Christmas came early for me this year. Well, not really, but
earlier this month, I did feel like a kid on Christmas morning. Despite what
you might expect, this was a bitter-sweet experience. Let me explain what
happened.
I have been driving an older car. When I say old, I
definitely don't mean vintage. That usually means something worth keeping. No,
this is an old, beat up, 98 Toyota. Don't get me wrong. It's been a great car
and has been reliable for several years. However, it is getting a little long
in the tooth and, well, it would be nice to drive something newer. Alas, I
can't afford a newer vehicle right now. We just bought a new family vehicle. I
need to hold on to my commuter car for a while longer.
Well, a few months ago, my wife won a contest. I didn't even
know she had entered the competition, so her winning was a pleasant surprise. She
won a week long test drive from Ken Garff Honda, in Orem. Well, knowing our
family van was getting old, we figured we would test drive a new Honda Odyssey,
giving our family something nice to ride for a few days.
Unfortunately, our old family van died and had to be
abandoned in Wyoming (long story). We purchased a new van before my wife even
had a chance to test drive anything from Ken Garff. So, when it was her turn,
my wife gave her week long test drive to me.
I felt pretty lucky, getting the prize to a contest I
initially didn't even know existed. We contacted the dealership and made arrangements
for me to pick up the vehicle of my choice. Being a Honda fan who was sad to
give up his last Accord a few years ago, I chose an Accord for my test drive.
We went to pick it up, signed an insurance document, and away we went. The
staff at Ken Garff were friendly and helpful and the entire process was pretty
painless.
But you want to hear more about the car itself,
right? That's why you are here. All I can say is, "Wow." I was blown
away. The car I got was a brand new, 2015 Honda Accord Sport, fully loaded. The
vehicle only had 21 miles on it when I sat in the driver's seat. I don't think
I've ever driven such a new car before.
So, let me just say that there are many things to like about
the Accord, but I can't speak much of what goes under the hood. Sadly, auto mechanics
are not my strong point. I am a therapist, not a car person, so when I review a
car, I can speak of the mechanics in only general terms. My main focus in this
review will be the user interface.
First off, I loved having the Bluetooth connectivity. I
could play music and take phone calls through the car's interface, and it was a
breeze to set up. There is a nice, large (yet unobtrusive) display in the
center of the dash that showed me the song playing and who was calling. I could
also see how many bars my phone had and even see how low my phone battery was.
Nice.
Of course, that display was also where the backup camera
displayed what might be behind me, including indicators to let me know my
anticipated path, based on the turn of steering wheel. It also was the main
display for just about every electronic setting the car had. It was intuitive
to use and I am serious when I say that the display was unobtrusive, though. I
didn't feel like it was distracting me from the road. On the contrary, having
my music, phone calls and so forth in one place made it easier to focus on what
I needed to focus on, driving. And though there is not much to say about it, I
liked having the thumb controls for volume, cruise control, phone calls, and
changing the display, right on the steering wheel.
Other nice features of the user interface: lots of storage
up front, USB plug for electronic devices, easy to adjust the seats. There are a couple of other features to mention, both having to do with fuel economy. First, the "Econ"
or energy saver mode button. As I had it explained to me, the button takes away
some of the energy used by the car, specifically with the AC and the engine. I
did not notice much of a difference, but apparently, this little button can
make a big difference in energy consumption.
The second thing about the interface that needs mentioning
is related. There is a little indicator, near the speedometer. This is just a
bar that goes left to right. The farther to the right it is, the better your
gas mileage. When you are speeding up, the bar goes to the left, and you know
that your gas mileage is dropping. Wow. That small indicator changed how I
drove. It was very rewarding to keep the
mileage as high as possible, with smooth, rather than abrupt
acceleration and coasting when possible. In other words, I was trained to drive
more economically.
"But how did it drive?" I hear you asking. Well, I
was certainly spoiled for a week. Turns were smooth, even on roundabouts. The
suspension is tight, to where I barely felt bumps in the road. The car had a
lot of power and accelerated without hesitation. Oh, it was nice. I did need to
check myself, because it would have been easy to speed in that thing. I didn't,
but boy, was it tempting.
I drove it to and from work. Most of the time, my driving was
on city roads, which afforded little opportunity to go very fast. I also got
some construction zone driving in there, making a bumpy road pretty smooth. But
one day a week, I drive up to the Salt Lake area, so I got to try some freeway
speeds. Boy, did this car deliver. It did not hesitate to get up to *cough* the
speed limit and I felt very safe the entire way to work and back.
Ok, some final words. I drove this beautiful piece of machinery for 149
miles and had a good experience. I actually was a little offended that the
starlings (dang birds) that harass my wife's and my cars ended up pooping on
this Accord.
But that did not ruin my overall experience (of course,
not!). Neither did the shiny plastic facing on the passenger side, above the
glove compartment. In bright sunlight, this would shine in my eyes. I know, a
minor quibble, but honestly, that was about all I could find to complain about.
All in all, it was a bittersweet week, because I knew I
would be returning the car at the end of the week. And during the week, I had
to endure several admiring looks from strangers, and explain to coworkers that
I just had the car on loan. Such sacrifices. And yes, the return to my old
clunker was difficult, as well, but all of it was worth the sacrifice.
