HONDA ACCORD TOURER TYPE S (From The Northern Echo)

HONDA ACCORD TOURER TYPE S

2:57pm Monday 15th March 2010 in

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THE FIRST Honda Accord went on sale in 1976. It had been designed at the height of the Seventies fuel crisis to be fuel efficient and high economical to run.

Honda chose the name Accord to denote the company's "desire for harmony and accord between people, society and the automobile" - far-sighted words as they could just as easily apply to the Accord in 2010 as they did the very first version 34 years ago.

The first Accord was a very different car to its modern day namesake. It was a lot smaller (about the size of a Civic) and only came with petrol engines.

Back then, a small 1.6-litre petrol was considered economical (especially in North America where the Accord was a big hit) but today's drivers know better. They want turbodiesel technology and nothing else (not even Honda's innovative VTEC variable valve timing that stretches a gallon of petrol further than most) will do.

So the latest Accord hits the road with a 2.2-litre blown diesel - even in the sportiest version, the Type S on test here.

On paper, Honda's standard i-DTEC engine looks a bit laid back for the Type S. These days the 'standard' i-DTEC power output of 150PS is standard fare for a diesel with high performance ambitions.

Honda prides itself on its engine building prowess. It doesn't do 'standard fare'. Signifcant alterations have been made to the powerplant for installation in the Accord Type S. The turbo has been revised, there's a larger inter-cooler as a result, beefed up con rods and revised cylinder heads. These extensive changes boost power by 30PS to a far more satsifying 180PS and torque by 30Nm to 380Nm at 2,000 rpm.

That's enough to give the Accord Tourer the sort of performance it's aggressive looks demand. There's plenty of flexibility, too; the engine didn't protest when the cruise control asked it to slog up a steep hill in sixth at 45 mph and it will hold 70mph all day no matter how much weight is aboard or how severe the incline.

It's quiet, as well, although starting from cold it usually sounded as though one or more of the mountings were loose such was the banging from beneath the bonnet. I suspect this issue may have had more to do with the test car (which at 18,000 miles in the hands of uncaring testers was more leggy than most) than the Accord itself. Ditto the clutch, which had too much travel.

The latest Accord (a reskinned version of the Japanese market Accord) carries an air of smouldering sophistication. The Type S gets a few extra bodywork additions to lend it a more aggressive look. The front bumper is lower, there's a deeper chin spoiler, a "smoked chrome" grille and subtle sill extensions.

Best of all, though, is the switch to larger 18-inch alloy wheels which fill out the wheelarches rather nicely.

In America, where the Accord is based on a much larger chassis, this model is sold as an Acura (in China it's called the Dongfeng-Honda Spiror, but we won't go into that) to denote its luxury car aspirations.

In the UK, the Type S has a very generous standard specification and a full house of gadgets and gizmos(including an automatic tailgate, colour reversing camera and intelligent cruise control). The very high quality interior has a nice sense of theatre with its chronometric analogue clocks, big colour screen monitor, alloy gearshifter and lashings of leather and soft feel plastics. It feels sporty without being vulgar - just the atmos Honda was aiming to create, I suspect, and they've nailed it.

At a shade over £29,000 it's still cheaper than a fully loaded Mondeo TDCi Titanium X Sport (what a mouthful). The Ford has a bigger boot (presumably to accommodate the nameplate on the back!) but the Accord will hold more of its value for longer and has the cachet of exclusivity.

Anyway Honda wasn't aiming for the Mondeo when it designed the Accord Tourer - it had rather loftier ambitions. The car Honda's engineers benchmarked was the Audi A4 Avant and compared to that, the Accord's price to specification ratio looks rather better.

Over its long career, the Accord has been a tremendously popular model. So much so, in fact, that Honda deems it neccessary to make different Accords for different markets. For while it was even manufactured in Swindon, although currently all UK-bound Accords are built in Japan.

That's why the North American Accord has nothing in common with the European version, which is sold in Australia and New Zealand as the Euro Accord and the US as the Accura VSX (still with me?).

The policy clearly works, with more than ten million Accords (of different shapes, sizes and types) sold worldwide.

And judging by the test car I reckon we get the best Accord of the lot - a sharp-looking, good-to-drive state-of-the-art family car that's been meticulously built from high quality materials. It's the best Accord yet.

And, as for the original concept of a family car that's enjoyable to drive and cheap to run, it's as relevant today as it has ever been.

Price: £29,268.

SPEC CHECK: Engine: 2.2-litre turbodiesel.

Max power: 180PS.

Max torque: 380Nm.

Top speed: 135 mph.

0-62 mph: 9.2 seconds.

CO2: 157 g/km.

Road tax: £150.

Av fuel consumption: 47 mpg.

EQUIPMENT: Leather heated and electrically adjustable seats, remote mirrors, four electric windows, automatic tailgate, alloy wheels, intelligent cruise control, colour monitor with satellite navigation, premium audio system.