The Honda Accord consistently ranks among the
top-selling new cars in America. So the introduction of an all-new model, while
not necessarily the most exciting, is of vital importance not only to its
manufacturer, but to the North American market altogether.
Honda has released the preliminary pricing
information that so many customers have likely been waiting for, and with it, a
whole mess of new photos.
The manufacturer's suggested retail price for the
all-new 2018 Accord starts at US$ 23,570 (plus an US$ 875 delivery charge) for the
base LX model with the CVT and the 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine.
Step up to the Sport model (with either the CVT or a six-speed manual) and
you're looking at US$ 25,780. The EX starts at US$ 27,470, the EX-L at US$ 29,970 (or US$ 30,970 with nav), and the top Touring trim at US$ 33,800.
Go for the larger 2.0-liter engine with the
ten-speed automatic transmission and you'll be looking at US$ 30,310 for the Sport
model (still available with the stick as a no-cost option) or US$ 31,970 for the
EX-L (plus another grand for nav). The top-of-the-line 2.0 Touring caps the
range at US$ 35,900 but we've yet to see pricing for the hybrid version.
Honda hasn't released fuel economy ratings for
either the hybrid or the 2.0 at this point, either, but the EPA rates most
versions of the 1.5-liter/CVT model at 30 miles per gallon in the city, 38 on
the highway, and 33 on the combined cycle. The Sport and Touring models take a
slight hit, though, at 29/35/31 for the Sport CVT, 26/35/31 for the Sport 6MT,
and 29/35/31 for the Touring CVT.
Those figures represent a fairly consistent
improvement in fuel economy over the outgoing model, which is rated as low as
27/36/30 for the base 2.4-liter model with the CVT, and as high as 18/28/21 for
the V6 manual. For all those improvements and more, Honda is charging a little
more for the 2018 model than it did for the 2017, which started at US$ 22,455 in
base LX trim and topped out at US$ 34,930 for the six-cylinder Touring model.
