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| Honda
Accord 2,4 Type S |
Broadcast
date : 2nd May 2004 |
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 The Honda Accord Two Point Four
Type-S is a difficult car to categorise. It is best described
as a sports sedan, but it employs a mix of luxury and
no-nonsense simplicity that sees it appealing to a wide cross
section of car buyers.
It was probably this combination of raw driver appeal and
practicality that saw it come within an ace of being chosen as
the 2004 Car of the Year. It was pipped by the excellent
Renault Megane, but everyone agrees it was close call.
The most impressive part of the Accord may be its exterior
styling, with its Darth Vader type headlights giving it an
almost brutal appearance from the front.
However, comparatively small wheel sizings soften the looks in
profile, while from the rear the clean sharp-edged styling
again points to a performance orientation
Fitted with a one-forty kilo watt four-cylinder engine which
uses V-Tec variable valve timing for an excellent spread of
torque, the Accord falls short of being a performance car in
the BMW 330 or Mercedes C230 mould.
Yet its package will delight the performance-orientated
driver. This is largely due to one of the most communicative
steering systems on any car in production.
Each road ripple, each load-change on the front wheels is felt
through the leather -covered steering wheel. And yet the
Honda, at all times, remains poised and fluid.
The same sense of satisfaction comes in using the metal-topped
gearlever. Rarely has a gearshift felt as slick and positive
as this one.
And in terms of chassis balance and near-neutral handling in
high-speed corners, the car is exemplary.
In fact, the Accord could do with more power to go with its
thoroughbred handling. And the engine note, although sporty
enough, lacks just a bit of finesse when you rev it to the
redline at seven thousand rpm.
You won't find super hi-tech gizmos in this car. There is no
navigation or computerised read-outs. But the Accord does come
equipped with a CD player, front, side and head-airbags,
climate control and sports seats. It is a genuine four seater
with space for the occasional fifth passenger.
Covered in black leather the cabin is quite sombre, even
austere. Our main criticism from an aesthetic point of view
was the design of the controls on the centre console. These
rather look as if they were lifted from a portable hi-fi.
But quality throughout is first rate, and there is a saying in
the motor trade that you don't get rich selling Honda spare
parts.
The Type-S designation refers to the car being a six-speed
manual version.
There is also a five-speed automatic version known as the
Executive, but this manual version is our choice. That gear
change is just too good to leave to computerised
decision-making.
The Accord Type S is up against the Mazda Six 2.3 Lux, the BMW
320i and the Mercedes-Benz C180 Kompressor in this price
bracket of around Two Hundred and Forty Five Thousand Rand.
Our view is that the Accord is the best of the bunch in this
price bracket.
The Honda Accord comes with a three year, one hundred thousand
kilometre warranty and a three-year, sixty thousand kilometre
maintenance plan.
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