CU2 Luxury Manual - Early Impressions
Had my car now for nearly 2 weeks (1200km) so thought I would share my initial impressions.
Firstly some background. This is my first Honda, and I am coming from a 2004 Holden Vectra CDXi Manual Hatch 3.2l V6 which was an outstanding car. When I purchased it back in 2004 I was tossing between the then Accord Euro Luxury but settled for the Vectra, which I think was the right choice at the time.
I had a bit of a dilemma choosing a vehicle to follow on from the Vectra. I was hoping that Holden may have imported its replacement, the Insignia, but that was not to be so after considerable research and some help from these pages, ultimately settled for the Accord Euro Luxury in Manual form. The car is August 2009 build and September 2009 compliance, black with rear lip spoiler, bluetooth, mudflaps and floor mats.
Having come from a V6 that had good power and torque, I was concerned that the Honda may have been a dramatic backward step in this department, but after 2 weeks I can confirm that this is NOT the case. The car in manual form is very responsive and great to drive – no complaints here. It does however sound like a four cylinder when it starts and reverse has a real whine to it – glad I only have a short driveway!
Fuel consumption around town has been around 8.4l/100km and on a recent trip 7.3l/100km. About the same as the Vectra on the highway, but much better around town.
I have spent some time finding a good driving position. Being able to store 2 positions in memory has been useful to save and reset seating positions whilst experimenting. Having settled on the driving position I like, I do find that I would prefer to be able to position the steering wheel further away (than maximum) and a little bit lower. A little bit lower is an option, but it blocks out the top of the instruments. I would bet almost all drivers have the steering wheel set at its furtherest away position so a little more adjustment here would have been nice.
The seats are very comfortable, more so than the Vectra and a trip to Melbourne over the weekend confirmed this.
The car is generally very quiet. I have found the Michelin tyres to be very noisy on some surfaces and very quiet on others. I would describe the ride as firm but excellent and handling is also very good. The steering however, is “imitation” European, not bad, much better than the Holden Epica I recently drove, but not as good as the Vectra. It seems firm but lacks feel/responsiveness at lower/mid speeds in the straight ahead.
Next headlights. Low beam is excellent with a very good spread across the road which is essential for country driving. High beam was a bit disappointing – would have preferred and bit more depth. I have found the AUTO headlights feature to be of little use – when driving at dusk/night they come on far too late to be of any use – this is a manual job in order to be legal. Also the cars manual talks about “one-push turn signal” for some models. I had this feature in the Vectra and it was great, particularly when changing lanes and roundabouts. Why is it not on the Honda? I now find myself having to often manually cancel turn signal indications, something that I haven’t had to do for some years.
I still find myself having to make adjustments to the climate control. It doesn’t seem to be doing as good a job at regulating the temperature/airflow as the Vectra. The jury is out o this one – more time with the vehicle will tell.
I have heard a few concerns about the radio reception, but find it excellent in the Country, much better than the Vectra.
Finally, the rear seat. People have expressed concerns about rear seat leg-room and the small opening of the rear door. I have not found these to be a problem. The opening is small, but only huge people will find it difficult. I like my driving position to be a little bit higher than some people, as it commands a better view down the road. This leaves more room under the front seats for rear passengers feet.
There are a number of ODD things I have found with the Honda.
Firstly, the passenger seat has heating only in the base where as the drivers seat has it in the base and back. The excuse of the airbag system seems lame, both seats have airbag and other makes/models seem to cope.
Secondly, the trip computer has some strange peculiarities. No data for fuel used. The data would be available as it is used to calculate avg. fuel consumption so why not show it? In addition, instant fuel consumption is shown in graph form. No other data is, so why the change – I would prefer to see the raw data thankyou.
Thirdly, the seatbelt can also be difficult to grab at times, as it hides between the small gap between the seat and the B-pillar.
Overall, however I am very satisfied with the Honda. I hope some readers may find something of interest in these words and any feedback would be great
