If you’re a mom, like me, you appreciate a car with space. And the new Honda Accord is safe, good-looking, easy to drive and a great all-round package, says Liana Reiners in her latest review.

New Honda Accord is practical, sporty and safe

That is why, like me, you should be excited about the launch of the new Honda Accord Tourer. It offers practicality, sporty styling, great dynamic capabilities and an impressive package of safety systems.

No ordinary mom's taxi

Price: R306 000 To R319 000 Article Options Email to Friend Print Article Remove from Favorites Add to Favorites Remove from 'Articles to Read' Add to 'Articles to Read'

Let’s discuss the styling first. With the Accord Tourer, Honda have tried to steer away from emphasising the car’s load carrying practicality. As a result it’s smart and sleek, characterised by a gently sloping rear roofline and a steadily rising lower window edge. This is no ordinary mom’s taxi and the tapering profile conveys the Tourer’s performance credentials.

Honda Accord boasts great fuel consumption

Speaking of which, the Accord Tourer features Honda’s 2,4-litre i-VTEC engine, which is well-known for good performance and fuel economy. The powerplant is more powerful than on the previous-generation Accord and now delivers 148 kW at 7 000 r/min, together with peak torque of 234 Nm at 4 500 r/min. And the best news of all is that it boasts fuel consumption of 9 litres/100km in the combined cycle. 

Available in a six-speed manual or five-speed automatic

On the safety side, the new Accord Tourer is equipped with the same comprehensive array of the active and passive safety technologies as its 2.4 Executive sedan counterpart. This means it has ABS, EBD, emergency brake assist, trailer stability assist, electric power steering, high intensity discharge headlights, fog lights and rain sensing windscreen wipers, to name but a few.

On the passive safety side, dual front, side and curtain airbags, seatbelt pretensioners, ISOFIX child seat anchors and active headrests form part of the package.

Honda Accord holds 406 litres of luggage

But of course what is of real importance when buying a station wagon is its practicality and space. Here the Accord Tourer definitely will not disappoint. While a lot of emphasis has been placed on sportiness and advanced technology, there is still a very high degree of versatility.
Despite its dynamic styling, the Tourer’s 406-litre luggage capacity (with all seats in place) is one of the best in the sport wagon category.

In practical terms, this is big enough to comfortably hold four golf bags, or four large suitcases. But if it’s larger items such as mountain bikes that you wish to cart around, the rear seats can be folded down to increase the loading space. And to ensure that you don’t dislocate a shoulder when doing this, the new Tourer has easy-to use, single-motion rear seats that can be collapsed in a single action to create a virtually flat load space with flush, clean sides.

Other practical touches include luggage tie-down hooks and a utility hook below the rear window to carry a shopping bag. Additional storage areas concealed by panels are located in the load bay side panels.

Available with an electronically operated tailgate

Also worth mentioning is that the Accord Tourer is available with an electrically operated tailgate. It is activated via the key fob or switches integrated into the driver's door panel and the tailgate’s lower edge. Imminent operation is signalled by an audible warning and flashing indicators.

In case you were wondering about the interior appointments of the Accord Tourer, there’s no need to worry. It has just about everything that opens and shuts, ensuring that any trip in the Honda will be a comfortable experience for all involved. There’s dual-zone climate control, a rear air-conditioning vent, electric windows, an electric glass sunroof, cruise control, electric heated side mirrors, adjustable headlight  height, headlamp washers and much more.

And to make sure that nobody gets too bored during the trip, there’s also a front-loading six-CD auto changer sound system, a USB connection for your iPod and an auxiliary audio connection.<

Great practical accessories

“Is that all?” I hear you ask. Well, no. There’s also a range of accessories to make the Accord Tourer as practical as possible. For instance, there’s a cargo space divider and a dog guard. Or what about a boot tray, a cargo mat or a boot edge protection mat? There’s even a tie-down belt, a cargo net and a boot side net.

The price of the manual model is R306 000 and that of the automatic version is R319 000.