Goodbye & Review 20k Miles Touring Sedan

[Molatte]

(Sales & Tech in awe of my Type R Steering LOL)

​

Hello.


As of 8/9/17, I have parted ways with my (beloved) Touring Sedan WOP. There were several factors in play in my decision to part ways with it all of a sudden; though the biggest factor of them all has to be that I am gravely disappointed in the build quality of the car. After owning it just 13 months and having daily driven it for exactly 20k miles, I can honestly say that the 1.5T is very underrated in terms of power. In fact, the 1.5T CVT is one of the more redeemable things that I loved (and hate) about this car.

So this thread is about my review at exactly 20k miles; I'll try to be as objective as possible because the poor build quality of this car has definitely soured my perception of it.

Performance / Power

Power and performance are the (very) strong points of the 1.5T engine. As someone that daily drives this car spiritedly, I can honestly say that it is very underrated. I never had the chance to do some performance mods to it but at stock this car can pretty much outrun (most) cars from a standstill at a light. See an F150? Gone. See an Ecoboost? No prob. See a V6 Accord? Bye. See an 9th Gen Si? See ya. On my road trip to Miami, I've managed to pull 118MPH on the turnpike for 40 miles straight. That's amazing considering that I had LOTS of pull left and would have hit the limiter and my car was full of passengers. Amazing stability IMO.

Another thing I'd like to point out this car is very nimble. The steering is very responsive and you feel like you're in touch with the road. Tilt the steering a little and the whole body responds almost immediately; its amazing for a glorified 'eco-box' of a car!

9/10; I'd rate this 10/10 but the CVT made this car a little 'lifeless' to drive and though it has great performance I could never really 'connect' with the driving dynamics of this car.

Safety

Honda Sensing is literally making everyone more complacent and unaware when it comes to driving. I don't know about you guys but I had my CMBS for the majority of time I've owned the Touring. Why? As someone that drives spiritedly, I don't want CMBS to brake when I'm trying to get past morning traffic. At times I would turn off traction control and I never used ACC because I like being involved in my driving.

The one thing I did appreciate was LKAS. LKAS is VERY useful when you have to be on your phone sometimes or needing to take that 5 second brake to crack your back and stretch while going on a road trip.

8/10 - Honda Sensing is literally babying drivers everywhere.


Comfort

As a guy that's 6'1 I found the seats of the Touring sedan to be a bit on the harsh side. Let me clarify, it IS comfortable but as someone that daily commutes about 40 miles I found myself with a sore lower back at the end of every trip. I've never sat in the back seat so I can't really comment on that.

6/10

Fuel Economy

Personally I've never gotten 40MPG++ on the highways like most of you (and especially you hyper-milers) as the most I've gotten on my daily drives are about 35-37MPG (HWY). Ironically, I get the same amount of MPG (per computer) in the city as I do hwy because I baby this car in the city whereas in the HWY I let the beast out of its cage.

This car just WANTS to race after 70MPH IMO

7/10 simply because I can't drive economically for sh*t lol.


Reliability

This is where I've had the most issue with this car. In just about 2 weeks of initially owning the car, I've had the windshield crack after a SMALL pebble hit it on the highway. The crack was smaller than a dime and eventually spread throughout the majority of the windshield the next day. Never have I had a windshield crack in all my years of driving. I've had 4 battery changes in my time of owning this Touring. I've had the phantom headunit problem where it just changes screens on its own for some damn reason. I've had the brakes make squeaking noises that the dealer wouldn't acknowledge as a problem when I reverse. I've infamous audio-popping sound that god-forbid Honda acknowledges is a problem. But I did fix the subwoofer rattle, yay me!

The piss-poor quality control of this car was the last straw for me. At about 20k miles and after 25+ visits to the dealer about these problems, I didn't want anything to do with this car anymore. I was spending more time in the dealership on my days off that I felt I was owned by this car and not vice-versa. I may have had a particularly bad unit but hell that was the last straw and good enough reason for me to look at other cars.

5/10 - I felt Honda didn't pay much attention to the details of the technological components of the car because they focused more on the 1.5T engine. Hopefully they'll address this in the 10.5 refresh because I'm sure I'm not the only one with these infuriating issues.


Community

I love how active this forum is. I <3 you guys.

PS: Of course a CW CTR is available the day I decided on a V6 Accord Coupe, LOL. For those of you interested in this CW, please PM me and I can refer you personally to the Sales Director. He actually offered this CW and never mentioned any ADM but I was set on the V6 Accord Coupe.

 

[tsupersonic]

Congrats on the V6 Accord Coupe (good choice). Be careful on the highway, that's dangerous speed...Just take the car to a track, if you want to go fast

 

[GeoUSA]

Great write-up! For highway cruising and comfort on your commute I think you will love the Accord. I waited months for the hatchback to be released and was somewhat apprehensive of build quality out of England. Perhaps enough time passed and Honda addressed some of the issues in the HB. At 14,000 miles I have not a single rattle. The head unit is a little slow changing screens but works reliably. I made the mistake of adjusting the touch sensitivity from hard to medium and learned there was a reason Honda defaults to hard. Random beeps and screen changes ensued. With many electronic features, displays, and lights remaining on after the engine shuts off, I am curious to see how long my battery lasts. Your experience of four in 20,000 miles is ridiculous. The only issue I needed my dealer to address was an off-center steering wheel. It was tilted a few degrees to the left when driving straight from the day it left the showroom. They fixed it without any grief and also corrected an alignment issue with the front toe. A couple of forum members reported the exact issue on their HBs.

I sort of wish I had a Touring after reading your review. The first HBs were not Sport Touring and I could not wait any longer!

Your new coupe is beautiful; enjoy!

 

[das borgen]

I drove a 2017 V6 Accord Coupe EX-L, 6spd manual last weekend. I loved that car

 

[1.5CivicEX-T]

Too bad about your experience. Pretty impressive you stayed with the Honda brand. Hope you have six figure drive free miles with the new car.

However, your speed perception of this vehicle is way off. Tis not faster than an Ecoboost Mustang. Nor a V6 Accord. Nor an Ecoboost F150 10 speed auto as they are 0-60mph in 6.1 seconds. That blows your Touring away. That blows an Si away. Read here: http://www.motortrend.com/cars/ford/f-150/2017/2017-ford-f-150-platinum-4x4-ecoboost-first-test/

Not saying the 1.5 isn't impressive. It is. It's just not as fast as you think it is.

Congrats on new ride!

PS. "On my road trip to Miami, I've managed to pull 118MPH on the turnpike for 40 miles straight." Your quote. Your testicles are the size of basketballs with that one.

 

[tsupersonic]

However, your speed perception of this vehicle is way off. Tis not faster than an Ecoboost Mustang. Nor a V6 Accord. Nor an Ecoboost F150 10 speed auto as they are 0-60mph in 6.1 seconds. That blows your Touring away. That blows an Si away. Read here: http://www.motortrend.com/cars/ford/f-150/2017/2017-ford-f-150-platinum-4x4-ecoboost-first-test/

Not saying the 1.5 isn't impressive. It is. It's just not as fast as you think it is.

Yeah, if the person in a V6 Accord or Ecoboost Mustang (heck even a V6 Mustang) really wanted to race, the Civic would get destroyed. For passing power, the Civic has just enough oomph. Just remember the Civic is still an econobox (granted a really good econobox).

 

[neteng101]

On my road trip to Miami, I've managed to pull 118MPH on the turnpike for 40 miles straight.

As someone that drives spiritedly, I don't want CMBS to brake when I'm trying to get past morning traffic.

I don't mean to be your dad but that's not driving spiritedly - that's just driving plain stupid and recklessly on public roads. Enjoy your new ride, but if you want to keep it nice, you might want to start acting more sensibly. There's absolutely no reason CMBS should activate you in morning traffic unless you're leaving too little room ie. tailgating people, weaving in and out of traffic in tight spots, etc.

 

[Molatte]

I don't mean to be your dad but that's not driving spiritedly - that's just driving plain stupid and recklessly on public roads. Enjoy your new ride, but if you want to keep it nice, you might want to start acting more sensibly. There's absolutely no reason CMBS should activate you in morning traffic unless you're leaving too little room ie. tailgating people, weaving in and out of traffic in tight spots, etc.

The last 40 miles of the turnpike was empty as it was 4AM in the morning. No one was on the road except for the Optima that's going faster than I was. Excuse me while I test out how fast my ride could go on an empty road.

You do understand that morning traffic during rush hours are often bumper-to-bumper traffic, correct? You do realize CMBS is activated when it 'think's you're about to collide with the car in front of you based on their speed vs your speed? Also, you realize how people drive during bumper-to-bumper traffic?

I drive based on how my surrounding drives. I don't do zig-zags; I don't tail-gate, I use the turn signal for every turn I do, no matter how small (force of habit).

 

[Molatte]

DP

 

[Molatte]

DP

 

[neteng101]

do understand that morning traffic during rush hours are often bumper-to-bumper traffic, correct? You do realize CMBS is activated when it 'think's you're about to collide with the car in front of you based on their speed vs your speed? Also, you realize how people drive during bumper-to-bumper traffic?

Yup - I drive in bumper to bumper traffic all the time and no my CBMS isn't constantly thinking I'm about to collide with the car in front of me. I'm not the guy that leaves a ton of space either. But yes I know how most people drive bumper to bumper traffic - really badly - you're just ruining your brakes if you're rushing to the next stop and braking hard. Its all about anticipation and when not needed, don't gas it each time traffic gets going only to have to brake hard a few seconds later.

I thought I'd have to disable CMBS and that it would be a total nanny but its proven to be just the opposite.

 

[johnc_22]

I'm surprised Honda would not get more involved after the 2nd battery in less than 20K miles. Did they claim this was normal, or at least give a reason for it? Sounds like a service department issue to me.

They're lucky you stuck with the brand after that experience. I'm in Atlanta as well and considering whether to trade a pristine but expensive to maintain A4 for a 2017 Civic sedan. I don't like reading stories like this...

 

[mp2017]

This late in the year, why not wait for 2018 Accord?

 

[johnc_22]

The big question on the 2018 Accord is how buggy will it be?

 

[tsupersonic]

This late in the year, why not wait for 2018 Accord?

They got rid of the coupe for 2018, maybe that's why OP got the Accord Coupe?

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