Honda Cars : Temple of VTEC reader Frederick Golt snags some Un-Camo'd 2013 Honda Accord Spyshots | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Well folks, looks like we may have a winner....

Hmmm, key fob next to shifter with no obvious key = keyless start?

Nice, this car is really shaping up to be the best Accord yet!

This pic was posted by TOV reader disbethj.

Source with a ton of good feedback/commentary in the comments section;
http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=1085496

Honda Cars : Even more 2013 Honda Accord Spyshots (Exterior and Interior) | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Let me introduce you to my friend Manual...

Our spy shooters have once again snared the 2013 Honda Accord in their sights. Though we’ve seen the car’s exterior several times by now, our photographers managed to get a look inside the new Honda midsizer this time.

We’ve already seen the sedan with its roofline exposed, spied the plug-in hybrid version, and even caught a Honda Accord coupe out testing. This time, however, our spy shooter finally got a peek inside the car.

The first interesting item to notice is the manual transmission used in this prototype. Although the Accord has long offered the option to shift for yourself, we’re pleased to see visual confirmation that option will continue in the latest generation of Honda’s midsize sedan and coupe. As is the case now, though, manual-transmission Accords will likely be extremely rare.

The next change is an interior revamp, starting with a new instrument cluster matching that of the 2012 Honda CR-V. Instead of the old Accord’s pair of dials, the 2013 model gets a large central speedometer, with a digital display in its center. At the left is a smaller analog tachometer, while the right-hand edge of the cluster appears to hold a fuel gauge. In addition, Honda has thankfully simplified and tidied the new car’s center stack. As on the 2012 CR-V, air vents now flank the audio and climate controls, which are arranged in tidy straight rows. The current Accord’s center stack has a glut of buttons arranged on a convex piece of plastic.

The important piece of news for audiophiles is the presence of a new infotainment system that has Pandora internet radio capability. A larger screen is mounted atop the dashboard clearly shows that Honda’s test drivers were enjoying the Celine Dion station on Pandora. Small icons at the top of the display indicate that, as is the case on almost any new car, Bluetooth connectivity is included.

The 2013 Honda Accord bowed in concept form at the Detroit auto show in January. The automaker has so far divulged that the base engine in the 2013 Accord will be a revised 2.4-liter inline-four with 181 hp, which can be mated to a continuously variable or six-speed manual transmission. An optional 3.5-liter V-6 will produce at least 271 hp, and can be coupled to a six-speed automatic or six-speed manual transmission.

The 2012 Honda Accord is offered with two engines: a 177-hp, 2.4-liter inline-four that could be mated to either a five-speed manual or five-speed automatic transmission; and a 271-hp, 3.5-liter V-6 available with a six-speed manual or five-speed automatic.

The 2013 Honda Accord is expected to launch this fall.

 

Source;

http://rumors.automobilemag.com/spied-2013-honda-accord-interior-has-pandora-manual-transmission-149641.html

Honda Cars : Inside Line: 2013 Honda Accord Interior Spyshot with Info | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Just the Facts:

• The redesigned 2013 Honda Accord will arrive this fall.
• Three drivetrains will be offered, including a plug-in hybrid option.
• Its exterior dimensions will be reduced slightly compared to the current model.
  

DEATH VALLEY, California — Prototypes of the 2013 Honda Accord were caught during hot-weather testing prior to the car's anticipated launch this fall. Although still covered in heavy camouflage, the sedan and coupe test mules clearly showed that the design of the new Honda Accord won't stray far from the concept shown earlier this year.

Notable design elements that can be seen here include a sharply defined character line on the side of the car that plunges from the rear door handle down to the front wheel opening, rectangular headlights with a row of LED marker lights across the bottom and a sizable front airdam opening below the trapezoidal grille.

A quick peek through the window also revealed a few details about the interior design of the 2013 Honda Accord. The gauge cluster looks like it will switch to a large centrally located speedometer flanked by auxiliary gauges on each side. The Accord will continue to use a large in-dash monitor, but the control unit below will switch to a central control knob design similar to Audi's MMI layout. This should reduce some of the button clutter that plagued the design of the dashboard in the current model.

Honda has already announced that the Accord will offer three different drivetrains. The base four-cylinder will be a new direct-injected, DOHC engine that will deliver 181 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque. It will be paired with either a six-speed manual transmission or a continuously variable transmission (CVT).

A 3.5-liter V6 will be optional, but Honda has only said that it will be more powerful and more efficient than the current engine. In early 2013, a plug-in hybrid variant will be added to the model lineup. It will combine a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with a 120kW electric motor powered by lithium-ion batteries. Honda says it will be capable of travelling up to 10 miles in pure electric mode at speeds up to 62 mph.

Inside Line says: Judging by the looks of these prototypes, Honda will continue to play it right down the middle when it comes to the design of its midsize coupe and sedan.

Source;
http://www.insideline.com/honda/accord/2013/2013-honda-accord-caught-testing-in-the-desert.html

Honda Cars : Honda: 2013 Accord one of 'most feature-rich vehicles we've ever made' | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Honda watchers counting on a restyled 2013 Accord to reignite the Japanese automaker's sales spark in the United States may be disappointed by the first spy images emerging of the sedan.

Photographs captured this week show the mid-sized sedan with only evolutionary changes from its previous design. In a segment that will be filled with several bold redesigns by next spring -- the Toyota Camry, Volkswagen Passat, Nissan Altima, Chevrolet Malibu, Ford Fusion and Mazda6 -- the Accord could find itself fighting for a seat at the head of the table.

In engineering the new Accord, Honda executives say they learned their lesson when they removed too much content on the redesigned 2012 Civic.

"You're going to find that Accord is a very well-balanced product that is the best overall product in everything, whether we're talking about interior packaging, content of the vehicle, the fuel economy of the vehicle," Erik Berkman, head of research and development for Honda Americas, told Bloomberg News in a recent interview.

It "will be one of the most feature-rich vehicles we've ever made," Berkman added, without elaborating.
The new Accord is expected to go on sale early this fall.

A merely evolutionary design change to the Accord could spell trouble when the competition is making huge jumps in styling, especially the Ford Fusion with its Aston Martin-like lines.

Hyundai and Kia have also gained ground in the U.S. market with radically designed mid-sized sedans.
The 2013 Accord is the last of four core models Honda will introduce over a 24-month period. An all-new Odyssey minivan went on sale in late 2010, followed by the new Civic compact last spring and the revamped CR-V in late 2011.

The four models accounted for nearly 80 percent of the Honda brand's U.S. sales last year.

Accord sales last year fell to 235,625 units, representing a 17 percent decline, although a big chunk of the decline was tied to earthquake-related parts shortages.

But it's still a long way from previous years when the Accord produced annual sales of nearly 400,000 units.
Last year, the rival Nissan Altima became the second-best selling car in the United States after the Toyota Camry.

So far in 2012, the Accord is the fourth best-selling car in America, after the Camry, Altima and Honda Civic.

The revamped Accord will feature Honda's new "Earth Dreams" family of engines and related technology, including continuously variable transmissions, the automaker's first such powertrain change in a decade.
Honda previously used CVTs only on small cars made in Japan.

Starting with the 2013 Accord, the new transmission, with an infinite number of gear ratios, will replace the current five-speed automatic to aid fuel-economy and performance.

The CVT will be the only automatic offered in the Accord four-cylinder, but the V-6 will come with a traditional geared transmission.

The engine line, with displacement ranges from 660 cubic centimeters to 3.5 liters, is being added to every new Honda model starting with the Accord.

Mark Rechtin and Bloomberg News contributed to this report

Source;

http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120616/OEM04/120619890/1273

Honda Cars : 2013 Honda Accord Sedan prototype Spotted out testing | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Well now we have some spyshots of a different front end of the Next Gen Honda Accord from the plug in Hybrid version that we've seen before. This would appear to confirm that Honda is making the Hybrid version and the regular Accord with different 'faces', although, if I were Honda, I'd put the same front end on the test mules to hide the redesign....

Honda used this year’s Detroit Auto Show to introduce the Accord Coupe Concept, a vehicle that prepared the world for the upcoming 2013 Accord. Now, our spy shooter have caught a prototype of the new-generation Accord while it was out testing.

As you can see in the adjacent images, the production vehicle will inherit some of the features from the concept, while others will be left out. For example the front grille now looks like that on the Accord Crosstour. We can see that the designers have gifted the car with a ducktail spoiler. an element meant to boost its personality.

However, the over-the-top braking system of the concept would be to expensive for the production car, so this will have to make due with a more conventional one. The vehicle is still covered in camouflage, so we still have to wait in order to find out more details about its looks.
Source;
http://www.autoevolution.com/news/spyshots-2013-honda-accord-46110.html

Honda Cars : 2013 Honda Accord Spyshot Compared to Honda Concept C Front End | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Well, there are no denying the similarities between the Honda Concept C and the recent spyshot of the 2013 Honda Accord Plug In Hybrid caught testing in California.  There's some heavy speculation that Honda is going to be putting a different face onto the Hybrid version from the normal Accord (a la Hyundai Sonata Hybrid), however I for one don't believe that Honda would do that (at lease to any dramatic degree).

Anyway, I love the front end of the spyshot and I think this is the shot in the arm that the Accord needs.

Honda Cars : Spied: 2013 Honda Accord Plug-In Hybrid Spotted in California | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Nice, less and less camo....

Last week we showed you spy photos of the next-generation 2013 Honda Accord, caught out in the wild, but heavily camouflaged from the windows down. That left us speculating as to what exactly Honda had in store for its new Accord sedan.

We may have caught a glimpse over the weekend near Honda’s Torrance, California, headquarters. Doing some late-night testing, this gold-painted and lightly camouflaged Honda sedan sports a couple of things we couldn’t see last week. First, the nose appears radically different here, and much more similar to the Honda Concept C shown earlier this year at the Beijing Auto Show. It also goes against our impression of last week’s photo, which didn’t appear to have any of the “jowls” of the Accord Coupe Concept or the Crosstour Concept, both of which were shown at U.S. auto shows earlier this year.

So what gives? Two possible explanations. First, the car shown here is clearly a plug-in prototype, judging from the extra “fuel” door on the front left fender. So it’s possible that Honda will be giving its plug-in model more radical styling than the standard gasoline-powered models, similar to how competitor Hyundai saved its cooler styling for the Sonata Hybrid. The other explanation is that Honda simply had an older-style nose on the car from last week, in an effort to throw off spy photographers.

Either way, we’ll get a closer look at the 2013 Honda Accord in a few months when the car is officially revealed for the first time.

Photos: Nicholas Bailey

Read more: http://blogs.automotive.com/spied-2013-honda-accord-plug-in-hybrid-97191.html#.T9DCW5hrXDx#ixzz1x7V5IvCZ

Honda Cars : TOV: Slightly Disguised 2013 Honda Accord, or is it a Acura RLX???? | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Now, is this the Next Honda Accord, or is it the Acura RLX?

This is the backend of the Next Acura RL (RLX) as noted by some careful TOV forum members.

Source;
http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=1069172