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New Honda Inspire: the uglier Accord…

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The original Honda Inspire was a fancier model than the Accord, mostly for the Japanese market. Back in the 90s, it was even sold in the US as the Acura Vigor and later Acura TL. This new one is based on the 2023 Accord. But it seems Honda has found a way to make the new Accord look much worse.

That redesigned front end is just ghastly. And the whole thing just looks cheaper than the regular Accord.

No specs are available except it comes with the 1.5 Liter Turbo engine. Which is the base engine in our US Accord.

The 2023 Accord has been getting good reviews so far. This is expected since it is basically the same car as before with new body panels. But I still cannot warm up to the design. I saw it in person at the Los Angeles Auto show. And to me, it looks like a giant step backward from the previous generation. Any trace of a personality is gone. And it basically still reminds me of a very generic sedan from the 1990s.

We’ll have to see what Toyota will do with the new Camry later this year. But if the 2023 Prius designers are involved, it could end up looking much more interesting than the new Accord. And let’s hope the Grand Highlander designers were kept out of the next Camry project…

Conversation 7 comments

  3. I hate to say it, but I’m in agreement. This does look better than our Accord. If anything, the Inspire grille looks like a Chinese knock-off of a Mercedez-Benz AMG product. Which… ….is still better than our new Accord. It’s the rear of the car that is still billowy and fat. Changing the tail lenses isn’t going to fix that. What it requires is a full bumper redesign and what history has taught us with the last Accord is that Honda doesn’t want to spend money on a shrinking amount of sales. This is a sad good-bye to our combustion Honda Accord.

  4. IMO Honda should have really gone into this redesign to win the whole segment… instead of this warmed over nothing of a car. Rear looks like an 80’s Nissan, the front looks like a 2010 Ford. Even the interior looks like it was put on a strict budget. Can’t wait to see when the recall will hit over the flimsy axx backing of the rear seats (that’s flexes like thin MDF). One good accident should do it. Honda – this is your 2012 Honda Civic moment come back to haunt you, except that car wasn’t as big a failure as this… nor as expensive.

  5. What a disaster. Awful looks and the fact that the powertrain is just a carry over from the previous version. And really boring. Who’s the designer? Perhaps they should get some of the ones that worked on the new Prius.
    I was really waiting for the new CRV but after I saw one in person I changed my mind immediately and I purchased a Subaru Forester. Sadly there’s no comparison between the two, I ended up getting a Limited. Back in the day, the Accords, the Vigor, Legend and the Acura’s were fun to drive and nice too. Now, Honda is just so boring.
    Honda did the same thing with the new CRV, same old powertrain, a carryover, even the Hybrid, that’s the one I was waiting for. But for the money I would much rather buy a last year’s cycle Rav4 Hybrid XSE.

    One last thing, I started to see a lot more vehicles on stealerships now. I went to a Toyo stealership and now they’re only charging about $1K in extra fees, in comparison to the previous $5K or more. I left that stealership without giving them my business and I ran to a Subaru dealership.

  6. I like the rear of the Inspire more than the Accord, however I wish both of them had visible exhaust outlets. Just has a way of making every car look instantly better imo.

  7. I have a feeling the next Camry might turn out really good looking. Like the Prius. Plus they’ll probably offer a PHEV. If that happens I can see the Accord sale numbers taking a nose dive pretty soon…

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