2005 Honda Accord EX V6

The true mark of success in the sedan business is not the total number of vehicles produced or even sold, but the total sold to retail customers—folks who walk into a dealership and buy a car because it's what they want. While many domestic sedans begin their lives by trundling out the factory door and heading straight into an airport rental fleet, only in small numbers do Honda Accords end up schlepping around weary business travelers. Accords are sold in large numbers to people who want to buy them, and with good reason.


The charmingly and fantastically popular Accord is thoroughly proficient at being an exemplary four-door sedan. It gets accused of being an appliance, like a refrigerator. Refrigerators should be so good.

The Accord's exterior style is clean in the concept and refined in the details.

The Accord's exterior style has often been described as less than thrilling, but it's clean in the concept and refined in the details. The 16-inch wheels of the V6 and EX models help fill out the wheel wells and solidify the visual stance. It would be difficult to imagine a more user-friendly interior than the Accord's—Honda practically invented the concept. Not only the placement of the controls and various functions, but the way they operate, feel, and touch, indicate every factor has been thoroughly considered. All this makes it easier and less tiring to drive the car, and even long trips are accomplished in a kind of quiet, easy, and smooth serenity.


As with the odd idea that an Accord might be a performance car, there's also the notion of it being a handling car. But, again—contrary to conventional wisdom—the Accord's level of ride and handling is precise, smooth and responsive. Steering feel is accurate and easy, with just the correct amount of feedback, and it's straight and relentlessly stable at higher highway speeds as well as nimble and easy to park around town.


There are three trim levels: The four-cylinder DX starts at a little over $16,000. The LX adds a lot of luxury and convenience, and the choice of a four-cylinder or V6 engine, at just under $20,000. An EX V6—which is to say, loaded as it can get—with navigation is under $29,000.