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Oh, look, the Honda Magnum.
Not that I don’t think this is a good idea—it is—but I’d be interested to see if Honda is going to try and sell this as an Accord wagon with a modest price increase (like the old 6 and Legacy), or as a crossover with a big one (like the Venza or Edge).
Hmmm, looks like an Accord wagon. Not a bad idea.
thats just an accord wagon, it seems that ‘wagon’ is a word that all car companys hate so they started replacing the word wagon with crossover.
I think this WAGON looks way better than the oddly proportioned IMO sedan.
I like how Toyota just calls the Venza a car. Not a crossover, CUV, or wagon.
Please make it with a 4 , stick and FWD. My current car is at 213K and counting. This would make a nice replacement
I don’t want a AWD, 6 or auto. I doubt I’ll get my wish.
From the linked Autoexpress story:
“Flared wheelarches reveal the front and rear track is wider. And behind the back doors is an extra inch or two of metal – hinting at an extended wheelbase. The suspension has also been jacked up to give improved ground clearance.
The CUV’s four-wheel-drive transmission will be mated to Honda’s usual 2.0 and 2.4-litre petrol engines and 2.2 i-DTEC diesel. Production of the Accord-based newcomer is set to start towards the end of the year.”
Finally I can buy an Accord wagon again. But my current car won’t make it that long and I can’t afford the likely Venzaish price.
dejalma: Four cylinder and a stick—I’ll have some of that, too. Pass the crack pipe, would you?
Looks more like “Honda Malibu Max” than Honda Magnum to me.
I’d be more excited about a Civic wagon, honestly, for those folks who think a Fit is just a touch too small.
That is one butch looking Accord.
The shape of things to come.
I hate to say it, but that’s one nice Pacifica.
I don’t see how this merits “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” status. Like Toyota, Honda thinks there’s at least a niche and possibly a decent market for these.
I’d be happier with a more traditional wagon (no lift and no oversize wheels) but, if the fuel economy, price and performance are there (30+mpg highway, $25K and 10 secs to 60), then it’s “wagon” enough for me.
Wow, I really like this. Of course I’m a rare bird who actually sees the benefits of a true wagon, and doesn’t care what Johnny neighbor thinks of me. If it drives good I could see this replacing my E46 wagon…The Venza too.
With this and the Venza, we seem to be headed towards the seating and roofline height of the 1955 Chevrolet.
Probably a good thing.
Nice. I want one, as long as they can keep the gas mileage reasonable and the price down, unlike what Toyota did with the Venza.
Hmmm, I guess the Taurus-X sold a lot better than anyone thought….
BTW, what with they call these when there is no longer anything to “cross-over” to?
Google “Accord Tourer” to see this as a very handsome station wagon.
Very cool! I really like the ease of entrance and egress of higher-sitting vehicles.
I too would like to join the chores and demand that we eliminate the words “Crossover” and “CUV”.
In fact, I think we need to create a support group for this movement… It will hitherto be called “The Knights Who Say STATIONWAGON”!
Our first demand is a tailgate! And one that actually functions properly, not a liftgate that you bang your head on. You know, one of those really cool ones that can open down or swing out if you have something really really heavy that needs to be pushed in without all the lifting over. But it must open down for use at ye’ olde tailgate gatherings.
These are our demands!
“STATIONWAGON!”
“STATIONWAGON!”
“STATIONWAGON!”
This really isn’t bad from what I can see. It looks a lot better than the sedan or coupe models in my opinion. I agree with those who like the idea of a 4-cyl/manual transmission model with FWD.
It never ceases to amaze me the lengths that automotive marketing people will go to in order to avoid the words “wagon” and “hatchback”.
So I take it that in the new marketing double-speak a wagon is a CUV and that hatchbacks are compact CUVs?
Whatever. I like both so bring it on.
Relax. The pic is from the UK. Wagons sell in Europe, not in the US (probably because everyone who grew up in the 50s and 60s has memories of being a little kid stuck in the rear facing back seat and being wretchedly car sick). My guess is that it will not make it to the US in that form.
With this and the Venza, we seem to be headed towards the seating and roofline height of the 1955 Chevrolet.
With, sadly, none of the style…
I hope Honda does this right and doesn’t play to perceived American tastes for SUV design cues (flared wheel arches, giant rims, jacked-up ride height, etc. – a la the bloated, blinged-out abortion that is the Toyota Venza).
And please please please offer a 4-cyl, FWD, 6spd manual variant.
I’m in love. Seriously. With a 4-cyl and sunroof <$25k. Life will be good.
A step in the right direction, but I would still prefer an Altima and/or Mazda6 wagon.
Worst Venza Wanna-be ever.
(1st Runnerup: Venza.)
Excellent. Best News of the Day. I see this Accord Wagon as a major winner. My view of the Accord has now improved a bit. It fell off my favored status with the latest remake but now having a wagon makes my mind change if this gets people out of bloated CUV/SUVs. Honda needs to offer this with both 4 and 6 engines and with both manual and automatic transmissions. Let’s hope the weight is not greatly increased by adding the hatch and extra roofline.
Bring back the wagons!
It never occurred to me that Honda and Chrysler had merged.
I would LOVE to see this wagon in the US. Alas, I am convinced it will never make it here because some marketing pinhead will decide we don’t want wagons, so Honda instead will foist one of their updated SUV monstrosities on it, like a Pilot or somesuch.
That’s one fine looking grocery getter.
Wagons Ho!
Awesome car, and yet I wonder why I’m falling all over myself to say “job well done Honda” when all they’ve done is made a hatch out of a FWD sedan. Maybe because this is such a huge improvement over their (utterly pointless save the Element) SUV’s.
As to the magnum comparison…ehhhhh, not so much. This car is going to need 5 or 6 reverse gears to even play that game, let’s not kid ourselves.
It makes a better looking wagon than a sedan.
The suspension has also been jacked up to give improved ground clearance.
Why?
I don’t mind the roof height—there’s a lot of packaging advantages—but why jack up the floor? None of these cars will ever traverse anything more challenging than a ridge of snowplow detritus, so why raise the floor?
If you need eight inches of ground clearance, you’re probably buying a real offroader anyways. Anything else is silly.
Station wagon!!!
dejalma :
Please make it with a 4 , stick and FWD. I don’t want a AWD, 6 or auto.
Second, except I’d be happy if they made it RWD, too.
And yes, as someone said above, lets get rid of that marketing speak (CUV and x-over).
Oh, and keep it under 3200 lbs.
That trucklike Accord front end looks better with some trucky-looking stuff behind it.
If it gets a third row, even a small one, it should be good.
With a 4 cyl it would make a great replacement for my ’95 Oddyty. I have always thoght of it as an Accord super wagon.
Always been frustrated that they haven’t sent the Stream our way.
Bunter
Why?
I don’t mind the roof height—there’s a lot of packaging advantages—but why jack up the floor? None of these cars will ever traverse anything more challenging than a ridge of snowplow detritus, so why raise the floor?
Beat me to it. This is just such a stupid and useless feature. They might as well put a snorkel on the hood just in case soccer mom need to cross a river while on the way to Walmart.
This is reason I absolutely detest CUVs. Even aside from the way the look, it is that they include features that are there only for poser value so middle aged yuppies can attempt to pretend that they are not married with children. Somehow a tubby, balding thirty-five year old with a fat wife and two chunky kids in the back will look much cooler in an *UV instead of a practical wagon. Sorry, it ain’t gonna happen–no matter what you drive.
Umm, they already get a really cool Accord wagon across the pond. It’s the two-box version of our TSX. Why can’t we have that one with a 5- or 6-speed manny tranny? Heck, I’d be happy with a row-your-own slushbox!
I agree with psarhjinian, the last thing that I would think the US needs from Honda is a psuedo-lifted “crossover” (shudder) design that everyone is afraid will be called a wagon.
Are they bringing it over?
It’s ugly, but I’d buy it if I were to total my car today. Wagons are great.
Beat me to it. This is just such a stupid and useless feature. They might as well put a snorkel on the hood just in case soccer mom need to cross a river while on the way to Walmart.
The horrible thing is you can actually get fake snorkels for some of the more butch crossovers. A snorkel on a Unimog, Wrangler or Samurai? Sure. Even an FJ or H2 is acceptable. I’ve seen snorkels for Envoys.
And then there’s brush bars. Nothing says “more money than brains” better than brush bars on a Vue or Element.
This is reason I absolutely detest CUVs. Even aside from the way the look, it is that they include features that are there only for poser value so middle aged yuppies can attempt to pretend that they are not married with children.
This is one reason why I respect minivans and “space wagons” like the Rondo: they’re honest. Caravans, Siennas, Oddys and the like might be bought by people who don’t strictly need them, but they’re not being bought for the image, either. Say what you will about the Dodge Caravan, it’s not being bought to assuage anyone’s insecurities.
Plus, I can see the advantage to tall roof minivan (easy of entry, space, toddle-loading, walk-through) over a wagon for those reasons. It’s unfortunate that Honda is giving us this instead of the Freed or Stream.
Looks pretty good.
Nice.
Very Volvo XC70, only more handsome.
As for what class of car to call it…
If in America “station wagon” is too old fashioned, and “crossover” is too overused, and it really does not meet the definition of “SUV” (which is the kiss of death now anyway), why not import the British terminology.
It’s an estate car.
You know, a big-booted car not called a wagon for rich people who need to haul their purchases from the shops to their estate in the country?
It’s Honda’s Outback!
Sell it in the States, and sell it for a hiccup higher than the sedan.
Do not make the mistake of the Versa, priced a full 10k more than the Camry sedan.
My ’92 Accord wagon weighed in at 3400 and change. I’m gonna set the over/under on this at 3850. Any takers?
Do not make the mistake of the Versa, priced a full 10k more than the Camry sedan.
That’s not a mistake, it’s intentional, and it’s the reason the Venza is not called the Camry wagon.
The real raison d’etre of crossovers and SUVs isn’t to fill a need for taller, larger vehicles. That’s the marketing justification—if we wanted bigger and taller, we’d all be driving minivans and MPVs. The reason is that they are, or rather, were, a great way to get people to pay more for a car. The reason you can’t sell a wagon, hatch or minivan in North America is because the automakers have spent the last fifteen years pushing an agenda that benefited them.
By so neutering the family and economy sedan (negligible trunk space, lesser power, low load ratings) in favour of trucks, the makers found a way to get people into cars that could be sold for more, but that didn’t cost them significantly more to build. This was especially true of SUVs, which were ridiculously cheap to make (how much must a Tahoe or Yukon have cost, given that it shared most of it’s bits with the incredibly high-volume pickups). The entire product planning strategy of every make (excepting Ferrari and Lamborghini, but including Porsche) was bent this way. Honda would have been stupid to make a Civic or Accord wagon that could be sold for maybe a grand more than the sedan when they could sell CR-Vs and Pilots for thousands more.
Of course, now that no one can afford the margin queens, it’s all moot. The cars people can buy aren’t selling because they, quite frankly, suck if you’re a family, while the cars people do want to buy are much too expensive.
There’s a big opportunity here for the first make willing to take it: low-cost, high-versatility cars for real people on real budgets. Kia seems to be ahead of the curve with the Rondo and Soul. Mazda would make sense, too, but is falling to the allure of the high-buck crossover. Saturn/Opel has several vehicles in Europe (Meriva and Zafira) that would give the brand a reason to exist, were GM rich and forward-thinking enough to try.
This thing? It’ll sell as well as the Venza, which is to say “not well at all”.
@ Mark MacInnis :
“My ‘92 Accord wagon weighed in at 3400 and change. I’m gonna set the over/under on this at 3850. Any takers?”
I’ll say over.
@ psarhjinian:
You nailed it on the raison d’etre of CUV’s, however I’m not so sure that isn’t exactly what people want. Look at the Taurus, a huge, relatively cheap car that has an enormous trunk and could probably fit 4 kids in the back and yet it is a failure.
I’m not so sure a Honda Accord wagon without the extraneous ground clearance would sell any better than this, and I’d wager it would sell worse even with a lower price.
I’m gonna set the over/under on this at 3850.
Under if it’s I4/Front drive, over in V6 trim. All-wheel drive will put it over four grand.
Remember “The Betsy”? This is the car Rock Hudson talks about at the end. The car nobody wants, but everyone needs.
In this environment, they could actually sell a bunch of them (relatively).
And still we wait for a G8/Commodore wagon…
Just out of curiosity, does anyone have information on personal vehicle imports?