General Comments:

We have a 2005 Accord EX-L, and I feel the need to mention that this car has saved my son's life.

Two nights ago, my son who is 18 and a freshman in college, was returning home at 4:00 am in the morning when he fell asleep at the wheel and overran a crosswalk signal, and then hit a guardrail and stone wall. The car itself was completely demolished, and there wasn't one part of the body left undamaged. Yet the cabin remained intact, and my son came out without a scratch.

The entire front end of the car was torn off, and the driver's side front wheel left dangling by a thread where the car struck the guardrail. The front, rear and moon roof windows were all broken, and the metal on the entire length of the passenger side ripped and torn where it hit the stone wall. To see the car and the extent of damage, it's hard to believe that anyone could walk away from it.

It's been 48 hours now, and I feel I'm still in a state of shock. It's hard to believe this has happened, and while sitting at my computer reflecting on the accident, I did a little research, and found that the 2005 Accord has a Five Star rating in frontal crashes. This means there is less than 10% chance of serious injury to either the driver or passenger in a frontal collision at 35 mph. (http://www.carsdirect.com/2005/honda/accord/safety)

Since then, I've felt very thankful for buying our Honda, and in Honda engineering in general.

I believe I shall forever recommend Honda, and will buy more of them in the future.

A grateful father.

Faults:

My coolant temperature sensor expired after owning it for half a year, cost $200 to fix with parts & labor at Honda dealer. Only warranty was power train, so I had to pay.

Road noise is a bit on the louder side, but I always have the music on. :)

General Comments:

This car has it all... Fast, sporty look, lots of room in trunk and back seats can be folded down. The seats are very comfortable and the steering is extremely smooth; better than the 07 Civic, which I also test drove. I also get about 28 MPG on highway and 24 MPG city. Very reliable.

Best sedan!

Faults:

The car has some electrical problems, nothing major though.

The engine runs like a champ.

The CD player doesn't work. All Honda Accords have problems with their CD players.

General Comments:

Could use a bit more power, wish it had the same power as the TSX; after all, they have the same engine.

Overall satisfied with the car; nothing in the car feels cheap, and I love the speedometer lighting.

Faults:

Dash lights flicker (36,000).

ECU reprogrammed (goodwill repair done free).

Radio/climate control lights don't work (60K).

Wheel bearings (91,000).

General Comments:

I wanted to get my wife an economical and safe car to drive a long distance every day. After a lot of research, it looked like a year or two old Civic would be the cheapest possible "appliance" to own. We wanted side airbags, but they were only available on the Civic EX at that time. Two year old Civic EXs were selling for about $14,000 at that time, so we got a new Accord DX for about the same price (after trading a worthless Plymouth with a blown head gasket).

I was concerned about the reliability of the dealer-installed AC, but it will still freeze you out, even when sitting in traffic in 100 degree weather.

In 5 years and 91,000 miles, it has only needed one set of tires (at 60K), 4 or 5 sets of wiper blades, and two headlight bulbs. That's all I've done to it since buying it new. Fuel records kept since new indicate 34-35 mpg.

The wheel bearings started getting noisy around 80K, and now at 91K they are quite noisy. Getting those replaced tomorrow.

The dash lights flicker occasionally, but the dashboard was replaced at 3500 miles due to an accident (hit a deer, which came through the window). They flicker once every month or so since that.

ECU update was a service bulletin to rectify high torque at idle -- if you didn't have the brakes on firmly when stopped, the car would creep forward, sort of like it was stuck on high idle, but without the high RPMs - the refresh made that much better.

The radio lights are apparently a problem with a circuit board, requiring the replacement of the CD player to the tune of around $800. Because it's a funny shape and incorporated into the climate control, an aftermarket CD player won't plop right in there. I know where the buttons are, and use the presets to change radio station so it's really not a big issue.

Not a very exciting car at all, but a wonderful appliance, and very economical to own for a midsize car. Comfortable and has held up well.