Keeper: The 2018 Honda Accord 2.0T Touring

The 2018 Honda Accord 2.0T Touring.

Confession:  It's pretty cool writing about cars.  Every Wednesday, someone takes away the old and delivers the new. There's no time to get bored with any one machine.  Heck, rarely enough time for the car to get dirty enough that you might consider a run to the car wash.

And then there are the ones that you wish for more time with.  The ones that have you saying, "If the testers stopped tomorrow, I could live with this car from here on out."  They are few and far between, these cars.  But the 2018 Honda Accord 2.0T Touring is absolutely one of them.

2018 Honda Accord 2.0T Touring.

Let's face it.  In the 42 years since Honda first gave us the Accord, there hasn't been a bad one.  Every single one of them was among the best choices you could make for a car in any given year since 1976.  But the all-new 2018 is better than that.  It's beyond what you would have thought was the next evolutionary step when driving the 2017 Accord.

Smaller, more powerful and more economical engines are now part of the story.  The base engine is a 1.5-liter four.  The V6 has been replaced by a 2.0-liter turbo that makes 252 horsepower.  That's mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission, and the EPA says that combination should return 22 miles per gallon in the city and 32 on the highway.  Those numbers square with what we saw in a week of city street and urban freeway driving.

The top-of-the-line 2.0T Touring's base price is $35,800...but that's also your all-in number, apart from $890 destination and handling, which puts the final tally at $36,690.

The standard equipment list for that price (right at the current average for a new car bought in America) is breathtaking:

• Four-wheel disc brakes
• Electric power steering
• Hill start assist
• Adaptive damper system
• Sport mode
• Anti-lock braking
• Electronic brake force distribution
• Vehicle stability assist
• Tire pressure monitoring
• Blind spot information system
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Rain-sensing wipers
• Power moonroof
• 19-inch alloy wheels
• Auto on-off headlights
• LED foglights
• Heated power door mirrors with turn indicators
• Smart entry system with security system
• Remote engine start
• Walk-away auto lock
• Capless fuel filler
• Dual chrome exhaust finishers

2018 Honda Accord 2.0T Touring interior.

But, wait!  There's more:

• Leather-trimmed seats
• Leather-wrapped steering wheel
• Ten-speaker premium audio system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• Navigation
• Voice recognition
• Multi-view rear camera
• Traffic
• Head-up display
• SiriusXM Satellite Radio
• HD Radio
• Bluetooth
• Wireless phone charging
• USB
• Rear cross-traffic monitor
• Driver attention monitor
• Push-button start
• Push-button shifter
• Dual-zone automatic climate control with air filtration
• Rear console vents
• Driver's 12-way power seat with memory
• Front passenger's four-way power seaat
• Heated and ventilated front seats
• Fold-down rear center seat armrest
• Power windows and door locks
• Auto-dimming rearview mirror
• Front auto-up/down windows
• Illuminated visor vanity mirrors
• Sunglass holder
• HomeLink
• Exterior temperature display
• 60/40 split fold-down rear seatback
• Floor mats
• 12-volt power outlets
• Electric parking brake
• Adaptive cruise control with low-speed follow
• Collision mitigation braking system
• Lane-keeping assist
• Road departure mitigation

When the first Accord went on sale, that was Cadillac-level equipment (the stuff that had been invented, anyway).  Heck, ten years ago that was Mercedes-Benz territory and five years ago, Lexus.  

The 2018 Honda Accord 2.0T Touring is a well beyond average car for the price of an average one.  Put that together with legendary Honda reliability and durability and this one's a keeper.