I bought a Honda Accord 2.2 diesel (05 plate) just over a week ago now and its been quite nice so far. I'm going to do a writeup on it but not to really big-it-up as such as i'm aware its not the most thrilling car in the whole world, but more to try to do an honest assessment for anyone who might be considering one now that they're becoming pretty affordable to a lot of people.
*** Driving experience ***
I had initial concerns about getting a diesel because of the noise mainly but genuinely the only really blatent give-away sign that its a diesel is when you first start the car and you hear that sound, argh
to a lesser extent you can tell a bit when on quick acceleration in 2nd gear but other than that its extremely quiet and drives in a real petrol-like way.
The handling seems a strong point, especially given the size of the car and the clutch is quite light which i prefer. The steering is light as with most jap cars which to me is a bonus and feels really effortless. I'd say the gear change isn't silky smooth but its not what i'd call bad but more "functional" than anything else.
This car really pulls a lot in pretty much any gear and i'm finding that at motorway speeds, say from 50-80mph it pulls pretty well even in 5th which i wasn't expecting, leading me to pretty much never change gear once on the motorway. For overtaking i'm starting to realise that 2nd is a bit rubbish because it does seem to get near the rev counter rather quickly but for effortly overtaking on 30-40mph roads and b-roads, 3rd seems to be the one to use.
Economy seems very good so far. I've driven 80 miles, of which 10 miles were town type driving, another 10 on 50mph type roads and 60 motorway miles at about 70mph with low traffic, i brimmed the car up to max again and it cost £8.02 = 52mpg which was a pleasant surprise considering i really wasn't driving it that softly. I've since just realised that all my tyre pressures were all down which is making me think i could get higher. Needless to say, given how drivable this car is, i'm very happy with this sort of MPG and its really helping justify my decision over the other engine choices.
*** Inside / Goodies ***
This is the main reason it took so long to get one because i really wanted everything and this one in particualar seems to have the lot, heated leather seats which are pretty much unmarked, satnav, automatic wipers, heated wingmirrors, cruise , 6 speed cd player etc etc etc. Pretty much all the controls for everything, including aircon are all touchscreen on the main display so it had better not break!!!
I was pleased with the price but i suspect it was only near this because of the mileage. I paid £5300 for it and its a 2.2 diesel on an 05 plate with 112k miles and about as full service history as you can get with receipts for absolutely everything, even including tyres and the parrot hands free phone kit (£180?! nutter!). What is clear from reading the history is that these cars can chuck up some quite tastey bills including flywheel + clutch change for £1200 done at honda ( .... ) at 91k miles and another huge one for about £1700 but i'm sure these would have been significantly cheaper at an indy. I've heard the only real worry with these is the diesel injectors but i've already sourced out replacements for when the time comes.
The impression i get with these cars is that they're pretty shifty with a great diesel engine, they give very good economy and they're pretty well kitted out in the top spec levels but the bills they will chuck up will to some degree offset the nice economy, so i wouldn't expect this to be comparable to a vauxhall corsa for running costs but i hope it'll work out quite nicely. At this pricepoint they are now starting to appear from, its placing them pretty near mondeo/mazda6's which is making them a car to really consider imo.
*** Driving experience ***
I had initial concerns about getting a diesel because of the noise mainly but genuinely the only really blatent give-away sign that its a diesel is when you first start the car and you hear that sound, argh
to a lesser extent you can tell a bit when on quick acceleration in 2nd gear but other than that its extremely quiet and drives in a real petrol-like way. The handling seems a strong point, especially given the size of the car and the clutch is quite light which i prefer. The steering is light as with most jap cars which to me is a bonus and feels really effortless. I'd say the gear change isn't silky smooth but its not what i'd call bad but more "functional" than anything else.
This car really pulls a lot in pretty much any gear and i'm finding that at motorway speeds, say from 50-80mph it pulls pretty well even in 5th which i wasn't expecting, leading me to pretty much never change gear once on the motorway. For overtaking i'm starting to realise that 2nd is a bit rubbish because it does seem to get near the rev counter rather quickly but for effortly overtaking on 30-40mph roads and b-roads, 3rd seems to be the one to use.
Economy seems very good so far. I've driven 80 miles, of which 10 miles were town type driving, another 10 on 50mph type roads and 60 motorway miles at about 70mph with low traffic, i brimmed the car up to max again and it cost £8.02 = 52mpg which was a pleasant surprise considering i really wasn't driving it that softly. I've since just realised that all my tyre pressures were all down which is making me think i could get higher. Needless to say, given how drivable this car is, i'm very happy with this sort of MPG and its really helping justify my decision over the other engine choices.
*** Inside / Goodies ***
This is the main reason it took so long to get one because i really wanted everything and this one in particualar seems to have the lot, heated leather seats which are pretty much unmarked, satnav, automatic wipers, heated wingmirrors, cruise , 6 speed cd player etc etc etc. Pretty much all the controls for everything, including aircon are all touchscreen on the main display so it had better not break!!!
I was pleased with the price but i suspect it was only near this because of the mileage. I paid £5300 for it and its a 2.2 diesel on an 05 plate with 112k miles and about as full service history as you can get with receipts for absolutely everything, even including tyres and the parrot hands free phone kit (£180?! nutter!). What is clear from reading the history is that these cars can chuck up some quite tastey bills including flywheel + clutch change for £1200 done at honda ( .... ) at 91k miles and another huge one for about £1700 but i'm sure these would have been significantly cheaper at an indy. I've heard the only real worry with these is the diesel injectors but i've already sourced out replacements for when the time comes.
The impression i get with these cars is that they're pretty shifty with a great diesel engine, they give very good economy and they're pretty well kitted out in the top spec levels but the bills they will chuck up will to some degree offset the nice economy, so i wouldn't expect this to be comparable to a vauxhall corsa for running costs but i hope it'll work out quite nicely. At this pricepoint they are now starting to appear from, its placing them pretty near mondeo/mazda6's which is making them a car to really consider imo.
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