Hey,

I was a spectator when my friends were talking about this. One of my friends drives a 5th Gen Accord and loves it to death while my other friend drives a Civic. They started talking and my friend who drives the Civic asks why my friend likes Accords so much. He said that the Civic is generally lighter, has just as big a performance aftermarket if not more, etc. It seemed like he had a bunch of reasons while my friend with the Accord really seemed stumped.

So, I'm thinking about possibly getting an Accord or Civic and want to ask you guys, why do you like Accords so much? Why not a Civic like my friend mentioned? Lighter, bigger aftermarket...I am leaning towards the Accord a little because I do like how it's not as common as Civics plus an Accord with an H22 is plenty fast enough for me but I'd just like to hear from you.

Also, I don't want to start anything saying that a Civic is better than an Accord or an Accord is better than a Civic. I just want to hear your personal opinions on why you guys like Accords so much.

Thanks!

 

i like the body style of 5th gen accords and the added luxuries of accords

 

i like, make that love, my accord cause there's a lot more room in it compared to a civic. personally, i'm not into civics that much since they're soo common these days.

i could care less that there is smaller selection of aftermarket performance compared to a civic or integra. i don't race at all.

 

Considering I have the chance to drive both on any single day; I'll tell you I like driving both, with a slight bias the my '97 CD7 Accord.
In stock trim, the Civic EX high steps it better and flits around thru traffic with what I'd describe as a lighter 'feel'. They generally have a higher Power/Weight ratio and there's a ga-zillion of them out there. The Drawback? After several hours you know you've been driving around in a sport Sub-Compact.
The Accord, on the other hand glides when compared to the civic. It's heavier, and you feel it. In stock trim; it's very competent and responds to rival a Civic's spirited handling with basic suspension upgrades. You can drive it for hours without driver fatigue. You've got more room, and don't get the idea you're trying to load a container ship like you do with a Civic and more than two friends. You've more room everywhere, engine compartment included. Aftermarket parts are becoming more and more available, as is the ingenuity of their drivers.
For myself, It's the challenge of making it something it's not (and with the Accord it's a bigger challenge). That may be where the attraction lies.

P

 

Well I've only had an Accord for a short time now. And I have to say I've gotten used to it's immenities. Personally mine is a 5th Gen 4 Cylinder Sedan, and I love it.

So there aren't aftermarket parts galore for the thing, I don't plan on doing anything crazy to it anyways. Give me suspension mods, a high grade clutch, intake and exhaust. I'll be happy man.

I have to say that I only have one complaint about my car, and that's the gearing. The 5 speed gears are just so long that if I feel like taking it to 5500 rpm each shift it almost feels like a chore. But doing highway speeds in 3rd gear rocks. As well as being able to hit 90+ without jumping to top gear.

And like P_Adams said, it's the challenge of making it something its not.

The Accord isn't meant to be some super fast car, but if it ends up that way it's great. Who expects a family car to go fast?

 

Room. The Accord is just bigger and mileage doesn't suffer much compared to the Civic - I get mid 20s in the city and low to mid 30s on the interstate (5-speed manual).

If it's just you, I guess it depends on where you are in life. If you are planning on keeping the car a long time and foresee a wife / kids, the Accord sedan can easily handle the family for a while.

 

Like many say its the room u get! you can load up friends in the thing and still feel comfortable. I've had my 97 and i love it to death, its my baby.

However one big drawback is the automatic windows!! they are a big pain in the **** as anyone would tell ya!

SO ya civic is lighter and the aftermarket is bigger.. but...Everyone has one.. Go diffrent get an accord and do a few mods, you'll stick out like a sore thumb and love it

 

The ability to carry a heavier load than a civic with the extra space. I was also financially able to obtain one. Easy to maintain car except the 90-97 brake jobs.

 

I personally hate my accord, only reason i keep it around is because it was free and my next car has to be brand new, but other then that its been good to me, 4 doors will always get you fat chicks seriously haha no one wants a fat chick in a civic so they stick them in accords ******* sucks...other then that its hard to find clean accords, clean civics are everywhere shoot im looking at one right now haha

 

i really don't like the new accords inside or out. I like the new civics even less. I drove a 06 civic and all I gotta say is when did ford start designing interiors for honda? The civic looks nice on the outside but on the inside it looks like a cheaply put together peice of plastic trash can.

The new accord isn't much better on the inside with that big old "damn I have to look at the menus while I am driving to adjust the radio, heat/ac, or anything else. and the thing just looks to flashy for my tastes

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by YeuEmMaiMai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i really don't like the new accords inside or out. I like the new civics even less. I drove a 06 civic and all I gotta say is when did ford start designing interiors for honda? The civic looks nice on the outside but on the inside it looks like a cheaply put together peice of plastic trash can. </TD></TR></TABLE>
Hmmm. Although I didn't buy an '06 Civic, I certainly considered it. I don't like the Star Wars parts of the instrument cluster, and the visuals of the steering wheel (which I give you looks like a 60-some Ford Galaxie), I still think that it's a great car overall.

I'm especially impressed that Honda listened to the comments of enthusiasts and took steps with the FG2 to address all their needs and concerns.

We wanted 200 HP and they gave it to us.

We wanted a Torsen axle and they gave it to us.

We wanted more caster and they gave it to us.

We wanted it to be harder to defeat the electric PS and they fixed it.

We wanted the steering rack lower and off the strut...and they did it.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The new accord isn't much better on the inside with that big old "damn I have to look at the menus while I am driving to adjust the radio, heat/ac, or anything else. and the thing just looks to flashy for my tastes</TD></TR></TABLE>

OK, I'm not sure what you mean here.

You don't need to look at the radio to adjust it. The volume and channel controls are on the steering wheel. Sure, you'll have to look at the console and spend a few minutes with it to set up the XM the way you want it, and select the pre-set stations, but that's true of any car.

The HVAC is automatic. Just set the temperature and leave it alone. Unless you suddenly find yourself in an extremely high humidity situation that requires you to suddenly have to go to emergency defrost, I can't imagine why you don't like the HVAC controls because you really don't have to look at them at all.

Most of us are going to be more distracted by our wireless devices that we insist on using while we're driving.

Here's my 2006 Accord daily driver: http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/g....html

Now, as to the specific question about why you'd specifically want, say, a 1994 Accord instead of a 1994 Civic, I can personally testify that the 1994 Accord will be a better utility vehicle. I had a 1994 LX five speed for a daily driver for a long time, and it was a fine, reliable slugger that handled anything very well, including enthusiastic driving that was a surprising amount of fun.

On the track, these old Accords are remarkably stable platforms, and the rear suspensions of Accords are really very adaptable. It's really very hard to get the car to do something that you're not expecting.

If you're interested, go into My Gallery and look for the pictures of this old Accord. It is now a very successful H4 competitor in the hands of moderator Honda318dx (Corey Jacobs). The car has something like 300,000 miles on it now, and is still winning races.

 

the took away the awesome ride of the civic by replacing the double wishbone with a cheaper mcpherson strut package. I loved my friend's '96 civic that thing was peppy, had an excellent ride and was very quiet for a econobox......

I dont like touch screen units in cars it's distracting to say the least and that is dangerous...

GK,

I know you own an accord but as they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and for what an accord costs, it should look a lot better

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by YeuEmMaiMai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the took away the awesome ride of the civic by replacing the double wishbone with a cheaper mcpherson strut package.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Well, here's the problem: (1)The Civic needs to be affordable and; (2)The "Safety For Everyone" movement mandates a five-star crash rating for the Civic.

(1) is a given: The McPherson strut is just a cheaper design.

(2)You can design the metal crush zones effectively (with wishbones) in a car as big as the CM8 or CL7, but you can <u>not</u> manage it in a car as small as the FG2 and still get a five star crash rating if that car has the double wishbone suspension. The double wishbones take room that should be devoted to the crush zone.

Bear in mind that the 2006 Civic is one of the "four safest cars in America" according to the NHTSA and one of the "five safest cars in America" according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Honda could not manage that in a very small Civic with McPherson struts.

http://info.insure.com/auto/safestcars.html

Now, having said that there is a clear safety reason for designing the smallest Hondas with McPherson struts, I'd also like to point out that the overwhelming majority of drivers will never, <u>ever</u> experience what people complain about as a weakness of the McPherson design. I can almost guarantee that you will NEVER know the difference!

I've driven an RHD Spoon CTR on the track. It had the very best suspension available for the EP3, I'm sure. But it still made me nervous sometimes because on one corner of the track, we had already established that the fastest way through one particular section was to bounce off the gater, hard, on the right, and then turn left as the car's coming down, and head to the next turn.

I could do this with complete confidence in my DC2 ITR, but regardless of the fact that I could swear that I was hitting the gater the same way every time with the EP3 CTR, there was about a 1/4 second's uncertainty as the car decided exactly which way it was going to head when it came down on the springs.

Unless you were doing this kind of thing with your EP3 CTR, however, you really would just never notice any insufficiency in the McPherson suspension. Moreover, in British and European track testing, the EP3 CTR always made its way around the track faster than its Volkswagen (and other) competition.

And now, having said all this, I'll say again that with the FG2 Honda has deliberately addressed the concerns that racers and hard track users had with the EP3, which car was already faster than its McPherson competition.

If you <u>are</u> in the market for a new small car, you really can't do better than the 2006 Civic.

 

i've personally driven both and can tell you i am satisfied with both. in the end, i ended up buying an accord. the accord is larger and has that "bigger than life" attitude to it when driving. the civic is quicker and has that "i'm 16 and i like to speed" attitude towards it (at least around my town it is, in miami). both cars are really fun to drive, both cars are realiable. now, i am really content with the accord because around my town, no one hooks up accords so it's something different and fun to do. it will depend on what your tastes are. i like the accord becaue it's "big but not too big" the civic rocks in parking because it's so damn small and can fly by when you are switching and cutting lanes.

 

i just recently traded my EK for an 03 Accord and i can say i made the right decision. after owning 2 EF's, an EG and EK i felt that i'm getting too old for the civic. now that i'm 26, i feel that i need a car that has more room and a more comfortable ride. i just put 18" Konig Imagines on it and i'll be dropping it next week then call it a day. no more IHE, jdm stuff blah blah blah. its been fun with the civic but i guess its time to go for the bigger and better things in life.

 

ive always been a fan off the old accord touring cars .

when it came time to get a car (ust had a baby) it was a good compromise to do the accord and h22 swap

i also like being different . and liek the challange of fabbing up my own parts

 

i just happened to buy one and i love my 4th gen...

 

you guys are talkin my language, i love my 5th gen to death, ive never liked the civics very much simply because where i live there happens to be 2000 of them and there isnt one with a stock exhaust, fart can, euro lights, the whole works..

anyways, even with the civics lack of weight compared to an accord, the accord still seems to be atleast even if not better performance wise than the civic, the room is a great thing.. especially the fold down on the bench seat so you can run long objects through your trunk and into the accord is necessary..

im probably getting a new car soon, probably wont be a honda but thats only because im looking for something with more power and i dont have enough to put up for a S2000 or NSX .. to me, in every generation the accords look better than the civics as well

 

I have a 4th gen Accord and love it. I haven't been it too many Civics, but the reason I like my Accord is it can be made into a nice sleeper, whereas with a Civic that's harder to do. I like the body stye of my Accord alot too. Not to mention all the extras like power everything on a car that was built in 1992. Some don't like the power option, but I like not having to reach across the seat to open the passenger side window. I guess it's just a personal preference and we can't really make your mind up, you have to go with what feels good to you and my Accord felt good to me.

 

I bought a 92 Accord because it had a reputation for reliability. I'm not a mechanic, and don't want stuff breaking on me all the time. I kept that car for 12 years. I loved that car, and still miss it today. In those 12 years I spent less than $1000 dollars on repairs on it. And $450 of that was on one part (TCU). So when I got to where I hated my truck (Toyota T100) enough to get rid of it, I traded it for an 03 Accord. After I bought the new Accord I realized I still needed a truck. So the 92 was sold for the money to buy a truck. It's kind of hard to haul plywood and such in an Accord. As long as the new Accord treats me like my 92 did, my next car will be an Accord too. It's so nice when things work like they're supposed to. As far as a Civic goes, I'm 6' 1" and 225 lbs. and have a wife and ever-growing son. So I don't want anything smaller than the Accord. I could not care less how much aftermarket stuff there is for my car. Stock is how I want it.

 

I have a 97 EX 4dr (5sp F22 vtec), it is my second Honda Accord and is the car of my eyes. It is such a reliable car, never lets me down (even with mods done to it) and it has such a beautiful body style.
In my opinion, I would not drive a civic for its reputation of "mod and beat it". It is small, and doesn't make me feel like I am safe inside.
The accord is more luxurious than a civic, quicker and just as good as far as engine goes.
Accord has a more mature style, yet... such a sporty look another way if you only lower it or something.
Get an accord, and IMO again, I think you should look for a EX (no speed limiter, it has a sunroof and a powered seat).

Good luck with your decision!!!

I love my....

 

i have a 5th gen and i love it. i love the way it looks and i have enough room to cart around my friends. its got enoug power to keep me happy for now and its got a half way decent after market following. i see to many civics around all day so they arent my favorite, and they are too small.

 

--5 speed trans available even on top of the line models (like my EX)

--build quality

--reliability

--comfort

--well-roundedness (rather than being great at 1 thing it's good at everything)

 

civic is an econ, accord is econ + luxury.

 

Everybody has a Civic. The Accord is something different to work on. Accords are roomier and very well built, they handle a lot of abuse. I rolled mine and it still runs, quite well I might add.