oh dear, the chrome strip on the rear bumper diffuser area is way too much.

 

I think its a handsome, well proportioned and sporty look that is ruined by a bunch of stupid chrome trim.

I mean this is an Accord, not a freaking Chrysler 300 or Fleetwood Brougham. Seriously, change that ugly front grill around, get rid of the chrome door handles and all that chrome trim on the rear and it would look 1000x better.

 

No, Honda at least gets this part right, make everything that Acura gets trickled down to Honda quickly, so those cars look much nicer than the competition.

 

If I am an Acura TLX owner I may be upset about how similar the new Accord is to the TLX.

Honda has taken the approach the past few years to make the Accord their flagship model while ignoring Acura a lot.

In 2013 the Accord, RLX, and MDX all had the same advanced tech and features.
In 2014 the TLX was upgraded.
In 2015 the CRV got upgraded.
In 2016 the RDX and ILX finally got all the upgrades that were available in the 2013 Accord and 2015 CRV.

With the Accord and TLX being so similar I am guessing Acura is looking to interchange parts as much as possible.

Comparing the Accord to the TLX:
Price (2015)- TLX base with a 4 cylinder engine is about $32500 / According Touring with the 6 cylinder engine is about $34500
Length - TLX is 190.3 inches while the Accord is 191.4 inches
Width - TLX is 73 inches while the Accord is 72.8 inches
Height - TLX is 57 inches while the Accord is 57.7 inches

Looking at the Lexus ES, Toyota Camry, and Toyota Avalon shows some differentiation.
Camry is 190.9 inches long to the ES being 193.3 inches long to the Avalon being 195.3 inches long. While each is only 2 inches different from the prior it does show differentiation between the Camry and ES.

 

if honda makes improvements from acura, they get criticized
if acura makes improvements, they get criticized
if acura doesn't make improvements, they get criticized
if honda doesn't make improvements, they get criticized.

 

It's a wonder they stay in business.

 

I'd bet more read it than we might think

I agree that auto companies should not be unfairly criticized or harped on, just for the sake of harping. But, despite the continuing high build-quality and reliability of their products, its not stretching things, IMO, to say that Acura's leadership, marketing, and stubbornness has not been very impressive.

 

Leaving out the dimensions of the car out of the discussions, when ever Acura upgrades the TLX and then the Accord gets those improvements quickly, that just means Acura has to keep reinvesting in its tech and stay ahead/keep up in the game.

I wish Toyota and Lexus did this. Its been how long since the LS and the 8-speed transmission been out? Now everyone Lexus competes with has 7-9 speed transmissions in almost all their cars, while Lexus barley has it in a few cars, and Toyota still has 4-speeds in their cars.

 

i'll be more blunt - they blew a decade with weird product decisions and lackluster or just plain bad products. but it seems fair to say they're making somewhat of a comeback.

honda has made some decent progress after toe stubs like that craptastic civic version a few years back, the crosstour, and generally lame hybrids, but the cr-v is selling like hotcakes and i wouldn't be surprised to see the hr-v sell in HUGE numbers as sedan sales continue to shrink in favor of cuv/suvs. the new pilot is a big improvement, although i saw one on the road and thought its proportions looked bad, like the wheelbase/track is too small for the big body.

back to the '16 accord here... i agree with others the front/rear chrome is a bit much, but some nice improvements otherwise.

 

That El Cheapo 2012 Civic was not just a toe stub...it was a major toe fracture. I tried to tell that to the local Honda reps, but they just fluffed it off as idle talk. However, that was one of the few times that Honda management, far above the level of local reps, DID move quickly when they realized they had blown it from cost-cutting. They had new interior and exterior trim and materials for an emergency upgrade ready within a year, for the 2013 model....a lead time almost impossibly quick in the auto industry.

The Crosstour had the makings of an excellent vehicle, had they simply not used that silly droop-rear end that screwed up all the cargo space. But, unlike with the Civic, Honda management simply did normalize the error on that one.


Agreed. My brother, very recently, came within an inch of buying a new HR-V before deciding on a Kia Sportage.

I hope they've toned down the suspension and tires a little, like Toyota is going to do with the new non-Touring Avalon versions. The last Accord update, a few years ago, IMO, stiffened the underpinnings up too much...just like with the Avalon.

 

Someone mentioned stubbornness above. I think that is a good observation for Acura. Honda is a little quicker to make changes to keep up with the market.

Acura goes with a 6 to 7 year cycle.
Year 1 - car redesign
Year 2 and 3 - very few if any changes
Year 3 - refresh
Year 4 and 5 - very few if any changes
Year 6 / Year 1 - Redesign

for the RDX Year 1 was 2013. The Premium / Luxury companies were all moving toward LED lights and LED DRLs but Acura left those off the RDX. Ford Escape was launched with all the features.
2014 - Acura only changed 1 color for the RDX and nothing else (Jeep Cherokee was launched with all the premium features not in the RDX plus LED DRLs). Acura MDX and TLX are upgraded with the new tech and LED headlights.
2015 - no changes to the RDX (Honda CRV gets all the new features, Lincoln MKC and Lexus NX are launched with all the new advanced features, while others like the Hyundai Santa Fe Sport get DRLs and some of the advanced features)
2016 - RDX finally gets refreshed with all the advanced features but still does not get the Earth Dreams engine.

I would have thought that in 2014 they should have added the headlights (if nothing else) to the RDX since all the premium vehicles had the LED DRLs. In 2015 they should have added the safety features. since they knew the NX and Cherokee were competition.