1991 Honda Accord EX Wagon Is a Sedan with a Backpack

From the February 1991 concern of Automobile and Driver.

Mouthwatering station wagons come few and much between: the Audi Quattro, the Ford Taurus, the Mercedes 300, the Volvo Turbo. The primary three confirmed up rounded, the final starkly boxlike, however all stay stylish and effectively proportioned. About fifteen months in the past, when Honda’s ahead thinkers launched to­day’s Accord sedans and coupes, they confirmed renderings offered as their very own mouthwatering wagon. Its form promised to outprofile even the world’s most good-looking five-doors. Not like many styling research, this one was restrained sufficient to counsel a producible automobile as an alternative of a pure pipe dream. If the sketch got here true, the Volvo, Mercedes, Ford, and Audi stylists would quickly be frantically whittling away on some recent five-doors.

Like a cloudburst within the desert, right here comes the Honda to gully-wash the sta­tus quo. But the Accord Wagon hasn’t come out as svelte as we anticipated. It lacks, maybe, within the sheetmetal what appeared so engaging on the sketch pad. However get this: the freethinkers who dreamed up this potential flood tide work not out of Honda’s Japanese R&D middle and studio however its American suppose tank and design enclave in Southern Cal­ifornia. Extra irony: Honda will construct the Accord wagon within the States—at its Marysville, Ohio, plant—on the market right here and for export to Japan. Honda proves once more that it might probably concurrently transfer its markets in fast-forward and speedy­-rewind.

Regardless of the trendy authentic plan, some particulars slipped away between the early rendering and the ultimate fendering. The wagon’s bodywork stays leanly hand­some, particularly the aggressive nostril, slick shell, and glassy cabin. However the win­dows alongside the appended “boot” do not mix into its form—or the shapes of the opposite aspect home windows—as seamlessly because the art work led us to anticipate. The Accord’s liftgate and taillights additionally fail to mesh as easily as they could. But total the wagon comes throughout as distinctly trim—­and trimmed for distinction. It bears a strong but agile look, borne out by its fundamental solidity and dynamics.

Concentrations of cargo inevitably cram each station wagon at instances. Cargo fills house the best way work expands to fill time, the best way play takes up leisure hours: The Honda’s cargo capability, although not big, can haul loads that does not re­quire Mayflower movers. The properly crafted carpet and panels encourage care in loading and unloading. We might use pads or tarps to blunt heavy gadgets with sharp edges.

Cargo-packaging selections embrace a rear seat break up to fold ahead in one-­third, two-thirds, or full width in accordance with wants—useful for skis (and crutches for aprés). To fold the rear seatbacks flat, you pull the underside cushions up and flop them ahead. Then you definately pull the rear headrests from their seatbacks, fold the backs ahead, and safely slip the prongs of the rear headrests into receptacles on the backsides of the underside cushion. A baggage cowl mounted horizontally be­tween the rear wheel wells unreels from simply behind the rear seat. Configured like a window shade, the duvet’s eyelets hook on to tabs close to the tailgate, hiding what­ever caboodle you are carting round. Retaining the caboodle beneath the sills of the panoramic home windows maintains excel­lent visibility out the tail and the appropriate rear quarter. The driving force’s B-pillar, the wagon’s solely blind spot, stolidly blanks the view to the left rear quarter.

The inside dimensions counsel Honda has determined to goal extra at delivery­-controllers than population-explosionists. You may discover loads of room for baggage and 4 giant vacationers, however a most of solely 5 will match—and that is provided that the one sitting on the center of the again seat is sufficiently small to scuttle underneath a limbo bar with out bending over backward. We are saying “sitting on” the rear seat as a result of it is as agency as a pew padded solely in shellac. Legroom entrance and rear proves satisfactory, prolonged in again by helpful footroom underneath the entrance seats. The low bolsters up entrance make for com­fortable assist over lengthy distances, presuming you do not abuse winding roads as in the event you have been attacking the Suzuka Circuit. However drivers who’ve lengthy legs will discover the Accord’s pedals set too shut, its wheel too far. We won’t fathom why Honda fails on this respect to match Nissan, Toyota, and Mazda.

Honda packages an air bag within the nifty four-spoke steering wheel, changing its add-on chrome “H” with the trademark molded into the padded hub cowl.

The wagon wears the identical trendy wheel utilized to different Accords. They’re—learn how to phrase it?—unobtrusively eye-catching. Although clean within the modem aero idiom, their delicate curva­ture, angled inlets, and shiny machining catch the sunshine and flicker like MTV. For an outfit with little or no use for chrome, Honda has a method with brightwork; notice the crystal-like cuts of the mirrors throughout the halogen headlights. The excessive beams throw an excellent unfold of sunshine but in addition spotlight the issues of many head­lights developed to be used in international locations with low velocity limits: an excessive amount of illumination straight in entrance of the automobile, not sufficient “throw” down the highway. So your eyes, overwhelmed by your personal pool of sunshine, “cease down” like a digital camera lens that may’t be overridden—dimming the view of no matter lies additional forward, a doubtful state of affairs.

Honda’s 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine applies its gasoline injection, sixteen valves, and stability shafts to producing a spicy 140 horsepower. Its efficiency, although flavored extra alongside the strains of nutmeg than tabasco, whips up enthusi­asm and lops off miles. The Accord’s five-speed, front-drive transaxle pulls the wagon’s 3170 kilos from 0 to 60 mph in 9.0 seconds and on as much as a prime velocity of 119 mph.

The Accord wagon feels safe until you want higher monitoring, most nook­ing, or absolute braking. Pavement creased by truck ruts causes the chassis to wig-wag. Tough corners can shortly tax the Goodyear Eagle GAs past the wagon’s 0.76-g cornering grip. Worse, most braking reveals poor front-­rear stability and sorry 223-foot stops from 70 mph. These check outcomes come as a shock from a chassis that feels good within the brisk driving invited by its mainly good stability.

However, we had hoped the wag­on model of America’s finest compact sedan would shine slightly brighter. Honda is anticipated to ask twenty grand for it, a quantity sufficiently big to rev up our expectations. Nonetheless, the Accord wag­on could be very tasty stuff. We guess Honda, briefly order, will make it most scrumptious.