you have got to be kidding me...: Test Drive: Honda Accord 2.0 VTi-L

I had the opportunity to test drive the new Honda Accord last weekend.

To be fully honest, I never did like Hondas. Don't ask me why but they just never appealed to me. Plus I know a bunch of Honda owners/drivers who are terribly sucky :P

DISCLAIMER: I mean no offence to Honda owners/drivers. Seriously. This is a personal opinion on the car.

But given this opportunity, I thought "Okay, maybe Hondas used to be ick back then but rock a lot more with their new technologies..."

So I decided to test this with an open mind.

When I picked up the car from the showroom, the sales guy wasn't the best or the friendliest of all. He drove the car out, put it in park... gave me the Honda Accord booklet (not the manual, mind you) and said "The keys are in the ignition, thanks!" and walked back into the showroom.

I was left to figure the car out by myself... So I thought "How hard can it be right?"

Yeah... first thing I did was try to adjust my seat. Now, my last new car was in 2005 and the pup is driving his dad's old Volvo T850. I reached down between my legs under the seat to find the lever to move the seat forward. There was none.

Then I rummaged through the glove compartment hoping to find a manual. Nada...

It took me a while to realize, that NOW, cars are fitted with electronic seat adjusters. Yeah I sure felt like an idiot :P

Yeah so it was a good time to test drive the car because the pup had his graduation ceremony over the weekend so we had to drive to Cyberjaya for it...

Performance wise: This Accord runs on a 4 cyclinder 16 Valve SOHC i-VTEC engine with 5-speed on a 1,480kg (1.4 ton) car. One word - underpowered. Somehow it takes the engine a while to pick up from nought, then slows down somewhere when you hit 40kmph... and only kicks in after about 7 secs or so....

It's like delayed reaction of some sort. But once it hits about 60kmph at cruising speed, it picks up quite easily and smoothly.

Although I must say that it might've different with a 2.4L....

Drive/handling wise: It didn't impress me. It felt too sensitive especially at higher speeds. Kinda feels like running on high heels (if you know what I mean). Also it felt rather floaty.... especially when I was speeding down the highway back from Cyberjaya to PJ - although that could be the tyres or suspension.

Looks wise: It was alright. I really don't have much of an opinion of it.

In and all, it's a great car to have if you're not looking for something that's too powerful but sizeable.

I don't even know why I'm writing this blog down.... Honda must hate me :P

I like big white cars :) kinda reminds me of dad's Toyota back in the 80s.

Spacious? You don't say! I can almost stand straight in there - that's almost 5 feet of room there! (I'm about 5'2" btw)

It rained so I took an attempted artsy shot :)

But what I was really trying to get was this.... The car was parked, we were getting out (me, pup and Momma Poh) and when she opened the door, some rainwater dripped on her!

Not a big fan of these bulgy eyes.

I like the steering wheel though. Quite ergonomic and just about the right size.

The control panel however was a bit too crowded I feel. It's like, the moment I got in and was trying choose the radio station I wanted, I had to look for a bit because there were just too many similar looking buttons.

I know, I know... a dashboard isn't a place for you to put stuff but seriously, it's practical to put stuff there no? Besides, a sloping piece like this seriously does not serve any purpose. It's kind of a waste of space don't you think?