Auto Review: 2010 Honda Crosstour EX-L: Accord plus

January 16th, 2010 | by Admin |

DAMASCUS, Md. (MarketWatch) — There is a great little privately owned convenience store just blocks from the home office in what once was a house.

“That sure is a nice looking car you’ve got there,” came the voice of an older gentleman on the back porch of the store/house. “We were just talking about it, and we like it,” he said pointing to an old friend.

I smiled and thanked them as they headed for the true mission of the morning — the purchase of that first cuppa java.

Actually, I was surprised by the comment given the unfavorable styling remarks made by other testers. To tell the truth, I too was skeptical of the idea of a hatchback Accord. It does look better in person than in pictures.

Having an extended test period of almost two weeks, I came to like the Crosstour very much, especially from a utility standpoint. Raise the rear hatch; pull a lever that neatly drops down the rear seatback, and it easily swallowed up a defective vacuum cleaner. A cover enables the owner to hide valuable cargo from prying eyes and you can keep the beer cold in a storage bin under the floor.

True, the hatchback design does limit the amount of tall cargo one can carry. With the rear seats up there is 26 cubic feet of storage, and that grows to 51cubic feet with seats down. In short, more storage than an Accord, but less than some SUVs.

When it comes to hauling people instead of cargo, the rear seats are more than comfortable with ample room. The Crosstour easily passed my rear seat test — a six-foot passenger can sit comfortably behind a six-foot driver. Some have squawked about the headroom, but I found the rear seat in all dimensions to be very comfortable, more so than many other sedans driven of late.

The test car came with all-wheel drive, no small thing during this rather nasty winter we are having in the East. On a snow- and ice-covered lot, the Crosstour behaved well with a four-wheel drift that was easily controlled.

Much beyond that, the Crosstour is your run of the mill Accord with the exception of limited visibility out the rear window due to the rear seat head rests and the large bar that separates the upper and lower portions of the rear window. A rearview camera with a picture that appears in the navigation window cures that problem, partially.

The Crosstour comes with the same V-6 as the Accord, that is to say, 3.5-liters, 271-horsepower @ 6,200 rpm and 254 of torque @ 5,000 rpm. A most refined unit tied to a 5-speed automatic. Because the engine has more weight to carry around (the Crosstour tilts the scales at 4,070 lbs. or more than 300 heftier than a comparable Accord), acceleration is a bit more modest with 60 from a standing start at just over 7 seconds. I thought it was more than enough to satisfy the intended audience for this hatchback.

Handling is secure even with the increased ground clearance (six feet) of the Crosstour — after all, few buyers are expecting Lotus-like handling in this type of vehicle.

Mostly an Accord

Inside, the dash panel and the rest are right out of the Accord — comfortable and well put together. The 30-plus buttons on the center stack may turn some off and one can argue that in this day and age there must be a better way to carry out the various tasks.

There are crisp and easy-to-read instruments, but one outstanding thing would have to be rectified before this car was off the lot and headed for this road tester’s driveway — the ECO light. It flashes when you let up on the gas and goes out when you even look at the go pedal. It is annoying because one should never get used to ignoring any light that comes on in the instrument panel.

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