regfootball

Lots of Japanese cars seems to be loud these days....the very cars getting praised for their 'weight loss'. Remember, Honda was the company that got a recall on electrical wiring under the floor pan degrading due to road salt because there was next to nothing to protect it (I think that was what that Fit recall was about). Japan Inc does not want to put in stuff like sound insulation!!!! Yet GM gets grilled for a loud vehicle which is why they have tomb quiet Veranos now. And also why the Verano is so heavy apparently. It's not all due to 'high strength steel'.

the real world price transition from 13 to 14 impala will be like 10 grand or more. they prob will sell the 13 and 14 side by side for quite sometime. so chevy will set it up so the cheapskates can only buy the 13 cheap. they will extort the early adopters on the 14 so that is why they will make you pay for the extra stuff. Also the malibu fits in, so if you don't want an LS 13 impala, but you don't want to pay 35k for a 14 impala, then they are basically forcing you into the middle ground, the malibu. they will probably limit production for the 14 too while they build it side by side with the 13.

roar may be somewhat correct, i call it shrill. and don't get me wrong, it's not a quad 4 sound. wanted to clarify......the CVT is not a contributor to the NVH problems. The CVT operation is transparent and very good. Interiors wise, I should clarify / revise to say that its really good for the class, but it just had a few minor nitpicky material quality issues. The interior is probably what most buyers would say is better than the inside of a Malibu overall (in the lower cloth trims). I more pointed out a few interior flaws on the Accord interior because there is not much to really nit pick and everything else is really well done. But when you drive the Malibu and Fusion, the Malibu will be quieter inside etc. So overall impression, even if the Accord interior is nicer and larger, the Malibu has more solid seats and is quieter and feels smoother on the road. I am very interested in seeing and driving the 13 altima soon, there are many of them out there already.

I want to drive a Fusion, I am betting it drives better, however the Fusion looks pretty cheap inside in the lesser trims. This really makes me wonder how the Altima drives.

Tested 2013 Honda Accord Sedan Sport 4 cylinder automatic CVT, MSRP right around 25 geezels. In the interest of wanting to vet all the media gushing on the new Accord, and having sold cars who had CVT's and dealing with the public reaction daily as well as driving them myself....and as possibly thinking mid size sedan in the future...... I ended up in a shorter than i wanted test of a new 013 Accord. The previous gen Accord did not do much for me, and the combination of weird looks, cheap interior, and NVH and driving issues meant the car never interested me. And pretty much the press as a whole had begun to look away from Honda some as midsize class leader. Even the sales charts showed a slide for the golden child. What didn't help was the onslaught of amazing new entries from virtually every automaker in the market (including a shockingly competitive Passat from VW). Honda has rightfully been accused of half assing it and losing their way the last few years and it really was likely true. The 2013 Accord is promised to be the first step back in the right direction to 'leadership' (by some's judgments) again. The packaging of the 'new' Accord is pretty close to the same. Sizewise, and even looks wise.....at least in photos. But the impression is different once you see it in the flesh. The new Accord is much nicer inside and out than the last gen. Interior space is pretty much the same, it is still large and very space efficient. The trunk appears to be a bit short in height however. Decent looking car. Getting inside, the interior changes are vast and welcome, and very successful. The mess of buttons in the center console are organized much better into tiers, and the large main screen helps greatly with information and to serve as the screen for the backup camera that is included! The radio I did not play with at all....but based on sight, the layout seems much better. This Accord had Honda's new bluetooth and audio systems package, which I did not try. The car has dual climate also. Don't forget the paddle shifters! for the CVT and also the "Eco" mode button which, according to sales person said gives you FIVE MORE MPG!!!!!! I found the gauges to be very 3d and very large and readable. Most other controls were typical, and the new steering wheel arrangement is nice although it would take a few drives to get used to it. The tilt wheel bar is way too far down the dash. Seating position is good although the power seat is a bit lazy. Most dash and door materials are decent.....not expensive looking or soft even. But overall the quality of the interior is good. Not class leading, but much better than a Camry. The seat cloth is sort of cheap, as is the non leather brake stick. Sightlines out front were good, and the side and rear vision strikes a middle ground between cars with a bunch of glass like the Fusion, and hardly any glass, like the Malibu or say...a CC. Rear seat passengers are treated pretty well. As I said earlier, the previous Accord IMHO was pretty overrated, and pretty much all the Hondas I seem to sample are afflicted with the same sins. NVH type stuff......Loud inside, too much engine noise (and not particularly refined sounding), and room for improvement in comfort, lack of solid feel, and rather weak feeling steering......yes, that is my take. First off, the CVT. I have tried many and have sold vehicles with CVT. I have a good feel for how well a CVT can feel and perform. I have to admit, Honda has done a nice job here on the CVT part. Of course HOnda had so much luck with their 5 speed autos blowing up, and the rest of Japan has taken so much to CVT's it was inevitable for Honda to go that way. I did not even mess with the paddle shifter. The tranny here is well matched to the motor, and often times the behavior of the transmission is similar to a standard automatic. On an initial test drive, a lot of folks won't even know it's a CVT or that anything is different (considering how the sheeple just say yes to whatever Honda can put out). In fact the sales person never mentioned anything about a 'CVT'. I am sure they are coached to not say anything so as not to upset a Honda intender. Well, there is not much to worry over.....it works well and my gosh with just the four, this thing really scoots when you lay down the gas! There is not much rubber bandiness or lag time. Honda builds a great lawn mower engine. I know, mine has one. And unfortunately the engine and noise coming from the hood of the 13 Accord sounds just like my lawn mower, or worse. What is the press thinking? The harmonics of the cabin noise are dreadful when you wind it up, even when just cruising. The noise level to too high. It's unacceptable. Some folks won't care because the 13 Accord may be 1dB quieter than the 94 civic they traded or the 98 Subaru they had. On top of the ruckus (Honda bike lovers will appreciate the pun) coming from the hood, the road noise is too high, the steering is lacking feel and quickness, the seat is a bit mushy, and many of the touch points in the car are hard. This car is not really a good road car. PLEASE drive a Malibu if you want a good road car. The Malibu is a much niver place for cruising. I did not catch the engine rpm of the Accord at high speed. I am betting its low because of the CVT. And when the car is on the boil, the CVT stigma of RPM's going sky high until speed catches up is not even the deal here (although the engine does rev quickly). The car is just too unrefined. Mirrors are to small and cheap looking. Car feels too light on the road and like it's not as stout as it could be. The Passat is nicer on the road, even if it has that dreadful 5 cylinder and the hard plastic inside. Car does not have 'sport handling'...and otherwise is not terribly frisky or inspiring to drive. Seriously, drive a Malibu people. Wait for the Mazda6, try a Passat in the meantime, and I would bet the Fusion and Altima should be driven as well. I would buy that Kizashi I sold to many for myself over the Accord in a heartbeat. Quieter, smoother, better seats, better road manners. You would be getting a more refined car by buying a Cruze or a Focus. Honda sheeple will like the car because little has changed of what Honda folks are used to. And Honda made some nice improvements. I just think the eyewash that the press puts over everyone and the history Honda has tends to blur reality. The Accord is potentially a very awesome car. At best, it's a pretty good car right now, with unfortunately a very few flaws which in my mind make the car one you should evaluate very carefully. The competition is too good to just lay it down for the H without checking out everything else. Until Honda puts some sound deadener in the car, gives the steering and ride a little makeover, and make the whole car feel a bit more solid and pleasing in a few spots inside I call it good, not great. HIGHS Value for price and resale Improved styling MPG Very good almost best of the breed CVT Roomy cabin Overall very good packaging Lots of features, lots of tech Good sightlines, cabin is neither clautrophobic or wide open Interior laid out nicely, kudos to Honda on the improvement there... A few nice material finishes, like the silver console trim, and the plood on the dash Lightning fast for the engine size... class leading quick.....great throttle response LOWS Lots of NVH problems Engine sound not nice, and way too much of it, just unacceptable Too much road noise Steering feel insubstantial and a bit mushy and a little slow Suspension jolts felt a little bit much in the cabin Yup, even some engine vibration gets through to your ass more than it should Seat cloth could be better, seats a bit shapeless and mushy A few other areas inside feel a bit cheap, like the parking brake tree and some of the dash and doors typical Honda trunk switch on the floor Bull$h! Real truth is a Malibu is a much nicer road car, seriously people drive one of those if you drive a lot on the interstates. SUMMARY Truth is the car would get an A if the NVH issues were handled. They will sell boatloads of this car. And it has a lot of merit. But Honda has no interest in improving the NVH of their products. The last Accord, the Fit, the 12 Civic, all these Hondas I have tried and they all have the same issues. What is worse, the 13 Civic seems less abated than the others even, at least to me, today. Is it the direct injection? Until Honda fixes the NVH problem, it barely cracks a B. There are too many other good choices in this segment. If you are Honda sheeple, and can deal with the NVH problems, it is an A to you. I call a spade a spade, or a B- in this case. Now you can feel justified in waiting for the Mazda6 too. Heck, the current Mazda6 CPO would be a more comfortable car.

i am sure they have no issue freeing up production for the automatics

Astra's butt is nicer!

Five foot pole would hurt

Or focus ST base no recaros. Lol

I think the sonic RS is cool, but it's overpriced for the depreciation it will see, for reasons posted in the post above. I think this mini small car boom is going to level off soon. Save ur coins for a verano turbo

Golf is not a big cog in the NA market for VW.....especially now. The update is not visually different anyways. No reason for VW to really act promptly...

I have been lot cruising many fusions and malibus lately and to be honest the Fusion is less impressive in lower trims especially than what you would think as far as presentation. Still a nice car....but I really like the look of the Malibu more......looks sexier and has more presence, arguably than the Fusion..... Altima has way too thick of chrome on the window surround.....

NEEDS REDESIGN. same basic look for too many years now.

cx5 i reviewed was slower than heck. glad the 3 is not afflicted with that.

of course you are right, but the folks at GM prob think the Trax would eat Sonic, Cruze, and Equinox sales. I tend to think otherwise, I think Chevy would expand sales and take back market share from the Kia Souls of the world. Of course the Encore may go belly up if the Trax WERE here.

t's actually a pretty interesting vehicle but it's got an identity crisis....'what is it'? Not a coupe, not a sedan, not an SUV, the x6 has the same problem. Functionally, this vehicle has no trunk space, rear head room is tight, the rear doors are head knockers on entry. Looks are subjective, but it's sporting looking. If this thing were 10-12 grand or more cheaper this thin would sell really well. No advertising and bad mpg don't help either.

If the Verano I drove was any indication, methinks your right! the Gremlin? Did you stop selling Suzuki's? no longer selling cars.......did that for 18 months....finally after nearly 4 years i am back to doing what i used to do...(albeit still at a lot less dough than precrash)

i sort of like the LS now aside from the weird grille. I do think the LS ES and GS have improved and i sort of really enjoy the new horizontal interiors actually. Would I buy one? No, but at the same time, the LS almost seems nicer to me than a 7 series. The A7 has a bitchen exterior but a predictable interior. I really do think the Lexus cars have improved and while still dull they are not complete snores like they were a few short years ago.

base malibu too?

Encore is perfect for the times, but the price is too high. Size is just right, one class size below the likes of the CRV etc....some folks think those are too big. The SX4's I USED to sell, just a practical partial size larger.......think of the Encore as Vibe sized. But taller perhaps. Or maybe a bit smaller than the Vibe.....The Vibe that is gone, the same size as the Suzuki SX4 companion / replacement next year, the S-Cross.

its an SUV not a sport sedan........would have been easier to say. nice ride, but don't get one if you want a car.

range extender!

Had a chance to drive both the auto and stick CX-5 a couple weeks ago. There is a lot that is really cool about this vehicle. There is a couple things Mazda really effed. Overall don't believe the hype about this feeling like a sports car or anything. It's height and such still make it feel like an SUV. Actually that is the impressive thing about the vehicle. They shaved a lot of pounds from the design but yet when you sit in it and drive it, it feels like a larger, heavier crossover / SUV. It just has better steering and responsiveness from pretty much the rest. It's still not a sedan though. You will not get the sporty feel of a sedan in this vehicle. The major flaw of course is the powertrain. Simply put, the 2.0 lacks juice. There is no way around it. It revs ok but it's not what i would say is quick to build rpm. It certainly does not build power quick. On the manual, it's hard to come to the final conclusion on whether its a deal breaker. The shifter is nice, as is the clutch, and the vehicle works well with what is a fairly linear range of power. It's just not a lot to work with. And I would not call it the smoothest four cylinder either. All the ruckus and vibrations and such are not totally tuned and damped out. Again, it's not bad but it's not top tier in smoothness. But they did not add 200 pounds of stuff to the vehicle so it would improve the NVH 10%. You can at least have fun with the manual, but even I began to think that the character of the vehicle was not suited for a stick. It's a big tall SUV..... The automatic was decent to a point but it just simply needs more power. If you like everything else about the vehicle bad enough, you can talk yourself into living with it. I think I would prefer to wait until the 2.5 comes out. RPM at 70+ was lower on the auto than the stick, which helped (about 2600 vs. 2800). The 2.0 and the match to the decent but not the quickest auto trans means you'll often be left wanting more kick in many situations. The ride was pretty spot on and brakes seemed good. The handling has been overstated I believe. It's good....and feels nice and is fairly tight, but it's not overtly quick. Really for a vehicle like this that has the aura of an SUV it just would be out of character to really feel like a sport sedan. For what it is it's very likable. Interior wise I felt was the stongest suit of the this vehicle. Nicely designed and laid out, nice textures and materials. Seats felt good. Alum like trim was fetching as was the cloth. A couple gripes.....climate control was low and cryptic, and the size of the radio screen is ridiculously small. Really. And a very far reach. The steering wheel made up for a lot of it, was very awesome, right size, felt nice to hold, buttons laid out nice on it. Cargo hold is huge and passengers will like the seating. Seatbacks can dropped from the hatch area and fall down slick. 40/20/40 split is cool. NO BLUETOOTH on the MT. WTF? I think the press has confused people with the CX5 into thinking its like a tall sports sedan. It's not, just a better version of vehicles like the old Escape and Tribute. One could argue that the CX7 had a more sporting aura to it......in any case. For a light SUV to feel this tight and secure, be this comfy, and still have quality ride and handling that an enthusiast can at least be happy with is a nice job. Now Mazda needs to fix the engine problem and add some jazz to the radio setup. This interior previews the Mazda6 interior and I must say that bodes well. Good job Mazda. HIGHS Styling, inside and out Feels well made, inside and out Packaged well, cargo and passengers, lots of room Commanding driver position and great visibility all around Well laid out cabin and controls mostly, fantastic steering wheel, clear gauges Very nice interior plastics and textures and stuff Efficiently designed with low weight yet feels rock sold, stable, heavy and secure on the road 'Very Good' Steering and ride / handling Really nice seats Pretty good shifter and clutch LOWS Engine power and torque lacks, really needs a 2.5 Powertrain / NVH need a little bit more work Climate controls a bit low and a bit cryptic Feel feels tall and high C of G (which it has I guess LOL) Radio is far away and screen (where touch screen would be) is stupidly small Steering could be quicker Automatic could be a little more quick to shift / less lethargic at times Trunk trim a bit cheap in spots Lacks some 'cush' that other competition may have Interior design theme is a bit stoic / conservative / upright A little hard to get the seat adjustment right. SUMMARY It's really a bit trite to pick on the weaknesses of this vehicle, considering the typical traits of vehicles in this class. I would not christen this as the coming of a sport sedan in a CUV package as much as I would call it a well thought out and executed CUV that goes beyond a lot of it's competition but is maybe not the best in any one way. It's consistent and pleasing. The engine is the flaw that keeps it from being a rock star. There are too many other choices that people like in this segment like the Equinox, Escape, and CRV that you could outright say this is a great ride. It's just merely very good. No chance of giving it an A unless they fix the motor. B+

A couple weeks back or so I managed to wind up testing a couple Fiats. Probably don't have much time here.... Fun car, better than I thought (the stick at least). Really would be a decent enjoyable car for someone who could live with the size. Car seems well made and is very affordable. The Pop I drove was a 5 sp manual. Due likely to the light weight of the car, the 100hp +/- motor kept the car on the beat and I didn't really miss a 6 speed much. Ride was fairly decent and the car did not crash on bumps. Interior was classy cute and was pretty comfy for the size. The clutch path and operation was hard to get used to and really it's an ergonomic issue. I'm sure in EU cars like this are more common, I found the seating position a bit too US out of ordinary to ever get jiggy with the clutch. Overall I'd find the car more enjoyable than a stupid Mini. The Sport (with automatic) was not suitable for daily driving. The automatic was too jerky, waited too long, overall not a good match. Car was a little slower too. The sport seats were good at holding you in place but felt a little too overbearing. The ride was more harsh and seemed to expose weakness in the vehicle structure. Of course, this was driving a lot on a busted up road. Still, the Sport would not get any marks for daily driving comfort. Very much like the Fiat overall, but to me some of the comments below plus the unusable size make it a no go for me. Still I rate the car pretty well. If anyone is interested I would definitely encourage you to check one out. HIGHS Lots of color choices to have a unique vehicle Power with 5 speed is not bad. Manual shifter itself is pretty slick Seats and ergonomics are not bad Interior is spacious for the small size and two can coexist inside in front pretty well. Car feels like you got what you paid for and then a little Awesome visibility MPG Sexy sales gals whose dresses almost expose the prize (most likely there are probably some sales dudes too) LOWS Rear seat not much....... Clutch pedal has strange arc and engages not like what you might like, never get used to it Automatic sucks and saps power. Sport seats hard to adjust and a little overdone Some of the gauges and controls were a bit fussy and overly strange Ride on the Sport is too hard and consequently the structure protests and makes cheap sounds SUMMARY I will leave out a rating of the Sport Automatic. Some may like it, but really the automatic itself needs help. If you want to get beat up by the ride and have the car feel sloppy and make groaning noise, that's your bag. If you want Sport you will get a turbo and prob a stick anyways. The Pop manual is what I will rate. B+ because it just does what it does. Some of the ergonomics and clutch things keep it from being an A. More power and a sixth gear would be cool but prob not really needed. It's nice the way it is. This would be a great city car but also not too shabby on the road. I'd actually want to drive a Spark now for kicks.

Had a chance to drive another one ten days back or so......pretty consistent with the first drive. Like the car a lot. Seat fabric could be nicer. Car seemed smoother and quieter this time around. The car is getting panned in the press and I think that is a bit harsh. Sure there is a lot of competition in the segment, but the notion that the Malibu might be a bad car is absurd. I saw a new Fusion for the first time today and I did not get inside it, but for example regarding interiors, it does not look like the Fusion's interior is of better quality or anything.