Although their full test of the 2013 Accords isn't complete, the new model has replaced the old one on their Accord page. It's also accompanied by a few new comments. They seem impressed with both AT drivetrains, saying the CVT is "unobtrusive and acts like a conventional gearbox". They describe the new V6/AT drivetrain as "punchy and refined". As for the chassis, they call it "fairly agile with a taut ride". And they mention that the cabin is quieter than before.
They also posted their road test of the 2013 Altima and they seem to be somewhat disappointed with the redesign of their former top rated sedan. Complaints included mediocre handling with vague steering and lots of body lean and unimpressive braking. They were more impressed with the drivetrains, and they got 44 MPG on the highway with the I4... wow! I thought it was impressive when the owner of a 2013 Accord I4 CVT reported 40.5 MPG on a long highway trip. No Accord mpg figures from CR yet... it'll be interesting to see where it places.
One odd performance figure... they list "RPM at 60 mph" as 3685 for the I4. I checked on that figure on my 2013 EX-L I4 CVT and it came out to 1750. The Altima engine turns at 2000 RPM higher at the same speed? It almost has to be a typo, or maybe someone inadvertantly recorded the value while the transmission was in the Ds (Sport) mode.
Finally, in the Altima road test, they have a list of "Viable Alternatives" that includes the statement "2013 Honda Accord looks very promising". So perhaps the Accord will once again surpass the Altima in their ratings and will be at or closer to the top than was the gen 8, which fell a couple notches as compared to the gen 7. It can't hurt, even though Civic sales have been booming despite CR's harsh criticism of the redesign.
Sorry, I can't provide links since they go to subscription-only pages.
This sounds really promising, thanks for the find. Consumer Reports liked the 8th gen Accord a fair amount, but their test of the MMC LX yielded a very mediocre score (for an Accord). The fact that they're hinting at liking the Accord more than their perennial favorite, the Altima, has me excited.
On a side note, I've noticed that CR's highway fuel economy ratings are way higher than real life (they must test at a lower speed than the typical interstate 70 MPH), while their city ratings are way too low. However, they usually average out to a pretty accurate combined rating for me at least.
I'll be interested to see how the Accord compares to the Altima in fuel economy and overall score.
'Using a precise fuel-flow measuring device spliced into the fuel line, we run three separate circuits. One is on a public highway at a steady 65 mph. That circuit is run in both directions to counteract any wind effect.'
VTECyo! wrote: On a side note, I've noticed that CR's highway fuel economy ratings are way higher than real life (they must test at a lower speed than the typical interstate 70 MPH), while their city ratings are way too low. However, they usually average out to a pretty accurate combined rating for me at least.
I'll be interested to see how the Accord compares to the Altima in fuel economy and overall score.
I understand what you mean, and I'm not saying that CR's measuring is inaccurate, but rather that their testing procedure is somewhat flawed. I know that things vary from place to place, but at a constant 70-75 MPH on the interstate in my 2011 Odyssey Touring I get 25-28 MPG, and in moderate city traffic I get 20-23 MPG.
Consumer Reports' figures are 12 MPG city and 31 MPG highway with 19 MPG overall.
The 19 MPG figure seems reasonably accurate, but there's never been a time when I got 12 MPG in the Odyssey, regardless of how many hills I climb or how fast I accelerate. Likewise, I've never been able to achieve 31 MPG on the highway, and 28 seems to be an absolute maximum.
This trend holds true for many of the vehicles CR tests:
Civic LX- 19/47
Sonata GLS- 18/39
BMW 328i- 19/40
2011 Accord LX-P- 17/37
Across the board there are extremely low city figures (19 MPG in a Civic!?) and extremely high highway figures (the same civic gets 8 MPG higher than the EPA rating).
At least in my area, 65 MPH is not highway driving. Typical highway speeds are in excess of 70 MPH.
talon95 wrote: One odd performance figure... they list "RPM at 60 mph" as 3685 for the I4. I checked on that figure on my 2013 EX-L I4 CVT and it came out to 1750. The Altima engine turns at 2000 RPM higher at the same speed? It almost has to be a typo, or maybe someone inadvertantly recorded the value while the transmission was in the Ds (Sport) mode.
Must be an error. I highly doubt an engine would stay at nearly 4000 rpm at 60 mph (96 kmh).
They also posted their road test of the 2013 Altima and they seem to be somewhat disappointed with the redesign of their former top rated sedan. Complaints included mediocre handling with vague steering and lots of body lean and unimpressive braking.
.
.
I'm pretty sure I read exactly opposite in Altima reviews from other sites, that the steering and handling was good. Don't remember anybody else complaining about altima body lean.
So, its a bit surprising on CR findings being opposite of what is being considered as Altima's strength by others.
On the other hand, its nice to see CR liking Accord.
They also posted their road test of the 2013 Altima and they seem to be somewhat disappointed with the redesign of their former top rated sedan. Complaints included mediocre handling with vague steering and lots of body lean and unimpressive braking.
.
.
I'm pretty sure I read exactly opposite in Altima reviews from other sites, that the steering and handling was good. Don't remember anybody else complaining about altima body lean.
So, its a bit surprising on CR findings being opposite of what is being considered as Altima's strength by others.
On the other hand, its nice to see CR liking Accord.
From what I've seen, evaluations of steering feel on the same car is often at opposite ends of the spectrum going from publication to publication. It happened pretty often back in the days of hydraulic steering and it happens all the time now that more and more cars are going to EPS (the Altima's steering is a hybrid hydraulic/electric design that Nissan claims provides better steering feel than "pure" EPS). That determination is all subjective anyway and I think that different people have very different perceptions of steering feel.
Though C&D had some good things to say about the Altima's steering, they gave it a steering feel score that was 1 point below Accord, a handling score that was 1 point below Accord and Fusion, and a ride score that was 2 points below Accord and Fusion. When they close out the Altima's part of the comparo by saying "but the end result lacks any outstanding qualities beyond having the largest trunk opening (though not the largest trunk)", it seems that they didn't find the ride, handling and steering to be anything special.
OTOH, MT had high praise for the Altima's handling and steering, though not so much the ride.
They also posted their road test of the 2013 Altima and they seem to be somewhat disappointed with the redesign of their former top rated sedan. Complaints included mediocre handling with vague steering and lots of body lean and unimpressive braking.
.
.
I'm pretty sure I read exactly opposite in Altima reviews from other sites, that the steering and handling was good. Don't remember anybody else complaining about altima body lean.
So, its a bit surprising on CR findings being opposite of what is being considered as Altima's strength by others.
On the other hand, its nice to see CR liking Accord.
From what I've seen, evaluations of steering feel on the same car is often at opposite ends of the spectrum going from publication to publication. It happened pretty often back in the days of hydraulic steering and it happens all the time now that more and more cars are going to EPS (the Altima's steering is a hybrid hydraulic/electric design that Nissan claims provides better steering feel than "pure" EPS). That determination is all subjective anyway and I think that different people have very different perceptions of steering feel.
Though C&D had some good things to say about the Altima's steering, they gave it a steering feel score that was 1 point below Accord, a handling score that was 1 point below Accord and Fusion, and a ride score that was 2 points below Accord and Fusion. When they close out the Altima's part of the comparo by saying "but the end result lacks any outstanding qualities beyond having the largest trunk opening (though not the largest trunk)", it seems that they didn't find the ride, handling and steering to be anything special.
OTOH, MT had high praise for the Altima's handling and steering, though not so much the ride.
After renting a 2013 Altima for a week, I thought it was a really nice car. If you happen to rev the 2.5 engine with the CVT though, the sounds it makes are not Honda smooth, but rather sounded like a John Deere tractor!
VTECyo! wrote: I understand what you mean, and I'm not saying that CR's measuring is inaccurate, but rather that their testing procedure is somewhat flawed. I know that things vary from place to place, but at a constant 70-75 MPH on the interstate in my 2011 Odyssey Touring I get 25-28 MPG, and in moderate city traffic I get 20-23 MPG.
Consumer Reports' figures are 12 MPG city and 31 MPG highway with 19 MPG overall.
The 19 MPG figure seems reasonably accurate, but there's never been a time when I got 12 MPG in the Odyssey, regardless of how many hills I climb or how fast I accelerate. Likewise, I've never been able to achieve 31 MPG on the highway, and 28 seems to be an absolute maximum.
This trend holds true for many of the vehicles CR tests:
Civic LX- 19/47
Sonata GLS- 18/39
BMW 328i- 19/40
2011 Accord LX-P- 17/37
Across the board there are extremely low city figures (19 MPG in a Civic!?) and extremely high highway figures (the same civic gets 8 MPG higher than the EPA rating).
At least in my area, 65 MPH is not highway driving. Typical highway speeds are in excess of 70 MPH.
It seems like they test it to both extreams. One tank driving really hard in the city, and another tank babying it on the HWY. Probably not realistic ranges for one normal driver, however it does give an idea of what best and worst case could be.
After renting a 2013 Altima for a week, I thought it was a really nice car. If you happen to rev the 2.5 engine with the CVT though, the sounds it makes are not Honda smooth, but rather sounded like a John Deere tractor!
I thought it steered and rode OK - a bit less absorbent than the Accord and a bit rougher/noisier if you revved it. Nice interior though and really nice seats - would need to spend more time between them to declare a seat comfort winner.
VTECyo! wrote: This sounds really promising, thanks for the find. Consumer Reports liked the 8th gen Accord a fair amount, but their test of the MMC LX yielded a very mediocre score (for an Accord).
I think in order to squeeze the last drop out Honda was forced to use LLR tires during 8G MMC to boost EPA hwy mileage claim. It hurt handling and braking. I think I read that the Mazda3 w/ new engine also use LLR tires and sacrifice a bit braking and handling, too.
They also posted their road test of the 2013 Altima and they seem to be somewhat disappointed with the redesign of their former top rated sedan. Complaints included mediocre handling with vague steering and lots of body lean and unimpressive braking.
.
.
I'm pretty sure I read exactly opposite in Altima reviews from other sites, that the steering and handling was good. Don't remember anybody else complaining about altima body lean.
So, its a bit surprising on CR findings being opposite of what is being considered as Altima's strength by others.
On the other hand, its nice to see CR liking Accord.
From what I've seen, evaluations of steering feel on the same car is often at opposite ends of the spectrum going from publication to publication. It happened pretty often back in the days of hydraulic steering and it happens all the time now that more and more cars are going to EPS (the Altima's steering is a hybrid hydraulic/electric design that Nissan claims provides better steering feel than "pure" EPS). That determination is all subjective anyway and I think that different people have very different perceptions of steering feel.
Though C&D had some good things to say about the Altima's steering, they gave it a steering feel score that was 1 point below Accord, a handling score that was 1 point below Accord and Fusion, and a ride score that was 2 points below Accord and Fusion. When they close out the Altima's part of the comparo by saying "but the end result lacks any outstanding qualities beyond having the largest trunk opening (though not the largest trunk)", it seems that they didn't find the ride, handling and steering to be anything special.
OTOH, MT had high praise for the Altima's handling and steering, though not so much the ride.
After renting a 2013 Altima for a week, I thought it was a really nice car. If you happen to rev the 2.5 engine with the CVT though, the sounds it makes are not Honda smooth, but rather sounded like a John Deere tractor!
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