Honda Accord NT - a quick drive around the block

Those nice people at Honda New Zealand can't help themselves, they keep calling and asking if I want to drive their new cars.

This time it was for the Honda Accord. I could take a pick of the V6 or the 4 cylinder.

to be more exact the 2.4 litre, 4 cylinder, 16 valve, EarthDreams i-VTEC, chain drive DOHC, which I really did choose over the 3.5 litre, 6 cylinder, 24 valve, EarthDreams i-VTEC, belt drive SOHC.

Because, well in the event that I was going to have a new car it would be the more normal 4 cylinder one.  The actual cost difference between the two is only $5,000 though, $55 as opposed to $60,000.

So what were the 'bells and whistles'? The ‘NT’ name for the top-specification Accord stands for Navigation and Technology.

Included in the technology package is Honda’s Advanced Driver Assist System (ADAS).

This is a bundle of things including adaptive cruise control (which works between 30-180km/h),  You set a cruise speed, and then a distance to the vehicle in front, the car then brakes or accelerates to match the object in front. It's like magic.

There's also something called Collision Mitigating Braking System (CMBS) with audible/visual alerts and initial braking activation. I activated this once on an on-ramp manoeuvre, got a few beeps and some yellow flashing lights.

Best though is the Lane Keep Assist System (LKAS). The car recognises the lane markings, on the motorway, for instance, and then keeps the car in-between those lines. Steering itself. Like magic. Seriously you could take both your feet off the pedals and hands off the wheels, the car would continue as usual.

You'd be daft to do that, but in the interest of a test I did. Weird experience a car steering itself, and then accelerating to keep a gap, or breaking, it would do both things.

However, the lane keep thing only works where there are clear lanes to keep to.

There is also a unique blind spot monitoring system that shows the view from the left-hand door mirror in the centre-console colour screen that is displaying the sat-nav map.

The centre-conole display also changes to the reversing camera view too, but it's worst feature is on start up and a warning that you're supposed to be responsible and makes you click a button before it changes into something more useful.

I believe the steering is a fly-by-wire affair, which would make the LKAS more probable.

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="6468,6469,6470,6471,6472,6473,6474,6475,6476"]

Anyway, I had the car for an hour. It was magnificent. It's comfortable, quiet, and it accelerates a dream. the technology works, I'm sure the technology I didn't use works like the BlueTooth connection.  The user manual would be an interesting read.

Funniest thing? The mag with curb damage.

Annoying things? The connection for  your media device is in a cubby hole, very design, but not the best.

Interesting thing? Keyless start, you can keep the key in your pocket, the car detects it. No idea how it works if someone else jumps in the car and drives off, does the car detect that the key isn't in or near the car and stops? I'm sure the Honda boffins have thought that through. However if the keys aren't in your pocket they're a bit awkward a shape nd size to put in the centre console. Nit-picking.

Completely enjoyed this car, the multi-adjustable seats through the flappy-paddle gear-box with both sports and normal settings. You can have sports and eco at the same time it seems.

It also has Driver and Passenger specific air con settings, which is handy, and the quite ride might be due to  the Active Noise Cancellation technology

Fuel consumption says 8.1 car said 10.1 and it wasn't being driven gently, or as gently as you would if you owned it.

Would I like to own it, I really would. Would I spend $55,000 on a car? That's the doubtful thing, and I have no real idea of what comparable cars in this price bracket there are. But then I'm not looking for a new car at the moment.

Would I encourage you to drive this car. Absolutely. It really is a stunner. So many technology things in one car, so much car, so much fun.

Related articles

• Honda Accord - Smart manufacturers and smart dealers


• 5 Reasons Why You Gotta Love the 2014 Honda Accord


• 2014 Honda Accord will be third model to hit Benson Honda in San Antonio

I was had

I've been hectoring MrsPdubyah to trade-in her car for something newer, smaller, more economical. It's a long sales cycle.

There are a number of discrete stages.

• Suggestion.


• Pause for a few days, or more.


• Suggestion.


• Pause for a few days, or more.


• Look and point at cars.


• Pause for a few days, or more.


• Suggest again trading the old car for a new one


• Pause for a few days, or more.


• Whilst out doing things stop at a car yard and mooch about pointing at a cars.


• Ignore sales person


• Pause for a few days, or more.

Today however was a bit of  a breakthrough, there was agreement to at least go to look at a specific car model at a specific yard. Which we did.

It was then the wool was pulled over my eyes when MrsPdubyah says "Lets to to the car yard in Albany, then we can at least say that we've looked there and can cross it off" Since it was on the way home, or not to far out of the way of course I agreed. More in shock.

Oh yes, of course the specific car was available on the lot, and we went for a drive. "Oh I knew this was here, I looked it up the internet"

This isn't the first time that this has happened although in the past MrsPdubyah might have taken a test drive already. Seems not this time,

Then I get more questions about engine sizes of different versions of the model, and there again I was had when I was schooled in a number of features. Oh and further to that there are other car yards where similar models can be found, if I could see my way clear to chauffeur to and fro. Way to spend a Sunday.

So now it all depends on the trade-in value of the old jalopy as to whether we go any further.

Honda CRV – a quick drive around the block

The nice people at Honda let me have a new Honda CRV for an hour today. They let me have, not surprisingly, the top of the range CRV-Sport,a  "luxury" 2.4-litre, 4WD Sport  no less.

It's a Honda. It has that over engineered for people Honda-ness going for it. Everything in it's place, everything for a purpose. It's a very pretty car, lois of nice rounded edges and curves. and a little shark fin on the roof!

Climb inside - there are a bazillion seat settings, I know that once you get it right it's right, but faffing and fiddling when you're in motion isn't the best way to start a drive. eventually I figured it out to lower the seat, tip the front of if it down, move it back, adjust the lumbar setting, and then move the steering wheel down and out. It's how I like it, the next person in will hate it. MrsPdubyah would have a mild panic every time she got in, it might do Honda well to have a memory system if they're going to invest in electrickery of this sort for seats.

First order of the day - It doesn't have a sat-nav. This appears to be a cost save, since the display  is used for showing you how loud the stereo is, and then doubles as a reversing camera screen. And whilst I am on reversing camera it's a camera with some grid lines on it but no audible warning just to let you know that what you're seeing is right. My Current car has no camera but an audible warning, it is possible. Perhaps someone had switched it off. I'd be keen to have it switched back on again.

And whilst we're on the radio and the "premium" sound system I turned up the volume to maximum. Loud enough without making your ears bleed. Then I had to stop and get out to do something. I got back in and of course the volume was set to ears bleeding now, I would have thought that Honda would have a reset to default volume option on their "premium" stereo's. (again my current car has this it's a magnificent feature)

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300"] English: Honda CRZ Hybrid at the 2010 Washington Auto Show (D.C.) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

It has the same trick steering wheel that is in the CRZ, little buttons to push here and there, some obvious some not so. And it has a flappy paddle gear-box. But oddly only 5 gears. And I loved the seamless way that the gearbox works. I was intrigued that in the "sports" mode that I could go from 1-though-5 at the speed I was driving, I'd be hoping that there is some failsafe in the system that prevented you driving everywhere in 1st for instance, or trying to pull away in 5th.

It has, currently, keyless entry and keyless ignition, but the salesman tells me that as they move to a new factory overseas this might disappear. As an older generation driver things like keyless ignition are still smoke and mirrors, and it's a feature that should be there, just to show that the car is leading edge of something.

There is an "eco" mode button that lights up a green leaf thing on the dashboard. This makes the transmission mode softer, and assists in economical driving. And you can tell the economy by the way the green ring appears around the speedo when you drive, Green is good, white for a fright? There didn't appear to be a red ring to indicated lead-footery. Then again the green ring of confidence seemed to be in attendance most of the time I drove it.

And on demand 4WD, as if you're likely every to take this more than curb parking. Off-road as in parked in my garage perhaps. or for parking on the grass verge at the sunday farmers market.

It accelerates to warp speed maximum (And a bit) really quickly, smoothly and without drama when entering the motorway, and has really good mid-range acceleration. I love the acceleration and the response I got, good stuff.

It's also very very quiet and comfortable, I couldn't pick up any road noise inside the car. Then again I did have the sunroof open :-) but when it wasn't it was a comfortable quiet cockpit.

What do I not like so much? Stereo, Lack of sat-nav, lack of audible reversing proximity sensor. I didn't understand the drama of the "eco" mode, I didn't really get the green-ring of confidence around the speedo, and the drivers wheel buttons are a bit faffing and fiddly.

What do I like? It's easy to get into, it has new fangled keyless start and a flappy paddle gearbox. It has great acceleration.

However this is a much much better car than the current CRV, by any measure. At 10 liters per 100 kms that I drove it's not too thirsty for something of it's size.

Could it get me in trouble? It could, it drives to the maximum speed limit quickly and then it'll keep going.

To the chase then, would I own one? at just under NZ$50k there is a lot of competition for the money. I don't think I'd be a comfortable Honda car driver, I'd be disappointed that I'd turned into Captain Slow.

The CRV is good at what it's good at, but it doesn't bring anything but "safe" to the game, which you might like or you might despair of. It's not quirky in any sense that I could define, and although you don't necessarily want a car that challenges you, you might want one that let's you be in a bit of command over it and not the other way around. It's a driving pleasure not a driving experience.

Drive one at the first opportunity you can, it really is remarkable how different and how much nicer this is then the car you have, just how quiet, how smooth and balanced it is, and how much thought Honda have given to getting you from A to B in comfort.

You won't be disappointed. Having driven one I'm not.

As I get older I get different - the birthday gift from Holden - the update

Holden in Australia rang me today, well a spokesperson did, to talk about my 2009 Holden Cruze, someone in their PR department, who knows, I didn't write his name down. Anyway...

According to the person I spoke to, and you'll get that this is my version of his words paraphrased;

• It's normal for modern cars to have rotors replaced at 60,000 kms


• The brake pads are in constant contact with the disks constantly wearing them down to keep them from warping. (for real)


• Of course it uses rotors quicker than an older car, they're modern, its a modern braking system. (for real)


• Advised that the Mitsubishi Airtrek (which he'd never heard of as a model) has never had rotors and has 160,000 on the clock was because it's older! And regardless must be lighter on the brakes because it's a 4wd SUV


• "Having worked for VW and other manufacturers I can assure you that this isn't unusual" a pitiful plea from authority.


• "You brought you car second hand, what can you expect?" (I've had it 2 years and done 40,000 kms, it been serviced 3 times at the same dealership, he tried to convince me that I'd only done 17,000kms nothing like research)


• He did concede that he'd never heard of this problem, that it sounded unusual, but it was expected.

I did point out that it was a 1.8 litre, mid-sized car, not some V8 performance car. It's a town car, a commuter car, it's a shopping basket.

He did offer to pay 50% of the costs of the Rotors/Discs, on condition that I remove my FB wall post. I told him to email me and I'd consider it. I told him how miffed I was, and resentful that a new in-warranty vehicle was supplied from the factory with items that clearly were never going to make a warranty period. I told him that I wasn't happy and that it was a poor excuse that he was offering up.

I will consider his email should it ever arrive. I'm happy to remove the Facebook wall post to their wall.

Really I'm ok with Tyres wearing out, I get spark plugs, oil filters, air filters, transmission oils. They're what you expect to have changed. I'm even ok with brake pad wear at 60,000 km (although there was no indication that they were low), but I'm not ok with having to replace the rotors/discs because the man at Holden says that "it's normal, and it's the modern way"

Oh and Giltrap Holden North Shore are a super dealership, they really set a benchmark in customer service and go far beyond what you expect from a car dealer. Can't recommend them enough.

Related articles

• Cruze keeps Holden ticking as profit falls (news.com.au)


• As I get older I get different - the birthday gift from Holden (pdubyah.com)

As I get older I get different - the birthday gift from Holden

Today is my birthday, it should be a day to smile and indulge.

Last year we went to Queenstown for a visit, this year on the weekend we went to the beach house, where the weather was fine and dandy and I ate too much, drank too much and did too little. Had a great time of much relaxation, did some Gentleman fishing, and went to a party, had a BBQ breakfast and sat around.

But today I'm at home, taken a day off work to be communing with myself.

I also put the philmobile  into the Holden  garage for a service. Doing the right thing, keep the service plan unto date. It's not an old car, November 2009 was when it was first registered, and I brought it in August of 2010. It's now got 60K on the clock. And i presume it's still under a manufacturer warranty. Like I said not old by any definition of old cars.

Things to do on your birthday include then not putting your car in for a service, since they rang me shortly after with the news that it needs about $600 dollars worth of brakes and rotors. It seems they rotors are made from tin foil or something, and of course are "wear and tear" and not faulty and therefore not warrantable parts. Farcical. Added to the other "parts" that you need for a service and I was in for $1,302 today.

I looked up the trade in value, and it's worth between $18,000 and $23,995 depending on if it's an auction or from a dealer. $600 would be about then 3% of the value of the car.

Quandary is to keep it, and be frustrated at the expense, or trade it  in a fit of pique for a whole new bunch of expenses, or having spend the money wait a year to get some of the value from the expenses. I'm not sure MrsPdubyah is going to be best pleased when she looks at the Visa card bill later.

You know I'll still be driving it in a year.

Tempered with this is that I just brought lamb shanks and they're in the slow cooker and about 8 hours away from being ready to eat. I might be in a better mood by then. Might. If not at least I'll be tasty.

Trying Teen Times – the grown up one – A New Car revisited.

Insert swearing word here, well insert a few.

Seems that although superficially the new to you car was pretty tidy turns out it was just waiting to blow up. Firstly it took to popping the overflow radiator hose thing off, then the top radiator hose done and split, which meant a tow truck lift home.

The mechanic fixed that, tested it for a head gasket leak, which seemed to show that it was all hunky dory, until the next time it was driven where upon it's done it dash and now refuses to work.

The cylinder head has been at the testers who report back that the "head is soft" which can't be a good thing, and that it'd been taken off and repaired previous. Repairing it again might make it last 2 weeks, two months or two years, or never need doing again.

So as a lesson in trusting the person you're buying from this has come as a bit of a blow, as does being seduced by pretty things that look nice. I guess if they were honest they'd still own the car, and that wasn't their plan.

On the upside although it was a couple thousand dollars invested in what essentially is a road side ornament it's not a life shattering send me in to poverty spiral amount of money.

On the downside that was the contingency fund spent, and there isn't another stash of cash that we can flash on a new car.

The repair cost for the red roadside ornament would be equal to the amount that we could get in a return for the repair, $2000 to repair a car that when repaired would be worth $2000. But there are alternatives, one of which a replacement engine or head. The mechanic is going to let me know.

So I think we'll have to fall on the mercy of the bank manager to top our mortgage a little, get something that comes with a bit of a guarantee and accept that this time it was a "swing with no ding"

So anyone want a red roadside garden ornament, does have a WOF :-)

Trying Teen Times – the grown up one – Part the Sixth – A New Car

Well we found a car, a very low mileage two owner Mazda Astina 1994 - which makes it only slightly younger that the #Boychild, and so we brought it.  It comes as standard including the steel wheels, factory stereo and an aerial that goes up and down when you put the radio on - it even has a cassette tape  player!

It's not that we didn't want to but as I may have mentioned it was about continued independence and freedom. I can almost hear the sighs and see the eye-rolling exasperation from some of you :- "How spoilt and unnecessary is that?" you may be thinking (about the car not the sighs and eyes).

We're not proud, we are definitely not rich, and this puts us even further away from any goal of savings we might have. It's not about those things, it's about family and it's about getting on. We're lucky to be able to, as I'm sure many of you are not as lucky, or fortunate.

It's insured against crashing into someone else and from being stolen, as are all the cars we variously own, and is good to go. How mad is insurance pricing though? 3rd Party, Fire and Theft $80 per Quarter, or Fully Comp at $80 per month. It's a car not the crown jewels, he hasn't been in an accident in three years, may that continue.

I don't know if it's as economical, sadly #Boychild isn't in the least bit connected with the finer nuances of ownership of cars, such as, oh, checking the water in the washer bottle, or the fuel mileage he can expect from a litre of go-juice



I'll feel better about him travelling to and fro in this one over the last one he had/has which really was, in the local parlance "a bomb" and is for sale to someone who might wish to buy it - really cheap.

 

Related articles

• Trying Teen Times - the grown up one - Part the Fifth - Cars (pdubyah.com)

Honda CRZ - a quick drive around the block

MrsPdubyah had a call from Honda NZ, "would we please go drive one of their new cars?" She declined but knowing I'm an easy touch made them ring me. Of course yes, I'm always a bit keen for a bit of a thing.

They offered the Insight, I laughed, but I did say that I'd be keen on the Honda CR-Z, and so it came to pass, for a jolly entertaining and rewarding hour.

They had a white one available so I sat myself in had the pre-flight lecture and took off.

Initial thoughts: There are a few things missing inside, like an arm-rest - which is a big deal if you're a commuter having to sit for an hour or more in traffic, somewhere to rest your arm is important - to me.  And the view from the rear-view mirror is somewhat obstructed by the strange high boot lid design, not the end of the world, but restricted.

The steering wheel was a confusion of switches and buttons, some not so easy to get to, and some that did things that I didn't really get.

The dashboard! What can I tell you! it was like being in Tron - the movie.

The rev counter / speedo came in glorious blue. If you're being frugal the circle around the speed indicators turns green, if you're driving it with a lead foot it goes red, mostly it stays blue, a veritable disco dashboard.

The CR-Z has heaps of in drive view options  on the dashboard if you keep tapping the buttons, some I got  - like distance travelled, average speed,  but others not so much, technology for the sake of it, or that fact that I hadn't read the user encyclopedia. I had a look at it, not in it.

You can select - on the move - one of three drive modes, Eco, Normal and Sport. And the computer sorts it out. Accelerator bursts of energy are augmented from the battery - oh yeah it's a hybrid - should you need it, and it has a flappy paddle gearbox.

In the Eco/Normal mode if you flip the flappy paddle, say to change gear to overtake, it changes to that gear for 90 seconds before reverting back to automatic mode. In sport if you  change gears with the flappy paddle then you're driving it in manual mode, it doesn't switch back (I'm sure it has over-rides to make sure it doesn't blow up). Very trick, 7 gears, very smooth, and very fast. Very fast.

And talk about economical - I drove it a bit harsh and it peaked at 5.9 liters per 100 kms. No wonder it's only a 40 litre tank! I could get used to that economy on the commute.

Weirdest feature - the auto-stop. Honda have the technology that cuts the engine when you stop at a junction or lights, release your foot from the brake and it's instant on and away you go, not ideal in some circumstance but interesting, very trick, and a bit confusing at first.

Worst thing - it has 4 seats, and unless your passenger has no legs - no way - not ever- would you get anyone else in the back of the car. Worst thing (2) I have no idea where the front of the car was, it disappears over the front of the bonnet somewhere into neverland. I didn't even attempt to reverse.

Missing Feature: no GPS. I'm sure it'll get one eventually, but for the sake of a couple hundred dollars it seems a little odd.

Would I buy one? at $45,000 it's a big ask, but if you do it'd be very rewarding to drive, it handles surprisingly well, and it would be cheap to fill and run. Is it practical? not for a family man no. Unlike other Honda cars I've driven this one has a bit of personality and verve. It's looks will not suit everyone and is controversial, but then that's never stopped Honda in the past.

The Honda CR-Z then, 8 arbitrary stars out of 10 arbitrary stars, drive one you'll get it.

I got a new car

[caption id="false" align="alignnone" width="320"] red car[/caption]

A red one. A Holden one.

It has more frippery than I can list, including a trip computer, Leather (Heated Seats) and a connector for a MP3 player.

It also apparently has a fuel consumption guide listed as 8.5 Litres per 100 Kms.

HA! I laugh at you. I've managed a 9.4 so far. And I'm not exactly Schumacher - and I'll tell you why.

The OCD part of me wants to (needs to) have some clarity and objective. So when the tip computer says my fuel consumption is 10.2 I need it to be 10.1. Then I need it to be 10.0 and then 9.9 and so on. Currently it is 8.9, and it's also saying I have enough go juice to go 648Kms.

I drive 30-odd kms to work and the same 30-odd kms home. Mostly in heavy traffic on the motorway. Alarmingly the fuel consumption at idle is horrific (I base this on the way the L per 100km figure keeps getting bigger, not on any scientific basis.

As I get nearer empty the chances of me getting the current 8.9 figure down -as an average to 8.5 diminishes - woe is me - this is stressful.

Still as I ponder this whilst sitting in my comfy warm heated leather seats I wonder how in earth they get to an urban cycle figure of 8.5 which seems improbable. Short journeys - such as I take on the weekend - seem to be very punishing, lots of stop signs and car-parks.

The only thing I can think of then is to go the long way to get the magic 8.5 figure - which means leaving earlier and spending more on petrol overall.

I may just give up.

BUT on the other hand it does have a connector for my MP3 - just a simple thing not a flash usb one, but I'm working on it. This has allowed me to listen again to some goodly music in the car. Which in the last week has included things like Gary Numan, Siouxie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Stranglers, Sex Pistols and other stuff like Massive Attack, Gorillaz, Pheonix Foundation and Fat Freddy's Drop.

Not all of this music is memorable or indeed much good, but I remember a goodly amount of the words so that must make them classics right ?

So there I am comfy in the aforementioned heated leather seats singing away - which is awesome but not as legendary as singing on the bus. I must be a sight to behold to the travellers - but I figured out if you wear a blue-tooth ear thingy you can at least pretend you're on the phone :-)

I got a new car

A red one. A Holden one.

It has more frippery than I can list, including a trip computer, Leather (Heated Seats) and a connector for a MP3 player.

It also apparently has a fuel consumption guide listed as 8.5 Litres per 100 Kms.

HA! I laugh at you. I've managed a 9.4 so far. And I'm not exactly Schumacher - and I'll tell you why.

The OCD part of me wants to (needs to) have some clarity and objective. So when the tip computer says my fuel consumption is 10.2 I need it to be 10.1. Then I need it to be 10.0 and then 9.9 and so on. Currently it is 8.9, and it's also saying I have enough go juice to go 648Kms.

I drive 30-odd kms to work and the same 30-odd kms home. Mostly in heavy traffic on the motorway. Alarmingly the fuel consumption at idle is horrific (I base this on the way the L per 100km figure keeps getting bigger, not on any scientific basis.

As I get nearer empty the chances of me getting the current 8.9 figure down -as an average to 8.5 diminishes - woe is me - this is stressful.

Still as I ponder this whilst sitting in my comfy warm heated leather seats I wonder how in earth they get to an urban cycle figure of 8.5 which seems improbable. Short journeys - such as I take on the weekend - seem to be very punishing, lots of stop signs and car-parks.

The only thing I can think of then is to go the long way to get the magic 8.5 figure - which means leaving earlier and spending more on petrol overall.

I may just give up.

BUT on the other hand it does have a connector for my MP3 - just a simple thing not a flash usb one, but I'm working on it. This has allowed me to listen again to some goodly music in the car. Which in the last week has included things like Gary Numan, Siouxie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Stranglers, Sex Pistols and other stuff like Massive Attack, Gorillaz, Pheonix Foundation and Fat Freddy's Drop.

Not all of this music is memorable or indeed much good, but I remember a goodly amount of the words so that must make them classics right ?

So there I am comfy in the aforementioned heated leather seats singing away - which is awesome but not as legendary as singing on the bus. I must be a sight to behold to the travellers - but I figured out if you wear a blue-tooth ear thingy you can at least pretend you're on the phone :-)