TSX69
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This review compares it to the BMW 3series, Mercedes Cclass & Audi A4 ... prompting me to wonder if this is considered a luxury ride in other markets. Which would kind of make sense since they do not have Acura ...
Honda Accord: Gunning for a Place in a Tough Market
With BMW’s ever-desirable 3-Series a prime rival, that’s a tough task, though. And the Accord also has to take the fight to the likes of the Mercedes-Benz C-class, with image and prestige the key attractions of the Three-Pointed Star.
The Audi A4 is another status-driven product that has become a firm favourite in this category, but interestingly, Volkswagen’s Passat is a more direct rival, despite its European origins. In fact, it’s always been as underrated as the Honda, perhaps because of its perceived inferiority to sibling brand Audi.
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Nick GravesX
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TSX69 wrote:
This review compares it to the BMW 3series, Mercedes Cclass & Audi A4 ... prompting me to wonder if this is considered a luxury ride in other markets. Which would kind of make sense since they do not have Acura ...
Honda Accord: Gunning for a Place in a Tough Market
With BMW’s ever-desirable 3-Series a prime rival, that’s a tough task, though. And the Accord also has to take the fight to the likes of the Mercedes-Benz C-class, with image and prestige the key attractions of the Three-Pointed Star.
The Audi A4 is another status-driven product that has become a firm favourite in this category, but interestingly, Volkswagen’s Passat is a more direct rival, despite its European origins. In fact, it’s always been as underrated as the Honda, perhaps because of its perceived inferiority to sibling brand Audi.
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No for several reasons.
One being it's a Honda.
The US use of 'Luxury/non-luxury' is ridiculously simplified and does not translate to modern brand strategy/perception. The definition is antiquated. It now follows:
Tier 1 – Elite:
Aston Martin, Bentley, Bugatti, Daimler, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maybach, Porsche and Rolls Royce.
Tier 2 – Prestige:
Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus, Lotus, Maserati and Mercedes-Benz (most of whom have a ‘Luxury’ saloon in their product portfolio).
Tier 3 – Premium:
Alfa Romeo, Honda, Jeep, Lancia, Mitsubishi, Peugeot, Renault, Saab, Subaru, Volkswagen and Volvo (most of whom do not have a ‘Luxury’ saloon in their product portfolio).
Tier 4 – Value:
Chrysler, Citroen, Fiat, Ford, Mazda, Nissan, SEAT, Skoda, Toyota and Vauxhall (most of whom are commonly referred to as ‘volume’ manufacturers).
Tier 5 – Budget:
Chevrolet, Proton and, probably, the majority of the Chinese OEMs which will eventually export to America and Europe.
The word 'marque' can be used instead of the word ‘brand’ when referring to the OEMs in the Tier 1 – Elite and Tier 2 – Prestige categories to differentiate them further from those in the Tier 3 – Premium, Tier 4 – Value and Tier 5 – Budget categories.
Brand values can be defined by reference to each marque’s or brand’s product profile/portfolio and fall broadly into the following three categories:
Lifestyle i.e. those in which the main attributes of each product range are practicality and versatility.
Luxury i.e. those in which the main attributes of each product range are comfort and refinement.
Sports i.e. those in which the main attributes of each product range are performance and technical sophistication.
The above approach can probably be best illustrated by the following examples:
Alfa Romeo: Tier 3 – Premium/Sports.
Audi: Tier 2 – Prestige/Sports.
BMW: Tier 2 – Prestige/Sports.
Fiat: Tier 4 – Value/Lifestyle.
Ford: Tier 4 – Value/Lifestyle.
Honda: Tier 3 – Premium/Sports.
Lexus: Tier 2 – Prestige/Luxury.
Mazda: Tier 4 – Value/Sports.
Mercedes-Benz: Tier 2 – Prestige/Lifestyle.
Saab: Tier 3 – Premium/Lifestyle.
Volkswagen: Tier 3 – Premium/Lifestyle.
Volvo: Tier 3 – Premium/Lifestyle.
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6SPDTL
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Every time I hear this luxury tier thing I vomit and my hemorrhoids flare up. I would preffer it was called the asshole/dick scale. The higher on the luxury "tier" the bigger the asshole the smaller the dick!
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Nick GravesX
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6SPDTL wrote:
Every time I hear this luxury tier thing I vomit and my hemorrhoids flare up. I would preffer it was called the asshole/dick scale. The higher on the luxury "tier" the bigger the asshole the smaller the dick!
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IKWYM - it sometimes appears that teir 2 vehicles seem to attract wannabe bank robbers/drug dealers/footballers or the terminally senile! Even if they are in reality a glorified sales rep.
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superchg
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6SPDTL wrote:
Every time I hear this luxury tier thing I vomit and my hemorrhoids flare up. I would preffer it was called the asshole/dick scale. The higher on the luxury "tier" the bigger the asshole the smaller the dick!
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6SPDTL, I'm afraid you've left out women on your special rating system!
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6SPDTL
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They have the smallest pipis! Embryologically the clitoris is an underdeveloped penis (from a man's perspective, from a woman's the penis is a hypertrophied clitoris)! But due to other hysterical issues (hysterus means uterus) the rankings are not applicable LOLOLOLOL!!!!!
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CR-V9
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What's you're looking at .......
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CanTex
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We recently "dropped in" to most of the countries around the Baltic Sea on a cruise, and, after many hours looking at the cars on the streets instead of the "important" scenery (wife's words), I'd say you're about right. The Accord sedan and Tourer seemed to be driven by higher-level office-type people, maybe corporate managers with a family and related obligations, not Bimmer types. We saw three sedans and three Tourers, all in white.
Amongst all the little s**tboxes running around, the Golf seemed to be almost up there with the Accord, a rare sight compared to all the SEATs and Polos on the streets.
As mentioned elsewhere, IMHO, the TSX front end does look better, especially on the wagon.
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Restless
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Nick Graves wrote:
Tier 3 – Premium:
Alfa Romeo, Honda, Jeep, Lancia, Mitsubishi, Peugeot, Renault, Saab, Subaru, Volkswagen and Volvo (most of whom do not have a ‘Luxury’ saloon in their product portfolio).
Tier 4 – Value:
Chrysler, Citroen, Fiat, Ford, Mazda, Nissan, SEAT, Skoda, Toyota and Vauxhall (most of whom are commonly referred to as ‘volume’ manufacturers).
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Renault and Mitsubishi are Premium while Citroen,Toyota are Value?! What exactly is Renault's premium car - Logan or Duster?
And wtf is Vauxhall? :P (just kidding, are you from England?)
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chuchurocket
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in markets (like europe) that sometimes include the accord in the same line with a4 and 3-series, they also tend to occasionally throw ford mondeo, mazda 6 and toyota avensis into the mix as well, now would you consider those cars to be luxuries? keep in mind of the fact that while toyota honda ford mazda were thrown in the same pile as a4 and 3-series, at the same time bigger and costlier E-class and 5-series were being driven around as TAXIS.
when it comes to judging the price/content of a car (except north america), it goes like this, within most manufacturers, the bigger the car, the bigger the engine/power, more/better gear, higher chance it will be on RWD/AWD platform, more features, and higher price, while smaller cars the opposite. look at hyundai/kia for example. american market doesn't operate this way due to the extreme overabundance of large yet cheap/underpower/decontented cars. so foreign brands trying to enter the US have to either 1, maintain their lineup but re-market themselves as luruxy brands to justify the cost/content (ie, 3 series, c class, smaller yet powerful/expensive); or 2, conform to the market and bring their contents down to match the general cheapness fo the domestic brands (camry, accord). nobody else in the world except north american feel weird about buying a flagship v8 powerhouse (LS, s-class) from a brand that simultaneously manufacture and put the same logos on the econo-toaster-on-wheel for the masses (yaris, smart, a-class). so when they set foot in the US, they either pretend they don't make some of the relatively cheap grocery getters (Mercedes), or come up with an entire new brand (lexus, infiniti). so is the accord luxury elsewhere? yes and no. if you can consider all those 2-3 years old, 120-160 hp 3 series and A4's that can barely outrun corollas and prius as luxuries, then yes. if you idea of luxury is something other than a bunch of slow, 4 cylinder, relatively de-contented vehicles that's cheaper than the average taxis on the road, then no.
as for the while tier-X BS that someone arbitrarily came up with, while i am not familiar with and thus don't have any objection on the euro-brands, here's the deal. go to japan, even for just a half day, go to any random part of any random city, and count how many $40,000+ usd toyota and nissan "value" saloons (mark-x, crown, skyline, and fuga) are running around, and then compare that number to the number of $40,000+ honda "premium" saloons (accord 2.4, inspire, legend) and mitsu/subaru (i can't even think of any valid examples for these two) running around. trust me, it will not take you very long to notice an obvious trend of what and where ppl would rather spend money on.
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DOHCtor
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In countries like India and Pakistan even a Civic is considered to be a luxury car. Base model Accord 2.4l costs 45k dollars and the V6 costs 61k. No Navi, no heated seats.
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