Long Term Wrap-up: 2016 Honda Accord Touring

With every new year, the saying is always "out with the old, in with the new." Since 2019 is only a few hours away, I figure, why not do just that? Towards the end of the year, East Brother and I made the decision to part ways with our 2016 Honda Accord Touring ahead of schedule. We bought the car for two main reasons, and over the course of nearly two and a half years, both of those reasons became moot with further developments within our personal lives.

Test Drive: 2018 Honda Accord Touring 2.0T

I'll be the first to admit that we're a bit late to the party when it comes to reviewing the all new, 10th generation Accord. The car with the 1.5 liter turbo four cylinder has been out since late last year, and the 2.0 liter engine version has been around since about February. As the owner of a 2016 Accord Touring V6 though, I still felt it was relevant to review this car, as East Brother and I are considering it as a potential replacement for our current Accord. So how does it stack up to our current Accord?

Long Term Test: 2016 Honda Accord Touring V6 post #2

It has been quite some time since we introduced our 2016 Honda Accord Touring. We have now had the car for about a year, and in that time have learned about some of the car's quirks. In terms of the way the car drives, there is not much to talk about. The car is still comfortable to drive, the V6 continues to accelerate and operate smoothly, and I still continue to get piss poor gas mileage thanks to my horrific daily commute. All of the quirks I have encountered over the year we have had this car have to do with the technology. As with pretty much anything, the more new technology you cram into a car, the more likely it is you are going to run into problems with it.

Long Term Test: 2016 Honda Accord Touring post# 1

For a while now, East Brother and I have been talking about getting a car that we could share. One that I could use as a daily driver to work, and that East Brother could use when he needed to go somewhere outside the range of his Focus Electric. Our original plan saw us aiming towards the end of the year to make the purchase, but ongoing back pain from driving my S2000 daily to my new place of employment in West LA pushed our schedule up by a few months.

We tossed plenty of ideas around, but our decision came down to two choices: the 2016 Honda Accord Touring, and the 2016 Volvo V60 T5 Platinum. Initially, we were pushing for the Volvo as we are both fans of wagons, but there wasn't a single dealer in the area that had the car equipped the way we wanted it. Realizing that it seemed a little pointless to keep pursuing the Volvo, we started shooting emails to our local Honda dealers to get quotes on the Accord. Within a few short days, we took home a Modern Steel Metallic Accord Touring.

Test Ride: 2012 BMW R1200GS

Image courtesy of Motoquest.com

Adventure bikes are not usually my thing. The weight does not bother me so much as the rather high center of gravity relative to a sport, or even a standard, bike. However, during my most recent trip back to the West Coast, I had the occasion to slip away from work for a day and take the gold standard of the adventure bike class, BMW's venerable R1200GS, for a full day test ride. I used the opportunity to cover a road that is popular with all sorts of riders, Southern California's famed Ortega Highway, but also spent plenty of time on it traversing the crowded suburban sprawl of LA as well as slicing through traffic as I split lanes between cars on the parking lot that is the 405 freeway during rush hour. MotoQuest, which provided the bike for the review, was extremely helpful and made sure that I had plenty of time to get acquainted and appreciate the genius that is this motorcycle.

Test Drive: 2013 Chrysler 200 Touring

It had been a rough morning already. The first rental car of the day experienced engine trouble and the second one had the misfortune of being rear-ended shortly after leaving the rental lot. I had just spent the better part of the morning sorting out the details from the accident and finding my way back to the rental car agency to pick up my third car of the morning. By this time, I was looking for something that would be reliable transportation and, knock on wood, would not attract any more bad luck. Imagine my disappointment when the options I got presented with included another Nissan (my history so far that day with Nissan had been far from confidence inspiring) and a Chrysler 200. Seeing as how my options were basically non-existent, I accepted the Chrysler 200, hoping that some of the magic Chrysler had managed with the 300 had rubbed off.

Test Drive: 2013 Mid-size Family Sedan Comparo

Over the course of the last few weeks, we have individually examined a number of mid-size family sedans. You can read the detailed individual reviews by clicking on the followings links:

2013 Ford Fusion SE
2013 Honda Accord Sport
2013 Kia Optima LX
2014 Mazda 6 Touring
2013 Nissan Altima S
2013 VW Passat SE

Each car had its strengths and weaknesses, so declaring a winner was fairly challenging, though a clear loser was evident from the start. Continue reading to see how the cars performed in the various categories.

Test Drive: 2014 Mazda 6 Touring

Update: See how the Mazda 6 did in our 2013 Mid-Size Family Sedan Comparison.

Zoom-zoom.

Mazda has made it their credo, promising to offer a dose of the "zoom-zoom" spirit in every product they put out - from their sedans to their sports cars, to their SUVs. The MX-5 Miata and, now deprecated, RX-8 were the purest examples in their embodiment, but even the recently introduced CX-5 shows driving dynamics that would be at home in a small hot hatchback. With the introduction of a new 6 sedan, Mazda is hoping to further demonstrate that their "zoom-zoom" spirit is alive and well and adaptable to truly any platform that they choose. Combine that with the Skyactiv suite of technologies, which include fuel efficient drive trains, ultra-light yet super-strong body structures, and advanced energy recapture devices, Mazda is looking to further cement its position in the marketplace, taking an ever increasing share of the sales pie from the likes of its Japanese brethren at Honda, Nissan, and Toyota.