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 Honda Accord Hybrid 2005
By Peter Bleakney
Pull up to a stop light in the 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid and the 3.0 litre V6 shuts off, leaving you sitting in eerie silence while the rest of the motoring world buzzes frantically around. Release the brake and the engine silently restarts, sending you on your way.
This is about the only clue the driver gets to the Accord Hybrid’s alternative inner workings. In all other aspects, it drives pretty much like a garden variety Accord V6.
Except it’s faster.
Honda has taken a new tack with the 2005 Accord Hybrid by using hybrid technology not only to achieve better fuel economy, but to also boost performance.
Unlike the Toyota Prius, which is a “pure” hybrid in that it can, under some conditions, run solely on electric power, the Accord is a “mild” hybrid, meaning the electric motor and accompanying battery pack are there to help out the gasoline V6 engine as it goes about its daily duties.
And help they do. Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist is essentially and 2.7 inch thick electric motor that is sandwiched between the engine and transmission. Under hard acceleration, it contributes 15 hp and 20 ft/lbs of twist. This translates to 255 hp and 232 ft/lb of torque @ 5000 rpm, and a 0-60 mph time of 7.5 seconds.
Because the electric motor’s torque is instantaneous, this hybrid responds to throttle inputs with right-now urgency. Make no mistake – this sedan is swift. Being green and smoking the punk in the Civic? Who woulda thought.
 Power for the electric motor comes from a vertical battery pack that resides behind the rear seatbacks. It is charged during braking and deceleration, when the electric motor acts as a generator. All this “free energy” is what gives the Accord Hybrid its extra kick and keeps you away from the gas pumps.
Honda claims a 30% improvement in fuel economy over the standard V6 Accord, but not all of this is attributable to IMS.
The hybrid Accord’s V6 also incorporates VCM (Variable Cylinder Management) which shuts down three cylinders during braking, deceleration and steady cruising. Thanks to trick electrically powered motor mounts and an anti-noise system designed to quell the inherent roughness of three-cylinder operation, the VCM is completely transparent in its operation. A small green “eco” light below the speedometer lets you know when VCM is doing its thing.
There is also an unobtrusive bar graph that indicates when the electric motor is charging the batteries or assisting in your forward progress.
During my week of testing, the Accord Hybrid returned an impressive 7.8 L/100 km. Sure, that’s not in Prius territory (about 6.0 L/100 km in real world driving), but the quirky Toyota screams its greenness and doesn’t offer the performance, dynamics and solid highway composure of the Accord.
The Accord Hybrid is not a complete win-win situation, however. All this technology has bestowed the sedan with an extra 285 lbs to haul around, despite Honda’s weight saving measures of an aluminum hood, bumper beams, and rear suspension parts, plus lighter wheels and no sunroof. Also sacrificed in the name of greenness is a bit of trunk space and the folding rear seats. Blame the battery pack for that.
 The electric power steering, unique to the Accord Hybrid (and a necessity to retain steering control in auto-stop mode), is somewhat numb and detracts from the overall driving experience. Of course, nobody ever bought an Accord to get his or her motoring ya-yas. Your relationship with one of these is pretty much platonic anyway.
With this hybrid, you’ll also be sacrificing $3390 of your hard earned pesos, as the list price of $36,990 is that much more than a loaded Accord EX V6.
But looking at the Accord Hybrid in purely economic terms really makes no sense. You’d have to spend the next decade commuting to Timbuktu in order to recoup the price difference in fuel savings.
What you do get for your premium is a faster version of the Accord – an all ready highly capable, comfortable, well-equipped and reliable family sedan – that leaves a slightly smaller footprint on the environment.
For some, it will be money well spent.
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