Happy 40th Birthday Honda Accord

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Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Funny you mention 1986 Accord LXi, my sister traded her 280ZX for that car.
Hatchback with 5 speed transmission, dealer installed Fittipaldi wheels / low profile tires and nice Honda back then, very sporty car.

Today's Accord is very bland, like a turdmobile on 4 wheels.

I think 1984 Prelude and 1985 Accord LXi sent a message to Detroit that they were the serious competitor.

I remembered back then when I first seat in the LXi I could use all functions after looking at the buttons, switches ... without reading the manual. Everything was so well organized and easy to use.

I still believe that Accord 1986 was the best sedan Honda ever made, in term of comparing with competitors.
 
Originally Posted By: Starman2112
I've had a couple of 'em over the years, an '84 and a '94. Abused the heck out of the '84 and you just couldn't kill it.

Sorry to change h*ll to heck otherwise that word is censored.

With reputation like this that why Accord is selling so well the last 20+ years. Used Accord is very easy to sell by owner too, if the asking price is reasonable.
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR

Looking at the first Accord styling and features it was very hard to believe that Honda can survive US market, and keep improving the Accord to be 1 of the best selling family sedan for more than 20 years.



One might say that about the first gen accord, but I remember in the early 90s. EVERYBODY wanted a teal accord with the clear headlights and a rear spoiler.

This in teal... 2 and 4 dr...

1993_Honda_Accord_SE_coupe_02.jpg


They really haven't been bad looking cars since then.

My favorites have been that generation, the 7th generation, and the 9th generation pre-facelift. I think my car is reasonably handsome. Its not a Porsche, but given the ugly designs of some of the best (looking at you, MB), Im pretty happy with its lines.

Comparing to the Camry, I think the V20 and XV10 are the best looking, with the XV10 being worlds ahead of the V20, and the rest being rather blah. Sort of chunky, overstuffed and not that great looking.

That said, the current Civic is beyond yuck, and the current Camry is pretty darn good looking (but not as good as the 9G Accord).

So there's my opinion...
 
Car & Driver 1986 10Best Cars. Accord was on the 10Best list for 4 consecutive years.

Quote:
Nine and a half years ago, Honda pinned a target on the wall in the form of the original Accord, and every other manufacturer hoping to compete in the compact class has since been taking its best shot at the mark. Mercedes-Benz has done a commendable job with its 190 line, and others have nipped around the edges of Honda’s hot-selling sedan, but no one has yet matched the Accord’s combination of poise, performance, and price.

For 1986, Honda has for the second time thrown away a very successful Accord and introduced a brand new design. You should not be surprised to hear that there are major improvements on all fronts. The new 2.0-liter engine hums contentedly, even at 100 mph


Quote:
The men and women of Honda will now stand politely aside while the competition resumes its fusillade.


http://www.caranddriver.com/features/1986-10best-cars-1986-honda-accord-page-5
 
The one Honda vehicle that I really liked they don't make anymore - Prelude.

I agree on building and keeping identifiable nameplates, just makes good business sense - Accord, Civic, Camry, Corolla, Golf, Jetta ect,etc. The big three NA seem to change nameplates like we change underwear.
 
Originally Posted By: Joe1
Amazing how they kept the same name for 40 years. How many models has Chevy had to compete with the Accord over that period? Monza, Citation, Celebrity,Lumina, Corsica, Beretta, Malibu. Probably some l missed.


I was wondering about that the other day. How did their small car lineup go?
Vega->Chevette->Citation->Celebrity->Cavalier->Cobalt->Cruze
? [Nova used to be small but IIRC by the early 70's they weren't.]

They seem to have a thing for names starting with C.
 
My parents had a 1985 SE-i, the first injected Accord. Leather, moonroof, and a solid performer for 8 years. Fell in love with the '86 LX-i hatch we got as a loaner while waiting for an oil change. This was Honda's hey-day. Especially loved the following generation with its Prelude-like pop-up headlights. That generation's SE-i coupe was a sweetheart. Light, responsive, nimble & bullet-proof.
 
I owned an 89 LXi coupe from 1989 until wrecking it in 2012. Very solid car and quite stylish when compared to the competition in those years. The third generation Accords (1986-1989) were the ones with the pop-up headlights. As with any car that one drives 353,000 miles there were plenty of maintenance chores and plenty of parts replaced. I loved that car enough to pay $2,500 to replace the transmission in 2009 with a rebuilt unit from Howard Engineering. I also liked the looks of of the 5th gens (1994-1997). Beyond that I found them to have adopted a rather stodgy look and they became so much larger that the original concept was lost. I'm sure they are still great family sedans, but Honda somehow managed to get things just right for me in the late 1980's.
 
80's and 90's was Honda hey-day. Back then their cars were light, responsive, nimble & very reliable. If you want a coupe there wasn't a better car than Prelude, if you want a toss-able mini compact there was no better fun car than CRX.

One thing Honda cars stand out from competitors was and is their manual transmission. Honda never had a bad manual transmission in any car the last 40 years.
 
Originally Posted By: splinter
Drove a secondhand '76 Accord during my penniless college years. iirc it had "5-Speed" and "CVCC" plastered on its stern.
3-barrel carburetor and about a 100' of vacuum hoses. But it was okay on leaded fuel and had no catalytic converter.

If you're visiting Torrance, Honda North America HQ has an excellent museum open to the public!

www.dailybreeze.com/lifestyle/20160703/take-a-peek-inside-hondas-secret-torrance-museum



Yes, I just heard about that museum on VWVortex.com

What makes me so jealous is that I used to work at a couple of Honda stores when the company was putting out there very best products, 1984-1993...To think of all the great Accords, Civics, Preludes,
CRX, ect...that were prepped by me during PDI (many many thousands of them all!!!) ...back in those days we actually still installed stereos, A/C, ect. as the DX trim level allowed for these to be dealer added options, that's right we used to get a work order for say an 1984 Accord DX, or Civic DX and we'd head to the parts window and come back with a HUGE box with the complete factory A/C kits...pretty neat deal, and good money to install too. This was back when we used R12 too.
 
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In the good-old-day a base car is truly a base car. It had nothing and no power accessories of anything. No power steering, no power window, no power door lock, no power mirror and even no right side mirror(for some cars), no A/C and no radio.

Honda is the only manufacture has no individual option from factory for all their vehicles. They only have several trim levels, the higher trims have more features.
 
I remember my best friend's older sister had a 76 Accord hatchback. It had the goofy "semi-automatic" transmission that had to be shifted from first to second gear. Maybe the thing could have been considered "luxury" compared to Corolla's, Civics, and base Datsuns but it certainly bore little resemblance to the bloated, expensive Accords of today. It seems like, back then, only the Japanese could build really CHEAP cars that were also solid and reliable. That whole concept is a vestige of the past.
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
In the good-old-day a base car is truly a base car. It had nothing and no power accessories of anything. No power steering, no power window, no power door lock, no power mirror and even no right side mirror(for some cars), no A/C and no radio.


This was something I found funny about my '91 Civic Si. Manual windows, and a power moonroof. Such great little cars. Here's mine from LONG ago.

2Civic1.jpg


4Civic3.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
In the good-old-day a base car is truly a base car. It had nothing and no power accessories of anything. No power steering, no power window, no power door lock, no power mirror and even no right side mirror(for some cars), no A/C and no radio.




The fact is that there IS a significant market, EVEN IN THE USA for such vehicles, the reason why they won't offer such products anymore is because of the degree of greed that has taken over business in general....what these companies do is simply refuse to produce a Honda Accord, Civic, or Fit DX and of course if they don't offer it the consumer can't buy it and then in turn the company can claim that nobody wants a base level car....or a sneakier version is they offer a base model and only produce a tiny number of them that are not readily available on dealer lots you might have to special order it...again the manufacturer can claim that nobody wants such a vehicle.

I personally would prefer a no frills Honda Civic or Fit, really the Fit is the size that the original 76 Accord was! I consider the Accord way too big today. The current Fit is more of a mid 90s Civic in size.
 
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I may be wrong, I think 1983-1984 Accord was classified as subcompact car and the current Accord is near the top of midsize, very close to large car.

2016 Civic is much bigger than 1984 Accord, both inside and outside.

All cars are getting bloated these days.

I don't want any fancy features in my cars, no Bluetooth, no UBS, no infotainment, no remote starter, no autopilot, no keyless entry ... and especially no 20" wheel/tire.
 
I can honestly say that if they made a late 80s or early 90s Accord DX or a Civic and sold them new today I would be first in line to buy one!
 
Even a "base" car can't be cheap anymore. You can't have a late 80's or early 90's Accord or Civic because they didn't come with air bags, ABS (as a standard feature), traction control, backup camera, environmentally "friendly" air conditioning, etc. I don't think throwing in power windows, locks, and mirrors really adds much to the overall cost. It's all the stuff that is required now that does it.
 
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