1991 Honda Accord EX Wagon Is a Sedan with a Backpack

From the February 1991 issue of Car and Driver.

Enticing station wagons come few and far between: Audi Quattro, Ford Taurus, Mercedes 300, Volvo Turbo. The first three appear round, the last like a box, but all remain stylish and well-proportioned. About fifteen months ago, when forward-thinkers Honda introduced today’s Accord sedan and coupe, they showed renderings presented as their own wagon. Its shape promises to surpass even the five most handsome doors in the world. Unlike most styling studies, this one is restrained enough to suggest a production vehicle rather than a pure pipe dream. If the sketch comes true, Volvo, Mercedes, Ford and Audi stylists will soon be drooling over the new five-door.

Like a cloudburst in the desert, Honda came to wash away the status quo. Yet the Accord Wagon doesn’t look as sleek as we expected. It lacks, perhaps, in sheet metal what looks so attractive on a sketch pad. But get this: the independent thinkers who dreamed up this flood of potential worked not from Honda’s Japanese R&D centers and studios but American think tanks and designs in Southern California. More irony: Honda will build the Accord wagon in America—at the Marysville, Ohio plant—for sale here and for export to Japan. Honda proves once again that it can simultaneously move its market forward and rewind fast.

Despite the stylish original plan, some details were lost between the initial rendering and the final fender. The body of the wagon remains handsome, especially the aggressive nose, smooth shell and glassy cabin. But the window along the attached “boot” doesn’t blend into the shape—or the shape of the other side windows—as seamlessly as the artwork would have you hope. The Accord’s liftgate and taillights also failed to connect as smoothly as they could. Yet overall the wagon looks distinctly trimmed—and trimmed for privilege. It has a solid yet agile look, evidenced by its basic speed and dynamics.

The concentration of cargo inevitably crammed every station wagon at certain times. Cargo fills space the way work expands to fill time, the way play consumes leisure: Honda’s cargo capacity, while not huge, can haul a lot that doesn’t require a Mayflower mover. Well designed carpets and panels encourage care in loading and unloading. We will use a pad or tarp to blunt heavy items with sharp edges.

Cargo packing options include rear seat dividers to fold forward in one-third, two-thirds, or full width as needed—use for skis (and poles for aprés). To fold the rear seatback flat, you pull the bottom cushion up and roll it forward. Then you pull the rear headrest off its seatback, fold the backrest forward, and tuck the rear headrest prongs securely into the receptacle on the back of the lower cushion. The luggage cover mounted horizontally between the rear wheel wells is detached from behind the rear seat. Configured like a window shade, the cover hole is attached to a tab near the back door, hiding whatever caboodle you’re carrying. Keeping the caboodle under the panoramic window sill maintains excellent visibility from the tail and right rear. The driver’s B-pillar, the car’s only blind spot, blocks the view to the left rear quarter.

The internal dimensions show that Honda has decided to aim more at the birth control than the members of the population explosion. You’ll get plenty of room for luggage and four big travelers, but a maximum of five will fit—and that’s only if the one sitting in the middle of the back seat is small enough to scurry under the limbo bar without bending over backwards. We say “sit on” the back seat because it’s as sturdy as a bench upholstered solely in shellac. Front and rear legroom proved adequate, extended in back with useful legroom under the front seats. Low backs up front provide comfortable support over long distances, assuming you’re not abusing the twisty roads as if you’re attacking the Suzuka Circuit. But long-legged drivers will find the Accord’s pedals set too close, the wheels too far apart. We cannot understand why Honda fails in this respect to match Nissan, Toyota, and Mazda.

Honda packs the airbags into the sophisticated four-spoke steering wheel, replacing its additional chrome “H” with a trademark molded into the padded hub cap.

The wagon wears the same stylish wheels used on other Accords. They were—how to put it?—inconspicuous. Although smooth in the modem aero idiom, its subtle curves, angular intakes and glossy machining catch the light and flash like MTV. For clothes with very little use of chrome, Honda has a way with bright work; note the crystal-like mirror cutouts in the halogen lamps. The high beam casts an even spread of light but also highlights the problem of many lights developed for use in countries with low speed limits: too much illumination directly in front of the car, not enough “throwing” onto the road. Thus, your eyes, enveloped in your own pool of light, “stop” like an invincible camera lens—dimbling the view of whatever lies ahead, a dubious situation.

Honda’s 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine uses fuel injection, sixteen valves and a balance shaft to produce a spicy 140 horsepower. The performance, though flavored more along the lines of nutmeg than tabasco, is upbeat and down the rocks. The Accord’s five-speed front-drive transaxle pulls the 3170-pound wagon from 0 to 60 mph in 9.0 seconds and on to a top speed of 119 mph.

The Accord wagon feels secure until you need better tracking, maximum cornering or absolute braking. Pavement wrinkled by truck ruts cause the chassis to wig-wag. Tricky turns can quickly tax the Goodyear Eagle GA beyond the wagon’s 0.76-g cornering grip. Worse, maximum braking reveals poor front-rear balance and a sorry 223-foot stop from 70 mph. The results of this test come as a surprise from a chassis that feels good in fast driving picked up by good balance.

Still, we hope the wagon version of America’s best compact sedan will shine a little brighter. Honda is expected to ask twenty thousand for it, a sum big enough to raise our expectations. Still, the Accord wagon is very tasty stuff. We’re sure Honda, in short, will make it delicious to the max.