Honda’s new Accord for N.Z. soon

Press, 2 September 1977, Page 8

Honda’s new Accord for N.Z. soon

By

RUSSELL JONES,

motoring editor

The Honda Accord has been praised thoroughly overseas, but reading about it did not prepare me for my reaction when I saw one in the metal last week. No, not Love at first sight, but certainly a quickening of interest which I have not felt for some time. The car has an indefinable quality which suggests it could become a ! classic. Photographs do not do I it justice. Some shots make it look like a stretched Civic, but it is much more than that. The Accord has already won a number of “car of

the year” awards and seems set to become one of the most popular Japanese cars. About 100 Accords have been imported into New Zealand, fully built up, but few of them have come to the South Island. The model I drove briefly was fitted with the Hondamatic transmission and had done only a few hundred kilometres, so I could get very little idea of the performance. But in a car as beautifully finished and appointed as this performance could afford to take second place. The New Zealand Motor Corporation, flushed with the success of the Civic, intends to start assembling Accords as soon as possible, but they are unlikely to be available this year. Demand should be brisk, even at the likely price of $7500 — perhaps more by the time they come on the market. The Accord follows the modem trend of frontwheel drive from a transverse engine, rack and pinion steering, and independent rear suspension, in a body with two doors

and a hatchback. The four cylinder engine of 1600 cu cm is off-set to the left, with the five-speed manual gearbox or twospeed automatic mounted on the right-hand end of it. The distributor is driven from the end of the single overhead camshaft, which makes at least one service point very easy to reach. I cannot make up my mind whether the most impressive thing about the Accord is the quality of finish inside the engine compartment or the attention to detail in the cockpit. Well, before actually driving the car, that is. be-

cause on the road the Honda seems to have the manners of a thoroughbred. It rides and handles faultlessly at least around town, although its character may change under tough conditions. Somehow I think not. “The Accord marshals every desirable trend in small-car design,” says an enthusiastic review in the American magazine "Car and Driver.” “In a Teutonic spirit of efficiency, every cranny of this Honda is functional, from the most informative of instrument panels to the tiny change tray installed in the dash. "The car’s 25,000 km tune-up intervals suggest the ultimate in Japanese reliability. Responsive controls snap it around with the zest of an Italian sport coupe. And underneath it all, the comfort quotient is pure American: lots of interior space and seats with enough fore-and-aft travel to accommodate really gross people.” Honda hopes to sell 60,000 Accords in the United States this year — at SUS4I4S.