As of right now, Honda has two models that feature Android Auto (although that will likely change in the 2017 model year). We have the 2016 Accord and 2016 Civic. Honda was gracious enough to give us some time with the 2016 Honda Accord Touring. The particular model that we have here has 278hp, 3.5-liter 6-speed Automatic Transmission. The Touring is the top of the line Accord that Honda sells. So you’re getting all of the bells and whistles with this model. However, Android Auto does come standard on all versions of the Accord (the same goes for the Civic as well). Our particular model comes in just shy of $35,000, at $34,580.00. And the 2016 Accord is available at your local Honda dealer right now! So you can run out and test drive one for yourself and pick it up.
We’ve been driving the Honda Accord for a couple of days now, enough to get used to it – somewhat – and give some first impressions of the car. Now the primary reason that we were given a model to test our and review was for Android Auto, so lets start off with that. Android Auto is quite simple in the Accord. It’s not quite in your face, but even those that aren’t “tech savvy” can get it going quite easily. Under the center console, there is a USB port, this is the only port that will work with Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. What I do like about this set up though, is that there is a small hole between the door that covers that compartment and the bottom of it. So the cord can come out and power your phone while keeping that compartment closed. It makes for a great experience and you’re not worried about breaking your cable.
Once plugged in, you just go through the set up on your smartphone and there is a button on the lower left-hand side of the screen in the car that will light up as Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, depending on what phone you have plugged in. And from there, it’s Android Auto just as you expected it to be. The display here is quite nice, it may not be super pixel-dense like most smartphones, but it does its job, and the digitizer works quite well. Something we’ve seen a lot of in these Android Auto vehicles. Definitely nice to see.
Driving the Honda Accord is really nice. The drive is nice and smooth, and can get around 350 miles per tank (that translates to 21 MPG in the city and 34 MPG on the highway). We’ll talk more on the safety features in the full review – coming soon! The Honda Accord isn’t as fancy as the 2017 Audi Q7 we reviewed last month, but it’s quite modest and does have plenty of awesome features included. For now, have a look at the pictures below, of the Honda Accord. And we’ll be back with our full review soon.
