2021 Honda Accord Hybrid Road Test and Review

Picture a hybrid car in your head. What do you see? Does it resemble a boomerang on wheels, painted a light silvery green, perhaps with a Bernie Sanders bumper sticker on the back? 

Even if that doesn’t sound like what you’d buy, the idea of saving a bunch of money at the gas pump is irresistible. And with increasingly unusual weather events occurring all around the planet, you might be thinking the time has come to find a cleaner and greener mode of transportation. If only someone sold a roomy and affordable car offering both great performance and great fuel economy wrapped in an appealing design, you’d be ready to jump into the hybrid end of the pool. Guess what? The Honda Accord Hybrid is exactly what you’re looking for. And thanks to new styling, technology, and powertrain changes, it is better than ever.

When you shop for a 2021 Honda Accord Hybrid, you choose among standard ($26,370), EX ($30,320), EX-L ($32,690), and Touring ($36,240) trim levels (with price excluding a $955 destination charge).

The 2021 model year brings revised front styling with new LED headlights, standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (wireless in all but the base trim), and more useful USB ports. A rear-seat reminder system is now standard, while the Touring gets a parking-speed front and rear automatic emergency braking system. Furthermore, the hybrid powertrain is refined for a more satisfying driving character, and the Touring adds new 19-inch aluminum wheels for a sporty look. Our Accord Hybrid Touring test car cost $37,195, including the destination charge but no other options.

Obviously, the 2021 Honda Accord Hybrid Touring does not resemble what you’ve come to expect from a fuel-efficient hybrid car. It’s sleek. It’s sophisticated. It has a handsome new grille. And those big 19-inch wheels look spectacular. They do take a toll on fuel economy, so if maximum efficiency and driving range are important, choose standard, EX, or EX-L models, which include handsome 17-inch aerodynamic wheel designs.

Inside, Honda exercises the same tasteful approach to the materials, the controls, and the overall layout. The Accord Hybrid’s cabin exudes quality, even in standard trim with cloth seats and silver metallic dashboard accents. Move up to the EX for convincing simulated wood trim, while the EX-L and Touring feature soft leather upholstery. And while the lower portions of the interior are paneled in hard plastic, it exhibits low gloss levels and sounds solid when you rap on it with your knuckles. The oddest thing about the Accord Hybrid’s control layout is the collection of transmission buttons on the center console. Otherwise, the car offers proper ergonomics and simple ease of use.

Though it competes with mid-size cars, the 2021 Honda Accord Hybrid offers full-size car interior room and cargo space. That’s not an exaggeration. Comfort extends beyond the Accord’s sheer volume. All versions of the car except the base trim level include a 12-way power-adjustable driver’s chair and heated front seats, while the Touring equips the Accord Hybrid with ventilated front and heated rear cushions. Drivers also have a tilt and telescopic steering wheel and softly padded armrests. The upper door panel trim is padded, too. Honda does not supply height adjustment for the front passenger’s seat. However, it is mounted a reasonable distance off of the floor and provides decent leg support.

Rear seat comfort is extraordinary. Pack four tall people into an Accord and everybody will remain happy. Our loaded test car included rear air conditioning vents and two rear quick-charge USB ports. Trunk space measures 16.7 cubic feet, which is better than the competition. Plus, you can carry full-size suitcases on their sides, just as you can in an SUV. Interior storage space is generous, too.

With the 2021 Accord Hybrid, Honda seems to subscribe to a “less is more” technological philosophy. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Serving as the car’s primary portal to technology, the 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system is now standard on the base trim level. It includes radio volume and tuning knobs, along with buttons for quick access to main system features. And it is completely divorced from the climate control system. All of this is good and helps to limit touchscreen interaction while driving.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, and all but the base trim offer the wireless variety along with wireless smartphone charging. A premium sound system is part of the EX-L trim level, while the Touring adds a navigation system, a Wi-Fi internet connection, and HondaLink subscription services. If there is room for improvement, both a larger display and a natural voice recognition system would be useful. In the Accord, the embedded voice recognition technology requires the use of specific commands. Prompts on the infotainment screen help, but even when using the prescribed pathways, we still couldn’t find every destination we sought. Using Apple CarPlay and Android Auto can help to bypass this shortcoming.

Honda Sensing is standard on the 2021 Accord Hybrid. It’s a collection of advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) that includes everything you might expect aside from blind-spot warning and rear cross-traffic warning systems, which are missing from only the base model. A new button on the dashboard makes it easy to access the Honda Sensing settings and to change them on the fly.

New for 2021, every Accord has a rear-seat reminder system to help prevent a driver from accidentally leaving a child, pet, or something else of importance inside of the car. The Touring has a new Low-Speed Braking Control system, which is an automatic front and rear braking technology designed to prevent bumper bumps when parking. Honda also redesigned the Accord’s LED headlights in a bid to earn top safety ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Honda Sensing is improved for 2021 but still doesn’t match the best-in-class technologies when it comes to smoothness and sophistication. Also, with my whole family in the car, the Low-Speed Braking Control technology activated at the bottom of our angled driveway. With just a driver aboard, this wasn’t a problem. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gives the 2021 Accord Hybrid high marks for crash safety. The IIHS gave the car a “Top Safety Pick” rating in 2020. If the new headlights rank well in testing, it should earn an even higher accolade for 2021.

Here is a fun bit of trivia: The 2021 Accord Hybrid does not have a transmission. Instead, it has a generator/starter electric motor that effectively serves as an electronic continuously variable transmission, or eCVT. It is one of two electric motors that comprises Honda’s aptly named two-motor hybrid powertrain, the other one drives the car’s front wheels with or without the assistance of a 2.0-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine.

Software automatically decides if the car should operate in EV Drive, Hybrid Drive, or Engine Drive modes. Additionally, the driver can manually choose among EV, Econ, and Sport modes. The powertrain is good for 212 horsepower and 232 lb-ft of torque, and Honda says the Accord Hybrid accelerates to 60 mph in just 6.5 seconds. For 2021, Honda also says it has improved throttle response and engine sound, and based on our test driving, the car feels livelier and sounds quieter than before. Most Accord Hybrids achieve an EPA-estimated 48 mpg in combined driving. The Touring trim’s larger and less aerodynamic wheels and tires reduce the fuel economy rating to 43 mpg. We averaged 42.8 mpg in our Touring test car.

The Accord Hybrid Touring’s 19-inch wheels and P235/40R19 tires might take a toll on fuel efficiency, but they dramatically improve the car’s handling. This car sticks in corners and curves, making it far more fun to drive than it was before.

Furthermore, there isn’t a downside in terms of ride quality, the Accord Hybrid Touring remaining compliant, composed, and communicative at all times. The steering is perfectly weighted and reasonably responsive, and the regenerative braking system exhibits none of the unnatural pedal feel or low-speed grabbing that is common in hybrid cars. Between the immediate electric torque and the car’s enjoyable driving dynamics, getting behind the wheel of a 2021 Honda Accord Hybrid Touring is never a chore. Or much of a bore.

Mid-size hybrid sedans are few and far between. Aside from the Honda, you can choose the Hyundai Sonata, Ford Fusion, Toyota Avalon, or Toyota Camry. Kia is likely to offer a hybrid version of its new K5 mid-size car, too.

Two industry trends are working against hybrid family sedans. First, Americans want SUVs, not cars. At the Honda dealership, consumers pick between the Accord Hybrid and the CR-V Hybrid, which are priced almost identically. Second, automakers are rapidly moving toward fully electric vehicles and away from hybrids. Among the Accord Hybrid’s closest competition, it stands apart as the most compelling mid-size hybrid sedan in most ways, though the Hyundai brings an unbeatable value equation to the segment.

Unless you need all-wheel drive or the added utility of an SUV, you cannot go wrong buying a 2021 Honda Accord Hybrid. None of the compromises that hybrid cars once forced on buyers, such as sluggish performance, suspension-crushing weight, and limited trunk space, are issues with this car. It even has a split-folding rear seat to expand the trunk room.

At the same time, the Accord Hybrid looks and drives much like any other version of the car. It doesn’t look different for the sake of looking different, so aside from discreet Hybrid badges on the front fenders, you can go about your planet-saving in total anonymity. Best of all, it doesn’t look like a boomerang on wheels with an environmentally conscious green paint job and a Bernie sticker on the back.