A standard suite of driver aids keeps watch, and the Touring trim bolsters the feature count with a head-up display, a premium Bose stereo, wireless device charging, front-seat ventilation, and heated rear seats. New front chairs held us snug in all-day comfort, while straight-forward ergonomics and attractive details, such as the dash-spanning mesh trim that conceals the climate vents, appeased our senses. The same goes for the refined interior and its thoughtful enhancements, including a smidge more legroom (now 40.8 inches) for the already generous back seat and the replacement of Honda's unintuitive shift buttons with a simple PRND lever on the console. Minimalist detailing leaves it somewhat unadorned from certain angles, but we dig it. With its longer hood and fastback profile, the new Accord cuts a handsome figure, particularly on its bigger wheels. Combined output is 204 horsepower, a gain of two horses over the outgoing hybrid. A novel design with essentially no transmission, this setup combines a 146-hp Atkinson-cycle 2.0-liter four-cylinder, a 1.1-kWh battery pack, and two clutched electric motors, one spun by the engine as a generator and the other providing power to the ground. But all mid- and upper-range models, from the $32,990 Sport to our $38,985 Touring test car, now feature Honda's updated hybrid system, which is much like the one found in the latest CR-V. You can still get a standard gas powertrain-a 192-hp turbo 1.5-liter four mated to a CVT-in the lowest Accord trims, which open at $28,390. Fast-forward to today's dwindling sedan market and looming emissions regulations, and the Accord's survival depends on electrification playing a much greater role. While low take rates are largely to blame for those calls, history offers additional context: Satisfying sensibleness, not heady acceleration, has been the driver of the Accord's success over the past 47 years, 37 of which have seen an Accord on our 10Best list. One of our favorite models is in danger of losing its mojo. To say we're sad that Honda dropped the Accord's previously optional turbo 2.0-liter four from the new 11th-generation model-only a few short years after it axed the nameplate's manual transmissions-is an understatement. From the April 2023 issue of Car and Driver.
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