2016 Honda Accord Touring Coupe conquers roads of Los Angeles

The snarled, big gnarly that is Los Angeles commuter traffic is not for the faint of heart. In-fact, most folks that live in the suburbs of Los Angeles and Orange County look to surface street alternatives for their daily grind. There’s no sugarcoating the situation, Los Angeles traffic is more often than not a crapshoot as to viable route-time-continuum.

On time, cool! add 20 minutes

My friends at Honda PR Team Eagles were kind enough to extend to me a beautiful, fully loaded 2016 Honda Accord Touring Coupe showing a mere 600 miles on the odometer. Sporting one of Honda’s new body colors, Deep Blue Opal Metallic, on a black leather interior, with piano black console accents, brushed aluminum trim and graphite patterned dash design cues, this car is visually stunning.

Standing back and taking a long critical look at Honda’s newest performance coupe, I find the 2016 Accord Earth Dreams ™ normally aspirated, fuel injected V6 Touring Coupe to be visually captivating, while provoking thoughts of pending performance, fun and driving comfort. Looking to my co-driver, we weren’t disappointed!

Our fully optioned 2016 Accord V6 Touring Coupe with Honda Sensing ™, prices out at $34,125 +. It is the finest Honda Coupe offering I’ve driven to date, and second only in refinement and techno-wonder to the Accord Hybrid.

A picture says...

Although not the Honda Performance accessorized Accord we reported on last month at the Honda Dream Garage Event, it was darn close. Take a look at the 19 inch cookie cutters and 3 D grill design, love it!

Great! How’s she ride?

Well, for me, that was truly the performance surprise that is 2016 Honda Accord Coupe. Claiming 278 hp @ 6200 rpm, and 252 lb-ft @ 4900 rpm, our multi-point injected, 3.5 Liter, 24 valve V6 performed exceedingly well, when matched to a very responsive, paddle shifted 6 speed automatic transmission.

For 2016, Honda Accord fans will discover a quiet, much improved ride, decent handling and seriously comfortable seating.

While perhaps not the most powerful V6 in the segment, because of the way that torque “comes on" throughout the shift range, this next generation i-VTEC V6 engine performs with the veracity and smoothness of many V8 offerings, while sipping gasoline at the rate of combined 25 mpg.

We discover a much refined, quiet drive and ride experience

This fully equipped V6 powered Accord Touring Coupe is not a light weight by Honda standards. The midsize Coupe pushes the weight limit in the midsize segment. We’ll leave the compact class lifting to 2016 Honda Civic, Honda’s next best seller.

sitting at the pinnacle of high-tech meets measurable comfort and safety

The short list: Honda’s ACE ™ body structure, Apple-Play ™ and Android Auto ™ O.P.S., dual zone automatic climate control, push button keyless ignition, voice activated infotainment system, Garmin Navigation, leather trimmed power adjust heated front seats, one-touch power moonroof, upgraded soft and hard touch interior surfaces, an expanded color pallet, up graded braking and suspension components, ad up to an exceptional, affordable performance Coupe package.

Weighing in at 3554 lbs as equipped with premium sound system, power adjusted driver’s seat, and the full suite of Honda Sensing ™ active safety and personal connectivity electronics, 2016 Accord Touring Coupe is not a "sports car"per say in the historic sense, yet it does encourage a sport-like driving experience. The trade off here for a bit more weight and a split second or two added to your 0 to 60 mph time, is a slightly heavier and cushier ride. Gone is the historically stiff Honda ride and rock-hard bucket or bench seat of yesterday. We like that.

Note: I did experience the collision avoidance prowess of 2016 Accord Touring Coupe while transitioning from Interstate 5 to the Hollywood, Ventura Freeway. Let me put it to you this way. The brakes work exceptionally well without grabbing. And the seats, yes, they clean up pretty well. I’ll leave it at that!

Great surface street and freeway handling

Personally, I can’t say enough as to the measurable sensory uptick in this totally refreshed Accord Coupe as to ride comfort and interior quiet. 2016 Accord offers in all trim variants, a look and feel generally associated with cars sporting a much higher MSRP. (priced from $23,775, 4 cylinder CVT)

By increasing active and passive exterior and engine noise isolation through sound wave cancellation, greater road to frame vibration deadening, and frame to car body isolation, Honda receives our tip of the hat for producing the best looking, best riding and safest Accord offering to date, while holding the price point.

Accord V6 will break traction and torque steer a bit from an aggressive start

There’s no getting around the fact that 2016 Accord in all variants is a FWD (front-wheel-drive) vehicle with traction breaking tendencies, nose diving in aggressive cornering, and just a bit of torque steer at times.

However, as equipped with 19 inch wheels and Michelin all season radial tires,we experienced an exceptional drive and ride adventure on the roads and highways of Los Angeles County without mishap.

As stated, Accord Coupe runs on the heavy side of the midsize spectrum.
However, I do find 2016 Honda Accord Touring Coupe to be a very agile city commuter possessing measurable peddle, acceptable handling in the twisties and exceptional accident prevention technology.

What we’d change

Not much! Personally for me, a taller driver, I’d like to see easier rear seat access, and a bit more headroom in the rear. Of Course, this is a Sports-Coupe. Passengers of shorter stature will find the rear seat of 2016 Accord Coupe to be surprisingly comfortable.

I did experience a bit more side mirror generated wind noise than experienced while driving Acura TLX, but not much more.

Voice recognition and navigation worked flawlessly in 2016 Accord Coupe

I found the dash interface to be a bit clumsy to navigate in the dark. And in fact, drove the length of Los Angeles County in the dark with my headlights off. It wasn’t intentional. Actually the parking/running lights are so bright, I didn’t realize the fauz pas until I’d reached my destination.

So, other than perhaps a bit more intuitive dash control interface, and bit more wiggle room in row 2, I found 2016 Accord Coupe to be a refreshing uptick for the best selling midsize nameplate in North America. It's the most refined and arguably the best looking Accord Coupe offering to date. And, in my most humble opinion, an exceptional purchase or lease value.