Echoes of the Present: 1979 Honda Accord 4-Door Archive Road Test

From the March 1979 issue of Car and Driver.

Japanese manufacturers are building the best small American cars money can buy. Firms like Datsun and Subaru cling to products that are more in the Japa­nese tradition, but Toyota, Mazda, Mit­subishi, and Honda are cranking out trick little cars that would warm the cockles of a Detroit product planner’s heart. Of these, Honda’s Accord is the best. It is also, alas, the most expensive, but it is a class act and a car that could probably solve the transportation prob­lems of at least 75 percent of the people currently driving around on the high­ways of the good old U.S. of A.

The great trading companies of Japan have apparently decided that the world wants cars combining the size and weight of European econoboxes with the cushy velour and gadget features of traditional American bargain-cruisers, and the sales of Japanese cars in the Western world would seem to support them in that point of view.

In almost ev­ery case, things like ride, handling, roadholding, and interior accommoda­tions are much more like those of the best American cars than the best Euro­pean cars. Honda’s effort is a bit more European. Somehow Honda has made the Accord in such a way that it appeals to both foreign-car enthusiasts and American-car loyalists in this market. It’s also possible that none of the above speculation is true. Maybe people from all walks of life and every automotive persuasion buy Hondas simply because they’re terrific little cars, and never mind all the punditry about American­-European-Japanese blendings of auto­motive philosophies. Whatever it is, Honda is a remarkably successful car in this country, in spite of the fact that it costs the very earth to buy.

This new Accord four-door looks and feels like a mini-Mercedes. All it lacks is torque. If it had the dig of a Ford Fiesta, it would be perfect. It carries four American adults in remarkable comfort, it cruises at 75 or 80 effortlessly and quietly, and its ride is smooth and sup­ple. It doesn’t handle or hold the road as well as a Rabbit or a Fiesta, but it’s better than most others, either Japanese or European. Ironically, Detroit simply hasn’t yet come up with anything to touch this most American of imported cars. The Chevette is a great little trouper in its way, but one could “LX” the living hell out of a Chevette and still not have a Honda Accord. The Accord is more than fancy trim and ingenious extras; the Accord is a better idea. If the price strikes you as mini-Mercedes too, then consider the Honda Civic: another terrific little car, still a bargain, that has been somewhat overshadowed by its snazzy big brother.

More Honda Content and Reviews From The Archive

One’s first visual impression of the new Accord four-door sedan is a kind of Teutonic seriousness and restraint in the styling. Like the Accord coupe, this Honda eschews the “Gee, Dad, it’s a Wurlitzer!” look that characterizes so many Japanese cars. Available only in silver or burgundy, it is quite hand­some, and that handsomeness—along with the strong signal of quality it con­veys—kind of sets you up for the price sticker. “You” in this case would have to be a knowledgeable car enthusiast, however. That culturally deprived seg­ment of American society that still be­lieves that small cars are, by definition, cheap and chintzy will choke on the price and never come to know all the goodies that await on the other side of the sticker.

Those goodies are many and varied. Much of the deluxe “LX” trim from the coupe has been incorporated in the se­dan’s appointments, and this helps con­vey a feeling of BMW/Mercedes luxury rather than Rabbit/Fiesta corner-cut­ting. Standard equipment includes an AM/FM radio, steel-belted radials, a ta­chometer, a trick warning system that lights up in the center of the instrument panel to tell you if any door or the deck lid is left ajar or if the brake lights aren’t working, a maintenance reminder, a fuel-reserve warning light, fully reclin­ing front bucket seats, rear-seat head­rests, a remote trunk-lid release, a trunk light, a vanity mirror, and lighted ashtrays in both rear doors and the right front door. There’s also a handy, con­sole-mounted lock for the rear doors, with its own warning light.
Sitting down, closing the door, fas­tening your harness, and starting the engine all convey cumulative sensa­tions of well-being and reassurance.

The look of German quality also comes through as a quality feel. The five-speed transmission’s shift linkage is positive and accurate. The power steering, with variable boost, is the same. Every con­trol, whether push-pull, twist, or slide, works with commendable economy of effort. Headlights operate at a twist of the turn-signal knob; high-beams and overtaking flasher are on the same stalk. The windshield-wiper-and-washer control, with two speeds plus an intermit­tent mode, is on a similar stalk, 180 de­grees away, on the right side of the steering column. Seat adjustments for both fore-and-aft movement and back­rest angle accommodate drivers and passengers up to 6 feet 3 inches without infringing unduly on the rear passen­gers’ legroom. Front headroom was suf­ficient for the writer wearing anything but his really serious cowboy hat, but rear headroom is less generous. The front seats themselves conform to the accepted fashion in European buckets, being both comfortable and orthope­dically correct, and the rear seat is bet­ter than many in much larger cars. The plush upholstery fabric, the same shade of dark red in all cars, is soft and warm to the touch, while the seats it covers are quite firm.

Driving and riding posi­tions are generally pleasant and non-­fatiguing—even on one long and tense junket through 200 miles of pea-soup fog and slippery two-lane.
Any drive of more than ten minutes’ duration in the Honda should suffice to make a small-car believer out of all but the most hidebound big-car loyalist. There’s no doubt that you’re in a small car—the wheelbase is unchanged from the coupe, though overall length is in­creased by eight inches—yet the anthro­pometric envelope that surrounds each occupant is as comfortable and commo­dious as he’d have found in a traditional Ford or Chevy intermediate a few years ago. The driver is well placed before his instruments and controls, and visibility
front and rear is better than average. The engine is very quiet. With only 1751 cc displacement (an increase of roughly 10 percent) and 72 horsepower at 4500 rpm, one might expect it to be a little noisy in its work, but it hums along with minimum fuss and actually sounds quite pleasant.

The only glitch we discovered in the performance of our five-speed-manual­-equipped test car was a definite flat spot at low revs. Beyond 2500 rpm the engine pulled nicely all the way to its 6200 red­line, but getting away smoothly in first was never easy—slipping the clutch was mandatory—and dumping it into fifth gear below 3000 rpm gave the distinct impression that its little Japanese heart had stopped beating. Full throttle and lots of revs eliminated the problem, and the car fairly sings under that kind of treatment—even though it really isn’t what you’d call quick—but unfortunate­ly that isn’t the way most people drive. After you’ve spent a full day behind the wheel, the knowledge that it’s probably going to balk when you let the clutch out at the next traffic light starts to be­come obsessive, and the problem gets worse and worse.

Serious high-speed motoring is

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