2023 Honda Accord Embraces More Hybrid Models, Drops 2.0L Turbo
Honda says fully half of Accord sales will be hybrid models for this generation.
Hello there, 2023 Honda Accord. The Japanese brand revealed the 11th-generation sedan early Thursday, following hot on the heels of the 2023 Pilot debut earlier this week.
Just like its high-riding sibling, the 2023 Accord adopts Honda’s simpler, conservative styling language, which kicked off with last year’s Civic. The headlights are less angled, and there’s no more trim piece running across them. Honda has also shrunk the Accord’s grille, which makes sense, as most of it was blocked off anyway. A simple character line runs across cleaner flanks, fading into a modern, hyper-linear full-width taillight setup. Honda has also tidied up the Accord’s daylight opening (DLO), removing the kink behind the rear doors. (The latter is a move we expect on the Civic when it comes in for a facelift in a few years.) Standard wheels are 17 inches, while Sport and Touring trims ride on 19s.
Honda says the car has grown in length a little over two inches (50 millimeters), but the official figures provided show the 2023 model is 0.4-inch shorter (10 mm) overall.
The familiar feeling continues inside, where the 2023 Honda Accord shows off an evolution of the Civic’s cabin design. Ahead of the driver sits a standard 10.2-inch digital instrument cluster. The characteristic mesh strip is here, with a different insert that mimics the pattern in the front grille. Sitting atop it is a standard 7.0-inch touchscreen, while hybrid models swap in a much larger 12.3-inch setup with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality. In addition, the top Touring trim will also include Honda’s first implementation of a built-in Google suite, utilizing Google Assistant, Google Maps, and Google Play. Touring also includes a head-up display (HUD) and 12-speaker Bose sound system. A Qi wireless charger is also locked to this top trim only. Two USB-C ports are standard, with EX-L and Touring adding a pair in the back row.
A few years ago, Honda pared back the Accord drivetrain lineup with the 10th-gen facelift, saying goodbye to the manual transmission. That trend continues with the 2023 model, which drops the 2.0-liter turbo engine and its 10-speed automatic transmission entirely. The LX and EX models will continue to employ the trusty 1.5-liter turbo-four and CVT combo, producing 192 horsepower and 192 pound-feet of torque. Like the 2023 CR-V, the Accord’s higher trims will be available exclusively as hybrids. This setup runs Honda’s unique 2.0-liter Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder with a pair of electric motors. The combined system horsepower is marginally more than the ICE-only model—204 hp—while torque is up to a chunky 247 lb-ft. Honda says the system has been tweaked to provide a more natural “vehicle speed-linked rev feel associated with a conventional drivetrain shifting gears under acceleration.”
This being a 2023 model, of course there are selectable drive modes. 1.5-liter models get Econ and Normal; hybrids gain Sport and Individual. These modes alter powertrain, steering, digital gauge layout … and the adaptive cruise control.
Speaking of ACC, it continues to be standard on all Accords, as part of the Honda Sensing suite of driver assists. The Accord employs an improved camera and radar combo with wider ranges of view (90 and 120 degrees, respectively), giving it better object detection than its predecessor. Blind-spot monitoring is also standard, now able to detect a car in another lane as far as 82 feet (25 meters) away. Lane Keeping Assist and Traffic Sign Recognition are included, as well as the Accord-first integration of Traffic Jam Assist. Honda has also included the updated airbags from the Civic, which cradle front passengers’ heads to minimize the potential for head-on-head injuries in the case of an accident. The company is targeting the top safety marks from both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
The 2023 Honda Accord will come in six trims in the US: LX, EX, Sport, EX-L, Sport-L, and Touring. Canada trims that down by half: EX, Sport, and Touring. Production will continue at the Marysville Auto Plant in Ohio.
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Kyle began his automotive obsession before he even started school, courtesy of a remote control Porsche and various LEGO sets. He later studied advertising and graphic design at Humber College, which led him to writing about cars (both real and digital). He is now a proud member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), where he was the Journalist of the Year runner-up for 2021.
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