Overview

The 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid is a mid-size family sedan which is powered by a 3.0L V6 engine and is boosted by an Integrated Motor Assist system that uses a motor/generator between the engine and transmission.

Driving The Car

The Accord Hybrid drives just like a normal car except that when the battery is sufficiently charged, the gas engine shuts off below three mph when the transmission is in drive. This is probably the single largest fuel saving feature of the car, especially if you spend a lot of time in stop-and-go traffic. When the gas engine is shut off, the car uses a small electric motor to provide power to the steering, brakes and air conditioning. There is no noticable change in the behavior of any of these functions with and without the gas engine.

The small motor/generator attached to the gas engine provides additional torque to the transmission when necessary, and it also provides regenerative braking when slowing down (even without using the brakes). The fact that the electric motor is never solely responsible for motivating the vehicle means that it doesn't require a large number of batteries. Indeed, there is a single battery under the hood of the Accord Hybrid. You don't have to worry about an array of expensive batteries to replace after 80,000 miles. The battery in the Accord Hybrid is a rather large 14.6 volt battery that could probably start a semi. The computer keeps close tabs on this battery and if it decides the battery is too low, it will draw power from the gas engine through the IMA to recharge the battery. This is very useful and evident when driving in mountains, which is probably the type of driving that sees the least gains from the hybrid system.

Another trick up the Accord Hybrid's sleeve is that the V6 will deactive three cylinders when the engine is in steady-state driving. A small "eco" indicator comes on in the speedometer to let you know the engine is running on three cylinders. You don't notice any power loss because as soon as you ask for more power, the engine returns to normal operation without any kind of perceptible changes. The only time you may notice the gas engine running on three cylinders is when you are going up a very slight grade and the computer decides the load is not great enough to activate the other cylinders. Instead, you'll see the IMA meter go to full "assit" and you'll feel a very slight vibration in the gas peddle as the three cylinders that are running provide all the power they can. This is the closest thing to a "compromise" you have to make for fuel economy in this car.

Mileage

I bought this car because I am commuting about 180 miles per day between Tullahoma, TN and Nashville, TN. This drive varies from rolling hills at the foot of a mountain, to long flat stretches on the Cumberland Plataue on Interstate 24. According to my Garmin navigation system, my average speed over the course of a month is 55.7 MPH, of which about 70% is spent between 70 and 80 MPH on I-24. Over that same time period, I've been averaging 31.5 MPG. No, it's not what a Toyota Prius can achieve, or even a Civic Hybrid, but neither one of those cars provides as much space, comfort, luxury or performance as the Accord Hybrid.

Driving Pleasure

The standard Accord V6 with an automatic is no slouch with 0-60 in the 6 second range. The Hybrid adds more torque and power to the equation and puts it on a level playing field with much more "sporting" cars such as the Mustang GT, Nissan Maxima, and even the Acura TL; which is the Accord's first cousin. The IMA does add some more weight to the nose of an already nose-heavy front drive car. The tires are the same as on regular Accords, and are prone to understeer quickly and loudly. The chassis is very good and when I wear out the stock tires I'll be putting some more serious rubber underneath to get rid of the incessant tire squeeling. And with as much power as this thing has, tire squeeling is common, even when you're just going about your normal driving.

Interior

Honda got its reputation for quality from two things: first, the engines run forever, second, the interiors last forever. In the last few years, not only has Honda made well built interiors, but also beautiful ones. The guages and dashboard of the Accord are simply gorgeous. The plastics do not look cheap, and neither do they feel cheap. Comparing this car to anything from Nissan, Ford, GM, or Toyota, and you'll feel like your driving a notch above in every way. Only Lexus, Infinity and Acura make a better showing in this type of car, and not by much!

My car came with the standard six-disk in-dash CD-changer and XM radio. The XM radio plugs into the PIE disk changer system input on the radio head unit. To add auxiliary inputs for my Palm Treo 700w, I had to buy a special device that emulates a PIE cd-changer and has a selector switch for the XM radio and up to three auxiliary devices. While installing this I had to dissasemble much of the center console and in so doing gained even more respect for Honda's engineers. The way things fit together, and the fastening mechanisms used, make it obvious why Hondas don't develop rattles after 20,000 miles and why they look as well built in 10 years as they did the day it was new.

The radio is the car's biggest problem. It does not have an equalizer, providing only treble and base control. As such, any audio with high-band noise cannot be filtered in any way. CDs made from compressed music (MP3, WMA, etc) simply do not sound as good as the originals because any time there is silence or very low sounds, you start hearing a hiss from the lossy-compression artifacts. This is also evident with the XM radio and my Palm Treo 700w. In comparison, my Nissan Titan's radio does a superb job of filtering noise from all audio sources and is a pleasure to listen to no matter what's playing.

Comfort

The single most important part of any commuter car is the seats. Honda gets a 11 out of 10 for the drivers seat of the Accord. It's simply perfect. I'm 6' 1", 240 pounds and I have plenty of head room, leg room, foot room, knee room, and the pedals and wheel are perfectly located. It doesn't get any better than this. The Hybrid only comes with the full leather interior with heated seats. I have several medical problems with my lower back and since I've been driving this car to work I have been able to stop my pain medication. The heated seats have two settings and even the lower setting is very therapeutic. The drivers seat is power adjustable for tilt, height, back angle and fore-aft distance. It also has a lumbar support that actually makes a difference. And the lumbar support is heated, too!

Five adults can easily ride in this car. The back seat is not cramped, with plenty of leg room for a real person to ride behind a six footer without anyone feeling pinched.

Storage

The Accord has a multitude of storage bins and cup holders, eight cup-hoders to be exact! The center console has three storage areas, one beneath the radio which is shaped to hold CD-boxes, and two under the center arm rest (which is adjustable fore and aft). The center console in the back seat folds down to reveal two of the eight cup holders. Each door contains a large map pocket and another cup holder capable of holding 1 litre bottles of soda. The glove box is a tad small, though.

Conclusion

I love my car. I am very happy with it's performance on the road, and with it's performance at the fuel pump. My car was a demo with 5,000 miles on it when I bought it from Darryl Waltrip Honda in Franklin, TN. The delearship has been an absolute pleasure to deal with. They provided free oil changes for the first 12,000 miles of ownership. Because of the incredible reliability of Hondas, I was able to get a 7 year, 100,000 mile bumber to bumber warranty for only $1000 with a $50 deductible. That's on top of the 5 year, 50,000 mile bumber-to-bumper warranty for the car being a certified used Honda!
Amount Paid (US$): 28000
Condition: Used
Model Year: 2005
Model and Options: Hybrid