12 Things You Need to Know About the 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid

Question: Who sold the first mass-produced hybrid automobile in the US? Toyota, with its Prius? Nope. Honda’s Insight arrived in December of 1999, beating the Prius to market by seven months. The message here: Honda has been making hybrids for a long time, and this engineering expertise in maximizing efficiency is very apparent in the new 2017 Accord Hybrid. Now, we present 12 things you must know about the new 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid.

Obvious, we know, but let’s back it up with actual numbers. On a recent 702.1-mile drive to Southern California from Napa, the 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid burned 14.94 gallons of regular unleaded gasoline. This equates to 47.0 MPG, a remarkably good figure given that my drive involved twisty Highway 1, plus a fair amount of highway and a winding climb across the Los Padres National Forest to Interstate 5. According to the EPA, the 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid is rated at 49 MPG city/47 MPG highway/48 MPG combined.

Was Honda hoping to get 50 MPG in the city? Absolutely. But new EPA tests, designed to better reflect real-world driving, have dropped the numbers a bit. If Honda had used EPA tests from last year, the 2017 Accord Hybrid would be rated at 50/47/49. Although the Accord Hybrid’s EPA fuel economy numbers are the best for a midsize hybrid sedan, we suspect Honda will make a serious run at 50 MPG with the 2018 Accord Hybrid. Helping fuel efficiency are new front wheel hubs that reduce rotational friction by a significant 30 percent.

That’s right, two motors. Honda’s 2.0-liter Atkinson cycle 4-cylinder gasoline engine is connected to two electric motors via a lock-up clutch. One of the motors powers the Accord Hybrid’s drive wheels; the other charges the car’s lithium-ion battery pack, which is 12.8 percent lighter and 33 percent smaller than the power unit in the 2015 Accord Hybrid. The battery, made by Yuasa, is mounted at the forward edge of the trunk. Honda, of note, makes its own electric motors, and the new drive motor, which benefits from square-section wiring that allows for a smaller magnet, produces 181 horsepower at 5000 rpm and 232 lb.-ft. of torque. That’s 6 more lb.-ft. than in the previous Accord Hybrid, and maximum output of the system is 212 horsepower, which compares favorably to a standard Accord 4-cylinder’s 185 hp.

To properly understand the powertrain of the 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid, think of the gasoline engine as an onboard generator that does two things: It powers the motor that drives the front wheels, and it powers a generator that charges the battery pack. Sometimes the aluminum-block engine does both, as determined by the smaller and lighter Power Control Unit.

The three Drive Operations: 1) In EV Drive, electricity from the battery goes directly to the drive motor and powers the front wheels. In this mode, the gasoline engine is not running. 2) In Hybrid Drive, electricity from the engine’s generator powers the main electric motor, with assistance from the battery. 3) In Engine Drive, a very rare mode, the gas engine powers the drive wheels directly and mechanically. Although there is a special EV mode that can be selected with a button, the Accord Hybrid’s three Drive Operations are not selected by the driver; the car automatically and seamlessly does this to achieve the best possible efficiency, based on factors such as battery charge.

Befitting a technological flagship, all 2017 Honda Accord Hybrids are fitted with HondaSensing, the manufacturer’s suite of camera- and radar-based safety and driver-assist technologies. Collision Mitigation Braking reduces the chance of hitting a vehicle in front (or an oncoming vehicle, or even a pedestrian), by automatically applying brake pressure and illuminating a warning light inside the Accord Hybrid’s big speedometer whenever an object is sensed. Road Departure Mitigation and Lane-Keeping Assist System help the Accord Hybrid stay in its lane, by sensing painted lines on the road and then making small inputs and corrections to the Honda’s electric-assist steering. Finally, Adaptive Cruise Control maintains a safe distance to the vehicle ahead, reducing driving workload. Although this radar-based technology works, a good driver is better at smoothly maintaining a proper distance to the car ahead.

If a Honda Accord Hybrid is your only vehicle, and you need to pick up, say, a few kiln-dried 8-foot 2x4s from the Home Depot, forget about it. The rear seatback of the 2017 Accord Hybrid does not fold forward, as it does in a standard Accord. The Accord Hybrid’s battery, what Honda calls the Intelligent Power Unit (IPU), is in the way. Not a big deal if you have a friend with a pickup. Or a Prius.

While it’s true that the battery pack of the new 2017 Accord Hybrid has been reduced in size by a third (compared to the previous car) thanks to a more efficient cooling system, that rectangular cube at the forward edge of the trunk still gobbles up precious cargo volume. That stated, we have it on good word that the trunk of the new Accord Hybrid can hold nine cases of wine. Honda says the 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid has a 13.5 cubic foot trunk, whereas that of the 2015 car was 12.7.

Although it looks much like a standard Accord and offers many attributes that have made the model a perennial best-seller for Honda, the new 2017 Accord Hybrid feels quite a bit different than an everyday Accord, most notably when driven aggressively. To begin, that pedal at your right foot is not a gas pedal; it’s a go pedal. When you press it gently, the Accord Hybrid reads your command and determines the most efficient form of motivation. With mild pedal input, the car accelerates gently, on battery power alone, up to a speed of about 65 mph. This can last for a couple of miles, and is often the chosen mode when you’re trundling through neighborhoods. When the battery gets low, the gasoline engine automatically starts to power the drive motor and recharge the battery. If the driver is more aggressive with the pedal, the Accord will start off in Hybrid Drive, in which the gasoline engine and battery both send power to the drive motor.

Because there’s no direct link between the pedal and the gas powerplant, engine rpm isn’t related to vehicle speed. Sometimes, this makes the direct-drive Accord Hybrid feel like it has a continuously variable transmission, which it does not. When you lift the pedal, or apply the brakes, the kinetic energy of the car is used to recharge the battery pack. Because the Accord Hybrid doesn’t have a huge battery, its charges (and dishcharges) more quickly than you might expect. On long uphills, the gasoline engine is almost always on, powering the drive motor and recharging the battery. On level ground (and even more so on a downhill), the engine frequently is not running, as it doesn’t take much energy to sustain the Accord Hybrid at highway speeds. Top speed, by the way, is 112 mph.

If you’re a closet tech geek, or just interested in efficiency, you’ll want to keep track of the Accord Hybrid’s energy flow via an active pictogram in the center of the large speedometer. It’s fun, even instructive, to see how the wheels are being driven at all times, but it’s not crucial to your enjoyment or appreciation of the vehicle. In casual around-town driving, the Accord Hybrid has the easy, comfortable, and refined gait of any other Accord, albeit one that’s exceptionally fuel-efficient. Use the go pedal more aggressively, however, and the gas engine kicks in with gusto to make the new Accord Hybrid—despite extra sound-deadening materials—feel like an electric car carrying its own onboard generator.

Almost without notice, the 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid, built in Sayama, Saitama, Japan, went on sale in the US in early July. Fitted with remote start, 17-in. alloy wheels, and the HondaSensing safety technologies, the standard Accord Hybrid starts at $29,605, which is up $300 from the 2015 car and will top $30,000 when the destination fee is applied. Moving up, there’s the $32,905 EX-L model, which adds leather seats, XM/Sirius, Display Audio, and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto. At the top of the line is the $35,955 Accord Hybrid Touring, which adds heated rear seats, parking sensors, LED headlights and navigation to the mix. Colors exclusive to the Accord Hybrid are Crimson Pearl, Mandarin Gold Metallic, Vortex Blue Peak, and Blue Sky Metallic.

Previously, the Honda Accord Hybrid sold in small numbers, perhaps because the first Accord Hybrid of 1995 was a bit of a mistake, a V6 model that stressed added performance in a world clamoring for extra MPG. Whatever the case, Honda hopes to sell 28,000 Accord Hybrids for the 2017 model year, which is double the 14,000 sales of the 2015 version. Will Honda succeed? Hard to say, but this much we know: Honda has built a new Accord Hybrid that’s more efficient and safe, without sacrificing any of the car’s fun-to-drive nature. Fun fact: Honda has sold 12.7 million Accords since 1976. That’s one every two minutes for the last 40 years!

More and more electrification is coming to Honda. In addition to an Acura MDX Hybrid that will be introduced later this year, a trio of environmentally friendly Clarity models is on its way from Honda. A Clarity fuel-cell vehicle arrives late this year, to be followed in 2017 by an all-electric Clarity and a Clarity Plug-In Hybrid, this last version being a volume leader powered by the same hybrid technology found in the 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid. Honda says this new Clarity Plug-In Hybrid will have an all-electric driving range “in excess of 40 miles,” and be sold in all 50 states.