbands insurance but now he has another car, I have insured the Honda myself with him added as additional driver. I am having to build up my own no claims bonus again as when I got rid of the 106, I was just insured as an additional driver on my husbands insurance. So starting from scratch again the best deal I managed to find for a years insurance was £337,64. It does sound like a lot to me, but hey it's paid for now so I can forget about it.
Recommendation
Most definitely yes, I would recommend this Honda or indeed any Honda, ours has proved to be totally reliable in all the time we've had it, it's never let us down, even in that really bad snow we had in December, it has not let us down at all. Over all it is a lovely, comfortable, reliable and easy drive, that looses a star only because I don't like parking it.
Thank you for reading my review which is also posted on Dooyoo
