2010 Honda Accord Crosstour test drive; help Basem pick a long-term Triumph
Jason Fogelson is the guy who runs About.com's SUVs site. We often disagree on whether a vehicle should be considered a car (and therefore reviewed on my site) or an SUV (reviewed on his). I expected the 2010 Honda Accord Crosstour to be one of those vehicles, but when Jason asked if I could attend the Accord Crosstour press preview on his behalf, I figured the review was mine, all mine, what with possession being 9/10ths of the law and all that.
As soon as I saw the Accord Crosstour in person, I knew that my test drive would belong on the SUV site -- even though it's only a couple of inches longer and wider than the Accord sedan on which it is based, it feels like a significantly bigger vehicle. However, I think it's an SUV that will appeal to car people. Now, I know the Accord Crosstour has been much maligned in the press due to its looks. But having seen it in person -- and driven it in person -- I can tell you that there's a lot more to this vehicle than meets the eye. Get the story in my 2010 Honda Accord Crosstour test drive -- which, of course, is hosted on Jason's SUVs site.
On an unrelated note, Basem Wasef, who runs our motorcycles site, is about to take on a long-term Triumph bike -- and he's asking the readers to vote on which Triumph model should be the subject of his twelve-month test. If you're interested in motorcycles, be sure to check out his long-term Triumph poll. -- Aaron Gold
Photo © Honda
I think the new Honda Pacer…er…Crosstour is a neat concept and looks good but the fuel economy is lousy.
It says in the article that the car was intended to appeal to empty nesters. Unfortunately, I think that may be the only demographic it will appeal to. As the owner of a Chrysler Pacifica, I’m very familiar with the Crossover SUV. We really like our car. Although there are some others out there that are much better, we really like the utility. The car does have a few limitations, though. The cargo area, when the back seats are down, tends to slope upward as you go to the front of the car. The roof, on the other hand, tends to angle downward. It creates problems for loading tall items that are also long.
The Honda will have even worse problems, as the aft roofline slopes so drastically downward that it will impose severe cargo limitations.
I own a mid-60’s fastback. The design looks cool from the outside. On the inside, however, the limitations become glaring. Fastbacks never caught on big in the 60’s. I doubt that they’ll do much better today.
$30,000 as a base price for a Honda? I hope Honda isn’t beginning to lose sight of it’s customer base and why it was created in the first place. Could this be the Phaeton of the Volkswagen line?
while I do think 30k sounds like a lot for a honda base price the crosstour is similarly priced with the Odyssey and Pilot. they just aren’t offering a low-end crosstour with cloth, 4 cyl etc. The Phaeton was 4x the cost of a nicely equipped Jetta.
The Honda Pilot is $28.6k and the and the Odyssey is $27.5k. The Pilot is a poor seller and the Ody is way, way down. True,the disparity in pricing is greater with the Phaeton, but it is symbolic of a car that doesn’t fit in with the company’s mission statment w.r.t. pricing.
Introducing a new product for Honda that breaks that $30k threshold at the base level irks me…especially in this weak world economy.