Cars Worth Noting – 2003 Honda Accord

Honda’s new Accord achieves something that I previously only felt in big, expensive German cars — it feels German. If I were the only one that noticed that “feel” I might not have mentioned it, but several people that rode in the car with me commented that the car felt unusually heavy yet nimble.

To be honest, I don’t exactly know how you make a 3,000-pound vehicle feel like it weighs 5,000, but the Accord simply mows down irregularities in the road rather than skimming over them. When you close the doors, they sound bank-vault solid. When you hit a pothole you get the distinct impression that the hole got the short end of the stick. Adding to the illusion is Honda’s double five-star crash rating. The Accord travels in pretty exclusive circles in that regard, with most of its competition relying on sheer mass and size to translate to that kind of safety. Curtain style side airbags are sauce for the goose.

Beyond the feel of the car, Honda has also upped the content to the point that Mercedes-Benz or BMW would be proud to put their name on it. Leather seats are “fleshy” soft, the 120-watt sound system sounds kicks out everything from Bach to Beck. And the voice activated navigation system is rocket science made simple.

Thankfully, the Accord’s SULEV-rated four- and ULEV-compliant six-cylinder engines are still all Honda, which in my dictionary is a notch above German anyway.

Safe, smooth and civilized, this car is as close to perfect as it gets.