After talking with the wife I think I have her convinced to let VW buyback our 2015 TDI Passat.  We purchased it for $22k, owe $16k and buyback is $31.  It's been a great car, looks good, has averaged 43mpg and overall feels solid.  We only have 22,000 miles on it as it was a commuter but she moved 6 miles from work so MPG doesn't make that much difference anymore.

At $31k buyback we will net $15k.  The Accord V6 Touring will probably run about $33 out the door so she will start a loan over again which she doesn't want to do but the payments will be about $100 less/month and we have great credit so 0% won't be a problem so long as Honda offers it.

I did quite a bit of research on the Accords and other 4 door sedans.  I wanted the V6 for the power and the 3.5 is quite a reliable motor.  I also wanted the V6 because it comes with a 6 speed AUTO vs a CVT.  I still don't trust the CVT's and of the ones I've driven always feel like something is going to grenade when you put your foot down. We also like the fact the accord has some of the newer safety features such as lane departure and forward collision braking. It also has keyless remote start and keyless locking/unlocking.  That will be nice for her to get it warmed up in the winter at her work.  I also like the new LED setup for the front lights and fogs, looks just like an Acura (because it is).  I like the dual exhaust and the body style is as attractive as the Passat.

Cons on the VW are lack of remote start, no safety features such as the lane departure and collision mitigation, no dual climate control, $800 each 40k for transmission service, DPF issues, High pressure fuel pump issues, weak halogen headlights, Turbo issues, AdBlue and all sorts of exhaust flaps, traps, etc.  I do like the faux leather VW offers though which I believe will last longer than the Accords leather seats.

Does anyone own a 2016/17 V6 Accord?  What do you think about it?  


To stray off topic:
I've heard rumors that many are stripping their TDI's before trade in.  If VW is going to throw these in the shredder, why not?  I could use the Audio system in my Tahoe, I'm sure someone could use the nice VW wheels and throw on some spares to trade in.  If VW isn't going to strip these for parts they why shouldn't the owner be entitled to?  You could really rip everything out of it besides the motor/trans if VW just wishes for the turn ins to be driven under their own power.  That would leave a cheaper parts market for TDI owners who wish to keep them.  Besides the 'feeling guilty' part, what would be wrong with keeping some parts that would otherwise be destroyed?

Friend of mine has an Accord Hybrid, loves it.

My wife has a new CRV, has a CVT but it is nice.

Nothing bad to say about a normal Accord.  It's a Honda, lasts forever.

Open the hood and look on the engine cover. If it says VCM or i-VTEC, turn around and don't look back. Other than that, it's a pretty good car. The i-VTEC engine with VCM has oil consumption issues resulting in engine failure that often goes misdiagnosed, the non-VCM engine is okay. My wife drives an Odyssey with the i-VTEC engine that consumes oil and back in October I had the engine replaced on my 2011 Crosstour at 85k miles because the oil consumption caused the engine to run like shit (engine was free though because of a class action lawsuit).

I have a 2016 V6 Accord and really like it.  I've had it just over a year and it replaced a 2004 V6 Accord that I was able to get 280K miles out of it.  There is so much electronic crap on cars today I don't think I'll get 280K out of this accord but it rides nice and has plenty of room.

To start with the engine in the 2016 accord shares nothing but the same displacement as the engine in your oddy. They make more powder and are more efficient.

The problem with your car was due to epa mandated oil control ring tension. Several manufactures have the same problem. There was no class action lawsuit to my knowledge but there is a 10 year unlimited my warranty extension put out by Honda. I highly doubt your engine was replaced unless this was before the warreenty extension was release. At that time they were replacing short blocks( which did not have update parts btw). Now piston rings only are being replaced only on the vcm cyclinders.

Op. The new accords run very good especially the v6, supprisingly fast. The 4 cylinder with cvt runs great. Off the top of my head I can not think of a current model accord v6 being on my rack for anything other than  Routine maint. They seam to wear tires good as long as people don't spin the tires.

And for reference I am a Honda master tech.

You might want to wait a year; I heard the 2018's are getting turbos.

What year is your Odyssey?  I had a 2012 which has the VCM, and I purchased a wiring harness from a guy in Canada, that stops the VCM from kicking in, thus letting all 6 cylinders fire all the time.  Installed it and immediately noticed the difference, engine runs much, much better.
This past Sept. I traded in the 2012 and bought a 2016 Odyssey.  It had 5 miles on the odometer.  I took the VCM Muzzler harness off of the '12 and put it on the '16.  Great performance, very good gas mileage, and no VCM issues.
Check out www.odyclub.com for info on the VCM Muzzler.

I have VCMuzzler on my wife's Ody, but  only because I was told it doesn't fall under the lawsuit's list of cars due to age (2007). The VCMuzzler came in an effort to increase engine mount life and reduce oil consumption, but it still consumes oil, so I'll have to re-ring this engine when it gets worse or trade it in for another one.

The Crosstour is gross, DK.  I'm glad your wife liked it, but man that thing is ugly and I'm not normally someone put off by car aesthetics.

I bought a 2015 Accord V6 (yeah, I'm boring) last September when the deals on closeouts were hopping.  My car is one trim level below the Accord Touring, which I think had adaptive cruise control and nav system as upgrades.  I didn't want a nav system - adaptive cc might have been nice.

I test drove the 4 and 6 cylinder Accords and was impressed by the CVT.  Much smoother than I expected, but the extra horsepower of the V6 was too appealing.

This. I inherited one. Its very nice, very reliable, and no fun at all.

You can finally ditch AAA and stop carrying extra coils and a voltmeter in the trunk

soulless car and boring, but reliable. honda owners are bigger a-holes than bmw drivers 

The only other choice I could see is to look at a kia optima sxl or or for more pennies a limited, otherwise the accord is a great car, it would do you fine.

OP - before turning it in - read this: Drive your TDI for 2 years for free




You take on an element of risk, of course. If you total it and it can't make it into the dealership under its own power, you are out of luck.

I can only add info on the Honda.  

The ride is nice, I liken it to a very well tuned mid-sized sedan that isn't from Germany.  MPG will be nowhere near the TDI's but as you mentioned that is not an issue.  Honda's CVT is very good IMO but again with the V6 you get a 6 spd auto.  The Touring has the Honda Sensing package which should be similar to what you described in the VW.

Overall I like the Accord and the features it offers along with the sporty ride feel.  The V6 will get up and go but your wife isn't going to be racing WRX's I'd assume.  I'm still driving my 09 EX-L V6 and probably will until the odometer reads above 200K.  Right now she's a baby at 120K.  

ETA: Between my car, my wife's, and my oldest daughter's we've owned a lot of Honda's offerings from minivans, Pilot, CRV, etc. and can't speak too negatively about the brand; Honda tends to stand behind it albeit the VCM issue on my Accord has pissed me off but again, they paid for that as well.

I did come across that the other night.  It does seem like a bit of risk involved.  My wife is an excellent driver but I'm concerned with all the other a'holes out there.

I did not know until you so posted.  

The Crosstour was what Honda came up with in response to Americans bitching in the late '00s about not being able to get the Accord wagon which was available in Europe.

I'll agree that the Crosstour is less boring than an Accord, but it's less boring because it's so butt-ugly (IMO).  

By the time Honda got around to releasing the less than spectacular Acura wagon a couple years later, the Jetta Sportwagen had taken most of the small wagon market.

Acura has a wagon? [off to Googles]

Had.

2011-2014.  Never saw very many of them.  Far fewer in the wild than Sportwagens, just without the EPA-beating software of the TDI

dbl

I DESPISED the Crosstour when it first showed up. (Along with its Accura counterpart and the BMW X6...) Its neither fish nor fowl.

However, when looking for an airport car, I drove a used one and really liked it. I'm thinking about trading in my BMW wagon for one.

TC

My best friend has a 2008 Accord he bought brand new,  It is loaded with every option and is approaching 300K last I checked.  He has only done the regular maintenance and tires etc.  It runs like a top.  I would have to consider one if I needed a sedan.

I have a '14 v6 accord with around 75-80k miles. Highway mileage is quite impressive if driven carefully. It's returned 37mpg calculated on long trips. Not shabby for something that can move out like they can.  Only serious problem is that every so often the accelerator stops responding, usually right when trying to make a turn and accelerate into traffic.  Scary as hell to have the car just coast for a couple of seconds when traffic is bearing down. 3 trips to the dealer and they just claim it's the MAF.  And oh new mass air flow sensors only work for a few miles before the problem returns.  Hopefully the newer accords don't display the same problem.

That minor quirk aside the car is solid and has been trouble free mostly.

They're great cars. I liked my 2013 so much that after I got tired of dealing with Toyota and their tacoma, I got a 2015 Accord. Both times 4 cylinder/CVT "Sport" trims.

Sometimes I wish I had the V6 but the 4 banger putzes around just fine 99% of the time.

The Crosstour is many things, but "attractive" is not one.

lol

We'd like to stay away from VW.  My wife's first real car was a VW Jetta, 2.0 (8valve).  It was dead nuts reliable and dead nuts slow.  However it was a solid car.  It got her 205,000 trouble free miles with the exception of a crank sensor and driver's heated seat shorted out.  She parked in a garage at work so there was absolutely no UV damage and it all looked like it might have had 20k on it. I never feel she had the type of VW to appreciate the REAL cost of servicing a VW/Audi.  All the new Passats have turbos and a sloppy auto trans.

I've had 4 Honda's in the family.

1998 Prelude base 5 speed.  My first manual trans car.  It went 34k and clutch exploded.  Warranty back then was to 30k and Honda fixed it for free.  My brother and I put 190,000 HARD miles on that car.  Literally 2 high school kids driving the piss out of it, autocrossing it on weekends and flooring it everywhere we went. The engine was on its last leg at 190k but still got 5K out of it.  We did keep it detailed and waxed so it looked like it had 20k on it.

2001 CRV EX auto.  No issues. It was Tboned at an intersection at 140,000 miles and totaled.  We still drove it home with both A pillars collapsed and sold it for $2k.

2001 Civic EX 5 speed.  I got this new and my brother took the Prelude. Great car. It did burn out the turn signal stalk which had a recall.  Ended up burning out the entire wiring harness but fixed for free. I put 200k on it before my youngest brother took it over.  It needed shocks bad but still drove nice. Shifter was like butter. I routinely got 45mpg.

2005 CRV EX auto.  My mothers CRV now. Purchased with 90k. Now at 115k and going strong. 1 previous owner.

Accords are not boring, they are common.  Boring cars do not make Car and Driver's 10 Best list every year since 1742.

If you like the Accord and can work a fair deal on one then you will be happy.

Disclaimer:  I do not own one but have driven many.

I would suggest you look into a mazda 6.

https://www.mazdausa.com/vehicles/mazda6

I don't know on the Accord but Honda CVT transmissions have gear set points in them so they seem more like a conventional automatic . 

FWIW, I like the Crosstour as well. It reminds me of the Rover 3500.

I'd rather have the 4 cylinder. Very good engine.

Honda will last 300k so don't pick a stupid color cause you'll be driving it until your 87.

Gf drives a Crosstour.  I have taken it on frequent car rides.  Its a nice ridr, but has very limited vision and unless you get the AWD V6 version, it lacks balls.

I too got rid of my VW, and went with a 16 accord.

I drove both the v6 and the 2.4l 4 banger.
I chose the 4 cylinder.  I really like the CVT.  It's so buttery smooth, acceleration was nice in the v6 but didn't feel that much more than the 4 cyl.
One thing worth noting is that Honda's v6 uses VCM, cutting fuel to cylinders when not needing the power, this has caused problems for some people.  Also, the 6 cylinder uses a timing belt vs the 4 cylinders timing chain.  The chain is lifelong, the belt will need to be replaced every 100k.  This might not matter if you're not planning on keeping the car long.  I average between 31-35mpg in the 2.4.

The touring has LED headlights and they're not that great.  If I were you I'd get an ex-l 4 cylinder, with sensing.
The 19" wheels are heavy and fragile.
It's worth noting that the Toyota Camry v6 has a timing chain if you must have the v6 power.

Please do yourself a favor and take the accord on an extended test drive, as I've found it impossible to find a comfortable seating position.
There are some quirky things that bug me about the honda, for instance you can't lock the car if getting out of it with the car running, even if you have the key in your pocket.  It just wont lock.
Also when you kill the car, if you're in a bluetooth call, it xfers the call to your phone vs keeping it over the cars system until door opens.

LKAS only works between 40-90mph.  Top speed is governed at 127mph, which the 2.4 does easily, the sound system in the honda accord, regardless of trim is complete garbage.  Possibly the worst of any car I've ever been in.  Overall I love my new accord, I've got 11000 miles on it, changed the oil for the first time today, the manual calls for 4.4 quarts with a filter change, but my front tires were on ramps and the car drained exactly 5 quarts, I put 4.5 quarts in and the oil was just touching the bottom of the dipstick, went ahead and put in 5, almost to the top notch on the dipstick but not quite.  

Car warms up quickly, the navigation is amazing, the screens are cool but lack the cohesion of the VW system.  The whole infotainment system in the honda is kinda quirky, the VW infotainment system blows it out of the water.  But it's not bad.  You won't be disappointed with the accord, but you will find it lacking in some ways compared to the VW.  But, it's gonna be reliable and insurance is cheap.

Worth noting, my gf has a mazda 3, with a real automatic and the 2.5l 4 cylinder and the 2.4cyl honda with the cvt accelerates faster.

Just my thoughts on the accord so far!

The cvt in the accord actually acts like a real cvt.
It doesn't have the dramatic fake shifts, I appreciate this.

Honda's steel belt/chain CVT is awesome.

They are made by my friends and neighbors.  I live a couple miles from the plant.  Every other person around here drives a Civic or Accord.  I do have some knowledge of the quality system in the plant.  It's very robust.  The testing standards in the engineering phase of development are very stringent. Don't see them dead on the roadside so I think you are good.

For a 6 mile commute you definitely want to off the diesel. If you like power there is the Ford Fusion Sport. 325hp and all wheel drive.

Next time you're in the car, open the driver's door, pull the door handle to the open position, then press the lock button. Does the car lock? Most Hondas will lock this way, but IDK if it works on the keyless ones.



Next time you're on bluetooth or even without bluetooth and you're ready to kill the car, use your right hand to hold the shift release button, then use your left hand to hit the start/stop button to kill the engine. The radio will stay on and so will your bluetooth. It's kind of inconvenient using your left hand to reach over to the button, but it's more convenient than switching from car to phone.



There's a lot of little tricks that Honda assumes everyone knows about, the door locks is one. For those that have keys, you can roll the windows down the same way VW owners do by sticking the key in the door, holding it in the open position and having all windows roll down from outside the car. You can even roll the windows down through the key fob by pressing and holding the door unlock button for 5 seconds. Only, Honda is dumb and doesn't allow you to roll the windows back up whereas VW will go up or down.

Get a Premium WRX CVT for under your price. The WRX CVT behaves light-years better than any other CVT out there. I typically despise CVTs.

OP why would you spend $33k on an Accord? It would make more sense to spend $29,000 (or less), so that your 31k from VW would cover the cost.

But in reality, your best solution is the one that leaves you with the least debt.

Good friend of mine got a new Accord Hybrid.  Very nice car, and can get 600 miles on a tank of gas (plus or minus of course depending on driving).  We took his car to Spokane for a concert this summer (~500 mile round trip). He said they were selling at the same price as the V6.

It's hondas "Aztek"

my wife has a 2015 accord 4cylinder

she loves it, and I like it too

honda makes great cars and they have excellent resale value

If you're going to spend $33k why not look at Acuras?  I've had 4 Acuras and 3 Hondas over the years, and while they were all great, the Acuras were a cut above in features, styling and comfort.

I had an 2002 Ex V6 L and it was a great car....