Time does fly and I've now had this car for close to half its useful life.
I'll discuss fuel economy first, since it is the primary reason for buying a hybrid. The car has used 1895.9 gallons from new to its last fill-up at 93,532 miles, so has gotten 49.3 mpg actual to date. Summer fuel economy, with warm weather and lower RVP fuel will easily get into the 55 mpg range while during the winter I can expect 44-45 mpg typically. A really cold spell can drop that down to 42 mpg or so. Pushing through fresh snow also reduces fuel economy noticeably. I've had a total of three tanks below 40 mpg with a worst ever of 37.1 mpg. I've also had two tanks of over 60 mpg, which JHZR opined the car was capable of in a PM exchange we had after I'd first bought it. Highway trips bring lower fuel economy than does local driving, the opposite of what you'd see with a gas only car. Under favorable conditions, the car spends maybe 20% of its run time in EV mode and that is greatly reduced in interstate driving. Gasoline price spikes, like what we saw in the spring of 2022 are of little concern since I'm not buying that much fuel. The car has delivered what Honda had on the sticker for fuel economy and then some.
As a car it is quiet with a firm, well controlled ride. Handling is good with much less understeer than our Gen 8 had. The EPS is okay, although it offers limited road feel and is not in the same league as what Subaru put on our Forester. Interior room is ample for four adults, although the car is narrower than the Gen 8 and so not really adequate for four plus a child car seat in the center rear. The door pockets are tiny while those of the Gen 8 would easily accommodate a quart bottle of oil. Same story with the trunk. The Gen 8 would easily fit two large roller bags side by side where with the Gen 10 you have to have one angled with part of it over the other.
I'll say that the seats are comfortable since I never really notice them and would if they weren't. These are not the big chairs you got in the Gen 8 but they are readily adjustable for reach, height, rake and seat cushion angle, so it's pretty easy to find a comfortable driving position. The seating position is lower than with previous Accords and those with back or knee trouble might find entry and egress difficult. Outward visibility is not as good as on every previous Accord we've had. The cowl line is high, as is the belt line and the greenhouse is truncated. The fast angle of the rear yields a bit of the mail slot effect. In compensation, the door mirrors are large and well placed and do give a good view of either side.
HVAC is good for both AC and heat and does a fine job defrosting or demisting the window. There are ducts to supply the heated or cooled air to the rear seat passengers.
You can barely hear the gas engine under most conditions and acceleration at maximum effort is brisk. This does involve the gas engine doing little more than acting as the power unit of a genset, so it is quite audible under hard acceleration. The HAH will leave a lot of cars for dead from a standing start, and is surprisingly quick from 70 mph to 100 mph, but that isn't really what it's for and I rarely use maximum available power.
Overall an easy car to get comfortable in and drive without any major compromises.
I have had two mechanical issues, one resolved very simply and the other warrantied by Honda. I learned that the 12 V battery can die with no warning and no indication that it's the problem, other than the fact that the car was bricked and gave a cascade of dire warnings for all sorts of things. I had the car flatbeded to the dealer, where they quickly determined that the 12 V battery was the fault and replaced it. The AC also stopped working, the cause being a leaky condenser, a known problem that Honda will cover repair costs for as they did.
I've been very pleased with the car overall. I love the fob and the fact that it need never leave your pocket. The downside of no button pushing is that it's always on and so battery life is only a couple of years. The spare fob will also be dead by then, so two batteries and ten minutes or so every couple of years. I paid what today would be a laughably low price for this car, $23.4 or .5 on the last Friday of that September. Right time and right place to buy, I guess. Interest in hybrids wasn't all that great in the early fall of 2018 and the selling dealer had had the car in inventory since May of that year.
Would I do it again? Yes, but that's also true of most of the cars we've owned over the years with only a few exceptions I can think of.
I'll discuss fuel economy first, since it is the primary reason for buying a hybrid. The car has used 1895.9 gallons from new to its last fill-up at 93,532 miles, so has gotten 49.3 mpg actual to date. Summer fuel economy, with warm weather and lower RVP fuel will easily get into the 55 mpg range while during the winter I can expect 44-45 mpg typically. A really cold spell can drop that down to 42 mpg or so. Pushing through fresh snow also reduces fuel economy noticeably. I've had a total of three tanks below 40 mpg with a worst ever of 37.1 mpg. I've also had two tanks of over 60 mpg, which JHZR opined the car was capable of in a PM exchange we had after I'd first bought it. Highway trips bring lower fuel economy than does local driving, the opposite of what you'd see with a gas only car. Under favorable conditions, the car spends maybe 20% of its run time in EV mode and that is greatly reduced in interstate driving. Gasoline price spikes, like what we saw in the spring of 2022 are of little concern since I'm not buying that much fuel. The car has delivered what Honda had on the sticker for fuel economy and then some.
As a car it is quiet with a firm, well controlled ride. Handling is good with much less understeer than our Gen 8 had. The EPS is okay, although it offers limited road feel and is not in the same league as what Subaru put on our Forester. Interior room is ample for four adults, although the car is narrower than the Gen 8 and so not really adequate for four plus a child car seat in the center rear. The door pockets are tiny while those of the Gen 8 would easily accommodate a quart bottle of oil. Same story with the trunk. The Gen 8 would easily fit two large roller bags side by side where with the Gen 10 you have to have one angled with part of it over the other.
I'll say that the seats are comfortable since I never really notice them and would if they weren't. These are not the big chairs you got in the Gen 8 but they are readily adjustable for reach, height, rake and seat cushion angle, so it's pretty easy to find a comfortable driving position. The seating position is lower than with previous Accords and those with back or knee trouble might find entry and egress difficult. Outward visibility is not as good as on every previous Accord we've had. The cowl line is high, as is the belt line and the greenhouse is truncated. The fast angle of the rear yields a bit of the mail slot effect. In compensation, the door mirrors are large and well placed and do give a good view of either side.
HVAC is good for both AC and heat and does a fine job defrosting or demisting the window. There are ducts to supply the heated or cooled air to the rear seat passengers.
You can barely hear the gas engine under most conditions and acceleration at maximum effort is brisk. This does involve the gas engine doing little more than acting as the power unit of a genset, so it is quite audible under hard acceleration. The HAH will leave a lot of cars for dead from a standing start, and is surprisingly quick from 70 mph to 100 mph, but that isn't really what it's for and I rarely use maximum available power.
Overall an easy car to get comfortable in and drive without any major compromises.
I have had two mechanical issues, one resolved very simply and the other warrantied by Honda. I learned that the 12 V battery can die with no warning and no indication that it's the problem, other than the fact that the car was bricked and gave a cascade of dire warnings for all sorts of things. I had the car flatbeded to the dealer, where they quickly determined that the 12 V battery was the fault and replaced it. The AC also stopped working, the cause being a leaky condenser, a known problem that Honda will cover repair costs for as they did.
I've been very pleased with the car overall. I love the fob and the fact that it need never leave your pocket. The downside of no button pushing is that it's always on and so battery life is only a couple of years. The spare fob will also be dead by then, so two batteries and ten minutes or so every couple of years. I paid what today would be a laughably low price for this car, $23.4 or .5 on the last Friday of that September. Right time and right place to buy, I guess. Interest in hybrids wasn't all that great in the early fall of 2018 and the selling dealer had had the car in inventory since May of that year.
Would I do it again? Yes, but that's also true of most of the cars we've owned over the years with only a few exceptions I can think of.
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