(first posted 3/8/2014) It was with the second generation that Honda’s Accord began to take a toehold in the Midwest. At the time, there was a lot more “Buy ‘Murican” sentiment out here than was enjoyed on the coasts, and so we kept buying traditional RWD sedans a while longer.
First-generation Accords were never family transportation, as they were simply too tiny–and you could get a lot more Ford for the same money. People who drove first-generation Accords were generally young, childless professionals, just the kind of people who dreamed of getting the heck out of the Midwest. Did their owners secretly aspire to live where their car would fit in?
But come 1982 and Honda’s somewhat-larger-than-before new Accord, moms who had previously been driving Ford Fairmonts (and Malibus and Volares, but mostly king Fairmonts, or so it seemed to me at least) at the time were suddenly switching over. The Accord still wasn’t large enough to be the family car, but it was big enough for running around town with a couple of the kids in tow. And it was just so cute compared to the Big Three’s mid-sizers. And of course, it got far better gas mileage.
While an Accord sedan had been available since 1977, it wasn’t until the second generation that these sold in any numbers to conservative Midwestern buyers. The hatchback was still extremely popular, but now you were just as likely to see a sedan on the road. I didn’t understand the significance of it then, but it was a subtle shift toward acceptance of a Japanese sedan.
Wikipedia photo
And then came this Accord, the third generation. If the second generation was gentle waves lapping at the shore, the third generation was a tidal wave. The Japanese sedan as primary family transportation had truly arrived. People who still drove Fords bought them because they couldn’t believe the great deal they got, not because it was the car they really wanted. This Accord was just so tight, so right. And, of course, it was bigger than before. Honda sings this refrain with each verse of this song.
As hardy as these cars were, almost none are left here in Rustopia. I’m sure as many succumbed to poor maintenance as to body rot in their cheap-wheels days.
Yet this one endures. I see it all the time, actually, in a big-box store parking lot. Someone who works there must drive it. I wonder about its provenance – how did this one survive? Did it lurk in someone’s garage for years, undriven? Has it simply received good mechanical care?
Cosmetically, this Accord was certainly not pampered, given its scuffs, worn-off paint, little rust spots and this broken tail light.
We’ve considered this generation Accord before, here and here.
My best friend bought one of these (well, the Hatchback, not the sedan) in California in ’82 and brought it with him when he moved to Texas (following his girlfriend at the time, now wife)…it was a nice car, one of my co-workers commented riding in the back of it sounded like some video game (name escapes me almost 30 years later). He had it until 1989, when he was involved in an accident where someone hit him while trying to avoid someone parked on the side of the road stealing gravel of all things.
His Accord was totaled, he was slightly injured (hit in the front, his legs were hurt) but recovered OK, he had a set of struts for it that he had bought but hadn’t installed which he returned to the parts store for refund afterwards.
He replaced it with a used ’82 Celica coupe (didn’t move up in age of the replacement car) which somehow he found with only 29,000 miles on it. Other than not being a hatchback, I really liked the Celica (especially the interior) which he kept for another 10-12 years without accidents, with normal maintenance.
I had another friend who bought the next (’89) generation Accord sedan, but he bought it up North without air conditioning less than a year before he moved to Texas…he later had dealer in Texas install air conditioning (which I guess was still dealer installed at the time) which at the time cost him almost $1200 (back when factory AC was probably $700 normally)…it had an AC button on the dash, we used to kid him about having added an $1200 button onto the dash of his car as it seemed really expensive at the time…I think the Accord brand new was under $10000.
Wow, I cannot tell you the last time I saw one of these. You nailed the significance of this car. I graduated college in 1982. At that time, at least in the midwest, the Oldsmobile Cutlass was still “the car” that new grads aspired to, at least if you wanted to look professional and successful.
But 3 years later when I got out of law school, the Cutlass was dead – everyone wanted an Accord, which was then in the final year of this generation. Even I liked them, in fact at first, I liked these much better than the new 86 model. However, these soon came to look old fashioned, and I suspect that the one friend who bought an 85 model because he preferred it soon came to regret it.
By the generation that started with the 1990 models, even my father bought an Accord. By then, Honda’s domination was complete. But this was the car that started it.
1′ and 3′ gen. I love them !
Everything else, is just plain boring !!!
Yes, I’m driving a 1986 2’gen 2.0i Honda Prelude, 300000km(!), as my daily driver.
These are still all over the place in Eugene.
+100
2′ gen Preludes ???
2.0i (not Si) DOHC BA2 Preludes ?
They started to see off British cars around the same time.The Accord was also the last Triumph car sold as the Acclaim,a rather sad end to a once popular make.
Actually, the Acclaim was a Ballade, which was the 4-door Civic in the NA market.
My mistake,I’m blonde!
The Acclaim was reasonably successful, but never had the same impact in the UK, and Honda never really got a following until the mid-2000s. Hondas in the UK had quite big engines for UK folk, and often sold to retirees, which really hurt their image. A car’s success is as much a part of who buys it as anything else. If young upwardly mobile professionals buy it, it becomes the car to aspire to. If the same car is seen in retirement villages (or seaside towns in English vernacular), it becomes tragically uncool. Strange really- I never see anyone under 60 in an Accord in England, while when I left school (in Kansas in the mid-90s), everyone my age had a 3rd generation Accord, Civic or CRX, and they were considered ‘cool’ cars. Hondas in England was like driving an Oldsmobile Ciera in the states. I still find it amusing just how many young people in the US go on about the Fit/Jazz. Here, the Jazz is a car for widows over 75 years old who buy it because they can put plants from the garden center upright by folding up the rear seat. You can always find one bouncing off the curb at the front of any line of slow moving traffic, with a blue rinse behind the wheel.
This is funny. Here in the U.S., I feel like one of the oldest people I have ever seen in a Fit/Jazz. They are usually driven by twenty-somethings. People my age are either driving Elements or Accords.
Exactly the same here. A Honda Fit/Jazz is typically driven by retired-elderly people. With 2 bicyles on the Twinny Load. (No idea if these car lengtheners to carry the bicycles exist in other countries.)
As a matter a fact, all small, tall and boxy cars have a senior citizen image.
Honda is a struggling brand. Very struggling. I wouldn’t say it’s a dead man walking, but it’s pretty close. Must have been months since I saw a recent model Accord, let alone a new one.
I always knew Honda, and Japanese cars in general, carried a much different perception in Europe, but this is actually more extreme than I imagined it to be! In the US, Honda’s critical reception has occasionally been lukewarm in recent years, but I believe that they’re selling better than ever here. Their image has also become a little stodgier as the cars have become more Toyota-like in the past decade, but that’s exactly what people eat up here. The Civic is definitely still seen as a young person’s car first and foremost, though. The Fit may be as well, but my perception is skewed by their popularity amongst elderly hippies and anarchists in NYC. It would probably appeal to younger generations of those demographics, but they don’t own cars at all!
Sean, the only successful Japanese brand, with a complete model range, is Toyota. From the small 3 cylinder Aygo to the Land Cruiser V8 and of course Lexus. Toyota also designs and builds several models in Europe. Like the Avensis sedan or wagon.
The Toyota Avensis wagon:
The brand new Toyota Aygo. As you can see it has the X-factor.
Wow, that Aygo is pretty friggen wacky. I kinda like it, actually – it’s a little reminiscent of weirdo 70s Japanese styling. These are all 3-cylinders too, right? I’ve seen older Aygos and they weren’t nearly as wild.
The Avensis wagon, on the other hand, is really good looking! Toyota would never even dream of selling either of those cars in the US, although for much different reasons. The Aygo could be a Scion, but probably wouldn’t make sense in their lineup, and Toyota just doesn’t do wagons here. Haven’t since the 90s.
Yes, the Aygo has a (naturally aspirated) 1.0 liter 3 cylinder, originally a Daihatsu engine.
It’s a basic and cheap little car, therefore popular amoung young people.
I’ve read that the Toyota Auris (a hatchback/wagon, “Golf-class”) gets 1.6 and 2.0 liter BMW diesels. In Europe the Auris is the successor of the Corolla. The Avensis is the topmodel, the Camry is not available anymore.
Coming to this late, I can confirm the same for Austria. Actually Accords are no longer sold here at all as it made no sense to carry all the spares and/or train mechanics for it when sales were less than 200 per year… The Civic trundles along – just. It is to be seen whether the 2016 Civic will fare better against the more established competition from Mazda, but I would not bank on it.
The Ballade and Civic sedan were very similar, but not identical. The Ballade was obviously mechanically based on the Civic sedan, but had different front and rear clips, different trim, and offered both the 1.3 and 1.5 engines (the contemporary four-door Civic had only the 1.5). In Japan, the Ballade was sold through a separate dealer network (Honda Verno) along with the Prelude and Quint.
Aside, the CR-X was called the Honda Ballade Sports CR-X.
The US CR-X manual was titled “Civic Coupe”. I dumped my 1977 Scirocco for the “84. Even my German mechanic thought the little Honda was vastly superior. He loved the elegant door handles and called the VW’s ugly “elephant ears”. Two years after I got it Honda offered a special to add A/C for $400, which I did.
The Honda served well for 17 years and people lined up to buy it before the ad hit the paper, had orig clutch. The maintenance costs of the Honda for 17 years were LESS than the VW’s were for TWO.
I promised myself I would never buy another German car. I guess that’s why German cars are leased – and a bad bet to buy.
After years of owning Fords that were troublesome & rusted quick, my parents decided to take a chance on a 2yr old 85 accord. They said it was the best car they ever owned. I remember it being the only car that had working a/c for years, my parents wouldn’t spend money to recharge the a/c on anything, if it quit working then roll your window down.
I’m a big fan of these, and I own a 1st-generation Accord. There are actually a few of these 2nd-gens still running around in Southern California here and there, in varying condition.
By the way, the sedan was new for 1979, not 1977, and I have Honda literature that touts it as being a family car and a competitor for the Ford Fairmont, but that may have been wishful thinking!
Also, is this car black or dark gray? If it’s black, it’s a bad repaint for sure, because they didn’t offer Accords in black (at least in the US) until the 3rd-generation model.
I never realized how much these resemble the 2nd-gen Camrys (88-92). Especially from the back.
The mid-1980s Toyota Cressidas had a very similar-looking rear appearance, too. I used to do double-takes in traffic.
The Mazda 626 from that era looked quite similar as well. I had a couple of friends who bought those because they were less expensive than the Accord but seemed as good.
They probably were as good, and possibly without the insanely light steering. Why did they fail they be as successful in those years? It’s something I’d love to explore on CC, but wouldn’t know where to begin…
Why did the 626 fail? Did it? It certainly didn’t sell as well as the Accord, but it seemed to sell reasonably well enough, in line with Mazda’s typical place in the market.
That generation 626 did sell exceptionally well in Germany, where it developed a rep as being very reliable. IIRC, it was the best selling Japanese car there for some years, at least in its class.
By the early ’90s, they really weren’t selling as well, and by the mid ’90s, it seemed like both it and the Protege were selling mainly on price. It’s shame, really; Mazda did well both in Germany and Scandinavia, although I’m not sure it had anything to do with the way their cars drove which at any rate, always was satisfying to me. Their cars had a well damped feeling a lot of Japanese competition lacked; wondering if anyone can back me up on this.
If you look at the ads of the era, Mazda was always pitching itself as a high value alternative to the A-list Hondas and Toyotas. I always felt they deserved better, but I was also only a child at the time.
The 626 model in Perry’s Hatchback QOTD was quite visible in oz at the time. I don’t know figures, but I recall seeing them as much as the saloons.
Yes, by the early 90s. I was thinking earlier.
Don’t think they ever failed. They just didn’t have the cachet that Honda had built up. I had a 1980 Civic wagon and when the lease was up I went looking for a new car. At that time the cam in the Honda went south at 100,000 miles and I wasn’t happy given my care. Looked at an Accord and when talking price the salesman said “well if they want to prostitute themselves fine” but this is our price. That was it never a Honda again.
Bought a 1986 626 4 dr. and it ran for 375,000 miles. Had to give it up in 2008 and go full time to my 2004 Focus ZTS which is a great car. Then in 2009 a friend decided he didn’t want his second car and brought it by to give to me. It was a 1991 626 LX Touring 5spd. with 160,000 miles. Rebuilt the entire suspension, A/C, clutch and sound system. Once again I am happy as it is truly a great car.
I would agree that a lot of it just had to do with image. In the U.S., this generation of Honda sold to people who, by and large, either had positive experience with earlier Civics and Accords or had heard good word of mouth from people who owned them. By contrast, Mazda was still coming off of its mostly rotary era, which had a reputation for being fuelish and potentially troublesome (although Mazda had made significant strides in both areas by the time they dropped most of their U.S. rotaries). There was the GLC, but of course that was really more of an entry-level car sold on price and fuel economy as much as anything else, and while the RX-7 was very popular, it was in such a different market segment that I don’t know how much good it did the 626.
None of that was any reflection on that generation 626 as a product, but it was sort of starting over in terms of market perception, particularly since it was competing in a league where a lot of buyers don’t read car magazine reviews (which as I recall were generally pretty positive).
I think Mazda generally did well throughout the ’80s, but to really challenge Honda and Toyota for brand loyalty in the States, the 323 and 626 would have had to be really exceptional rather than just pretty good and I don’t think they quite managed that.
When I bought my Mazda 323 hatch here in the Midwest the dealer made a point of telling me that this one was leading the sales charts in Germany. I don’t know why he had to point this out, maybe it was my accent?
Maybe 2 years prior I went to the Internationale Automobile Ausstellung in Frankfurt, Germany. The Japanese manufacturers were aiming straight at Otto Normalverbraucher and pulled the trigger.
Wolfgang, maybe he meant the best selling Japanese hatch in Germany. There’s just no way a Mazda hatchback is “leading the sales chart” in a country that builds the VW Golf, Audi A3, BMW 1-series, Opel Astra and Mercedes A-class.
Yes, Johannes. His comment was the effect of “the best selling Japanese car in Germany in 1986”. That is possible. I saw a lot of the qualities that a Golf provided. The 323 may have been more popular than the 626 in Germany.
Ah, 1986 ! That means the homemade competitors of the 323 were VW Golf, Opel Kadett and Ford Escort (How could I forget Ford). Still, the conclusion is the same.
The Mazda 626 was also very popular in Austria, and the current 3 and 6 seem to follow suit. I think the reason Mazdas are successful here is because they are conceived to be the “most European Japanese” as far as styling and suspension setting is concerned with, plus there is the reliability.
Perry, I had an 83 Accord hatch that I only sold because there was an electrical problem that kept popping up. I forget the year of the 626 4 door (same era) but it was excellent. I would have loved to have the 626 reliability and economy with the drop dead (IMO) good looks of the Honda hatch. I thought the 626 did quite well in the Houston area. I don’t commute across Houston any more so don’t pay much attention.
Some things seemed primitive like the cable pull clutch when I think all the other Japanese vehicles I had, had hydraulic linkage. It was the energizer bunny though for a 105 mile daily commute. Then a freshman girl ran a stop sign with her first car. Neither the Honda nor the 626 were built to survive being center punched.
Looks aside, I’ll take the Mazda.
’87-’91, you mean? Yes.
Unlike the US, Honda never really made as big a splash in Europe with the Accord and nor did the Toyota Camry. Europeans would call them conservative rather than revolutionary. So bland compared to other Euro offerings that people didn’t even notice these offerings? Or was it the three box design that has never been as dominant as in the US?
The only competitors we got here were the VW Passat/Santana, which was called the quantum, and it was extremely bizarre looking, the Audi 80 (called the 4000) which cost most than the Accord, and the Renault 21, which had quality issues. So we didn’t really have the same variety. That said, I don’t think the third generation car was conservative at all.
Renault 21, sold in the US? Wow, didn’t know that. Well, in Nort Western Europe it didn’t exactly stand out either, only its break/estate/wagon/station car sibling, the Nevada/Savanna has been quite popular, being an affordable alternative for a Volvo Estate with its optional 3rd row. Not as durable unfortunately, despite very comfy and luxurious for the time. They have all but disappeared these days.
The Renault 21 was called Eagle Medallion and it did not make a big splash in the USA. Coming to our shores at the same time that Chrysler bought AMC, it was a reluctant obligation for Chrysler and one they did not promote and i think paid Renault to get out of selling.
Had AMC survived, perhaps the Medallion would have lived on for longer or been sort of a sales success but that was not meant to be
Here’s one we covered: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1988-renault-medallion-the-cc-heroes-these-two-guys-are-determined-to-keep-what-may-be-the-last-of-its-kind-running/
Prior to the 21, Renault sold the 18 in the US as well, which I think would have been an Accord competitor… but you’d never know it. I bet the number left in America is probably less than 10, and there weren’t that many more when they were new.
I’m not really sure, but I’d think the VW Jetta was probably much more of a competitor to the Accord than the Quantum, even though the 1st generation model was somewhat smaller. The Quantum sedan wasn’t really that odd looking, was it?
The Jetta never sold in the quantities the Accord did, which by 1986 was a couple of hundred thousand a year. The Jetta was always more money and more of a special thing, rather than daily transportation. At least that was the way it was seen.
Wasn’t the Quantum even more expensive and less common, though? That’s the point I was making. I don’t think many people would have cross-shopped Quantum and Accord, but I’m sure at least a few did Jetta-Accord.
I was doing grunt work in early 1979 at a Lincoln-Mercury-Honda franchise, setting up the “new” F&I computer and teaching the users its features, when I heard an older lady say -“it seems just like a little Lincoln”, while sitting in the rear seat of an Accord. I took that as an ominous sign, and sure as hell, it was. This was still the time of a L-M store having a 1400 new car planning potential in a medium sized town. We were flooring the Honda stock as a service to a 50 year dealer – in essence, loading the gun that shot us. I later went into his NVD reports and saw that in two years, one brand lost 75% of sales while one went up 150%. Guess which was which. I was always impressed by the quality of the Honda, and the PDI timesheets showed why. A Lincoln would routinely take up two or three hours for a meticulous tech, while a Honda never took more than the 1.0 allowed. I managed to get the standard allowance up to 2.2 hrs. – for 1984. That was SOP in those days. I’m not sure if you gave Donald Petersen a 2000 newspaper in 1980 a la “Back to the Future” that history would be markedly different. Hubris is a dangerous element of human behavior, and from 1960 to 1990, the domestic auto industry did just about everything it could do – wrong. Even in the early 1980’s, GMAC was the engine of GM because manufacturing wasn’t profitable. Same with Ford. That they killed the goose amazed me – especially since their goal (mortgages) was outside their core competence. Now, your Ally dealer reps work from home. Hindsight is always 20-20, but this was a clusterf#*& of monumental proportions. The dealers with import duals were trying to tell HQ that the canary was singing, along with a few money guys, but the top floor was certain these were short term concerns. The holy grail in those days was volume. My Father was an engineer in Detroit in the late 30’s, and he watched the rise and demise of what could have been the greatest manufacturing concern since Standard Oil. I think he was as sorry as I was. More people should have screamed louder. My Son works for UPS. The car business that fed his family for 60 years is gone.
Enjoyed your inside story, thanks! I long suspected something was Rotten in the State of Michigan, but could only speculate about the particulars. To confirm your account, Jerry Flint once remarked how foreign reps were enthusiastic about their cars, whereas GM people were all about financing – not a good sign!
My folks have long been regular Ford customers, but their panicked purchase of two ’75 Civics (which I learned on), along with my under-engineered ’81 Escort, is why we’re committed Honda/Toyota customers now, unless I see •consistent• quality & reliability from other makes, esp. given the Murphy’s Law tendencies of hyper-computerized auto electronics nowadays.
When I was at Chrysler in the early 2000’s, PDI time was one hour and the techs usually made time on them. Then again, our CSI sucked, too.
In far upstate New York where I spent my childhood, as well as in central Ohio, I didn’t notice the 2nd and 3rd generation cars nearly as much as the new 4th generation (1990-1993) model. They were around, but very rarely owned by anyone with a family, maybe people with an only child, but that’s it. We were the only “full” four-person family I could think of with such a small car. Other kids came to school in minivans or Taurus wagons or Cherokees.
I think these were much more popular on the coasts.
Maybe I saw so many just because of my demographic – when these were new, I was around a bunch of late baby-boomers getting their first real jobs and who were either single or at least pre-kids. You are right, everyone morphed into minivans or SUVs later, but among the people I was around, these were on everyone’s radar. I just now remember that Mrs. JPC’s youngest sister drove one of these for awhile, it served as their main family car (with two small kids) until they bought a late 80s Aerostar.
You laugh now, but as a kid, I was so jealous of peers who got to ride around in those things, with their tinted sliding glass and buttons everywhere. The Chrysler minivans with power vent windows or the manually operated versions with the knobs on the ceiling. There were so many more things to play with in those. There were only so many times I could flip the lights up and down before I had to go back to the rear seat!
I turned 18 in 1985, so my perspective was of the just-leaving-high-school variety. I saw plenty of middle-class families in Indiana switching over to these as second cars, usually used, as the 1980s continued and closed.
That’s just my perspective. YMMV, as always!
I don’t know, in my part of the Midwest (Milwaukee / Chicago region), first-gen Accords were everywhere. As were second-gens. And they were used as family cars.
We are exactly the same age. For me in Texas, small import cars were something I slowly became more aware of as I grew up, and by 1985 they were impossible to ignore.I wanted a Honda for my college commuter car, but ended up in a GM J-car (Sunbird). I finally got a new Civic after college, and loved it. Back then, I never really thought of Hondas as a “family” choice, though — maybe small young family with one or 2 little kids. My memory in the ’70s and up to that time was families who had 2 cars, one big traditional domestic and one small (often imported). It wasn’t unusual to see a huge full-size Chrysler in the garage next to a little Datsun or Toyota, for example.
I always assume that most of upstate NY is probably no different than the deepest midwest small towns. When I see a lot of JPC and Jim Grey’s shots, I think of the neighborhood Ferris Beuhler lived in, except with lots of Wal-Marts splattered everywhere.
You would be most correct in your assumption (in my experiences anyway). Upstate NY is almost as Midwest as the Midwest itself, in some cases more so :). It’s hard for some residents and myself to fathom NYC being in the same state.
The only places up there I’ve spent a considerable amount of time are Albany, Buffalo and the campuses of SUNY Geneseo and Oneonta. All of which, I know, are in no way representative of the rest of upstate NY!
I never see these in Rhode Island any more. They were extremely popular here. An older neighbor had a 1985 Special Edition sedan, gray with gray leather interior, and kept it for what seemed like forever. Most of these 2nd gen Accords are all gone now – rusted out and used up. As a matter of fact I rarely see a 3rd gen here anymore, and 4th gens are still around but also disapperaing fast. My ’93 Accord EX 5-speed wagon will always have a special place in my heart. That was an incredible car, and a day never goes by that I don’t regret selling it.
A metallic silver 82 sedan was our second Accord. My wife was a Realtor at the time and used both of them in her business. It wouldn’t surprise me if owners like us did a lot to accustom people to seeing these cars in use, and to hearing about how good they were.
The second generation Accords were, I think, the last to have that jewel-like silver paint on the wheels that lasted seemingly forever, while the silver paint on contemporary Volkswagen wheels rusted the first time they got wet. I thought that the finish on places like the door jambs and inside deck lids was better on that car than on the third generation Accord we had.
Just yesterday I saw a gold-coloured 2nd, generation Accord EX. Most of these are long gone, but It’s good to see that some survived. I always somehow liked this, along with the 3rd generation Accord. Not very exciting, but nice clean lines, well proportioned.
A friend of my sister bought one of these used back in the late ’80’s and was very happy with it, and her experience likely made a Honda fan out of my sister, who’s owned four since 1991. She still owns two – an Accord and an Odyssey.
My first car. Grey 1984 5 speed sedan passed down from my parents in 1992. Ran absolutely flawlessly for them and for me until I joined the 4×4 craze in 1993. These cars were light years ahead of similar vintage domestics. The difference of this car and a 1986 Chevy S-10 Blazer(shudder) killed off any chance of my parents ever buying a domestic again.
I do recall several guys I worked with in NZ in 2000 driving $50 Accords that model it was quite a surprise just how worthless they had become here after being used to Aussie prices but very very few left in service now, being cheap dungas for several years certainly thinned the ranks, but those cheap heaps got them to work and back every day without fail so despite being unroadworthy and rusted they still ran ok.
I saw a very well-preserved, very clean ’85 LX sedan about two weeks ago. I sort of wish I’d gotten pictures of it.
My first car was an ’85 Accord hatchback, sadly with those eternally clanking add-on rear window louvers (installed by the original owner, not I) that interfered with the rear wiper operation. It had a difficult later life — it was eventually wrecked in an accident — but before that, it was really a pretty good car. It was a useful size, it rode and handled well, and it got decent mileage. I wasn’t terribly enamored of all the molded gray plastic of the dashboard or of the ’80s-trendy orange instrument panel graphics, but my main dynamic complaint was that it could have used more power. The LX hatch was carbureted and had I believe 86 horsepower, which was adequate as long as you weren’t using the A/C, but didn’t leave a lot of margin for long grades. I was always curious to drive an SE-i sedan with the 101 hp injected engine to see whether it was an improvement.
In terms of size, I don’t dispute that Americans tended to see the early Accords as too small to be ‘real’ family cars, but that’s exactly what they (and other cars that size) were in most other markets. Outside North America, these were a step (or two) up from other models. Even in the States, a lot of people did use B- and C-segment cars as family sedans, particularly in the days before you could be clapped in irons for failing to put your kids in whatever Child Safety Pod happens to be required this week.
I drove a 3rd generation hatch as a rental when I was living in Norfolk but assigned to work in San Diego. Since they wanted me flexible to return tto Norfolk on a minutes notice they put me up in a hotel and rented me a car from Avis for a whole year. So I got the best cars Avis had. The Accord was one – complete with 5 speed; when I returned it I got a MR2, also a 5 speed. Today you’d never ever find a manual transmission rental car.
These seem to all be gone here, the 3rd gens are also getting rare
An ’85 Accord LX sedan was one of the many Hondas I owned during a period of time where I would drive nothing except first and second generation Honda vehicles. I likely would have continued down that path if these hadn’t started becoming rare by the early ’00s. The sole downfall of these cars was that they still rusted – not as bad as the earlier ones – but to see one on the east coast without at least some rust in the rear wheelwells and rockers by c. 2001 was extremely uncommon, even for pampered cars. I’d still love to own another one and have been looking for years, but – unsurprisingly – it seems as if the only place you can buy them these days is in Oregon! I do still spot them on the road every so often, just never for sale. In their younger days, they were ubiquitous.
Like all the other Hondas I owned, it was a great car. Mine was a 5-speed which was still a much better option than the automatic at this point. That said, the ’84 Accord was really the first one in the US that wasn’t torturous when attached to an auto gearbox and I think that’s a big reason for their success. The 2nd gen cars started out with an E-series engine that dated back to the original 1200cc unit in the Civic and made – at most – 75HP here. The “gen 2.5” models got either a single carb or fuel injected version of the Prelude’s engine, later called the A-series (side note: Wikipedia totally fucks up the lineage of Honda engines. Early A-series motors were labeled “ES” or “ET” but have absolutely nothing in common with the earlier E-series powerplants). The carbed version of the new engine got you 11HP more, which might not sound like much, but it also had a much more usable torque curve and 4 very quick forward gear ratios. The cars were still very light, even with power everything, and the fuel-injected SEi was downright sprightly with either transmission.
Despite that, I also had an ’82 LX hatchback and thought it was a better car in some ways. Or maybe it was just closer to what I liked, anyway. Although the engine was practically ancient, I enjoyed that it had such a raspy, old school, carbed four banger feel to it and demanded to be pushed hard and revved in normal driving. That car also had the absolute best FWD shift linkage of anything I’ve ever driven. The 85’s was noticeably floppier, as was the suspension – they softened it out considerably in those three years and compensated with thicker rubber. The ’82 was much lighter on it’s toes, but would squeal like a pig with the stock tires. I also liked the styling of the ’82-’83 US models much better. The changes were subtle, but the gen 2.5 really needed the JDM/EU composite headlamps to look right (which also really made the sedan look like a 2nd gen Camry).
One of the things that isn’t mentioned so often in regards to the success of cars like this in the US is how dramatically the size of a typical American family changed between 1965-1985. Detroit was still making a big deal out of 6-passenger seating at a time when it was becoming increasingly uncommon to find anyone with more than 2 kids and a dog. American efforts in this size or smaller have always been abysmal and built as if the only people who might buy them were teenage girls, poor people or communists – yet an Accord sedan was plenty big enough for all but the most obese of 4-person households comprising two adults and two young children. At the same time, the number of cars per American family essentially doubled. Women began working fulltime jobs and two smaller cars could do much more work than a lone “family car”. Detroit never really got this, and I think the bigger American cars from the 80s might actually get a little more shit than they deserve because of it. A FWD Olds 88 is not such a bad car, even compared to a first gen Acura Legend – just not quite as good – but a Cavalier was a total piece of shit compared to an Accord or Camry, and those cars were actually still smaller than a Cavalier at this point. True, you could probably get a Cutlass Ciera for the same price as an Accord during this time, and while it’s also true that most people would always rather have something bigger, I don’t think the extra space it offered was really worth the tradeoff of accepting a car that wasn’t as nice to drive, assembled as well or lacking cachet. These cars were actually kinda dated by 1985, but they were still coasting on build quality and methodical attention to detail that hadn’t been seen in the US since the 60s, if ever. They were almost the quiet before the storm in that respect, because the 3rd generation Accord was truly revolutionary and blew everything in it’s path out of the water. You can see how Toyota’s 2nd gen Camry was a logical answer to this car, but the ’86 Accord was an entirely new take on this kind of car. It could even be seen as too revolutionary, according to Honda, because they got much more conservative with the subsequent generation. I guess I can’t argue with Honda’s success, but I find it interesting that the 3rd gen was the best selling midsize in America, which no subsequent Accord has ever been.
On the shift linkage, I should note that my ’85 didn’t have any troublesome floppiness in the linkage at all. The only time it was less than optimal was if the clutch needed to be adjusted, since (as someone else mentioned) the clutch was cable-operated rather than hydraulic. I didn’t find the suspension that soft either, although I suspect the hatchback was set up to be a little stiffer than the sedan. The age and condition of the struts obviously made a difference, although when the struts were worn, the ride got crashier rather than wallowy, which again makes me think the hatch’s springs were a little stiffer.
I’ve never looked at the 1990–1993 Accord as being that conservative. Mechanically, I suppose you could make that argument, but it felt like a big advance over the previous generation. I remember my reaction to it at the time: The previous Accord felt like a compact car, albeit a good one; the new Accord felt grown up — and like a more expensive sedan.
It wasn’t really floppy, just floppier than the super precise ’82 gearbox. I had an ’86 Prelude with, I think, the same transmission as the ’85 Accord and it was essentially the same. Neither were as good as the ’82, which had a ridiculous amount of miles on it when I got it (close to 300k), so I don’t think their condition had much to do with it. I’ve driven quite a few other Accords from this generation and it’s always been the same. All of them are really, really great cars in almost every way, but I’ve always liked the ’82-’83 hatch the best for all the extremely subtle ways that it’s that much better.
Likewise, I don’t think the 4th gen Accord was a conservative design in general, just more conservative than the preceding Accord.
I’m no gearbox expert (or Honda expert either) but one amusing thing did happen with the 83 Accord Hatch I owned. Had not had it long when I needed to take a 1400 mile round trip. About 200 miles into it at freeway speeds the trannie started to get a real loud whine, then it would start popping out of fifth gear.
I had a manual in the glove box and it told me how to check the fluid level and that it was motor oil (not gear lube or trannie fluid) that it used. I checked it and it was indeed low. Added perhaps two quarts with a funnel and adapter I rigged in a gas station. Finished the trip but the howling was loud. Managed to drain some oil and put slick 50 in it twice over the next few months. The howling did slow down and it did not malfunction again.
The trannie was hardly noticeable when I sold it and I only did so because of massive electrical failures that kept happening. The last time I saw it was when it had been underwater from a flood we had about 97 or 98. One more 626 comparo. The honda got 26 or so mpg and the 626 probably about 10 more. Would have preferred the 626 be a hatch but would prefer it anyway.
I always really wanted a 626 hatchback too, even managed to test drive a few of them, but they all seemed like bad news. Not because they were Mazdas, but because of the people that owned them and clearly had maintained them horribly. I was adamant about only buying a turbo model, and if I hadn’t been so stubborn about that I probably would’ve found a good one.
An ’84 Accord LX was my family’s first foray into Japanese cars, purchased used in 1998 to replace an ’86 Audi 5000 (the car that ensured my parents will never buy German again). Greek while, 5-speed manual, blue velour interior, sometimes-working A/C. Had about 110K when we bought it for something like $1800. I was a teenager at the time and that was the car in which I learned how to drive a manual transmission. It was quite an interesting counterpoint to the other cars in the household, my mother’s immense Pontiac Parisienne and my ’79 Malibu. Small, light and crisp-handling, and reasonably peppy even with only 86 HP. It needed very little in the four years it spent with us and was eventually replaced with another Accord, a charcoal ’91 LX.
I’ve spent very little time in third-gen cars (amazingly I never knew anyone well who had one) but the difference in size between the 2nd and 4th gen cars was extremely noticeable. The ’84 felt like a nicely trimmed and well put together compact, and while it was just fine for our family of 3, still seemed small, especially compared to its large driveway-mates and predecessor. The ’91 felt like a genuine midsize.
Styling-wise the 3rd gen with its pop-up headlamps was always my favorite. I’d still take an ’89 SE-i with the bronze tinted glass and unique alloys. The 2nd gen did lose a little style in the “2.5” refresh for ’84; the forward cant of the grille and lamp housings on the ’82-’83 worked much better to my eye. As another commenter mentioned, the 2.5 car was clearly designed for the euro composite lamps that we never got here.
My parents had a red 1980 Accord with a wooden luggage rack on the trunk, which they later replaced with a new charcoal-grey 1985 Accord. They kept it until 1994, which by that time it had racked up about 200,000 miles. It was replaced with a new ’94 Camry. I miss the ’85 Accord. It seemed nimble, I liked the 4 rectangular sealed-beam headlights ( I hated the cheap looking pop-up headlights that came out later) , the sharp “creased paper” styling. The Camry was bigger, bulbous and smoothed off… and cars have only gotten more bulbous and bloated looking. I miss that sharp angular styling. My parents now have a ’13 Camry; because I love them I never tell them what a big ugly albeit reliable boat I think it is.
I’ve owned a ’79, an ’81, and an ’89 Accord at one time. All three rusted out in critical structural areas and were junked while running well. They just didn’t hold up to the salt compared to the simpler yet otherwise crappier Cavaliers and such. It wasn’t the amount of rust, it was where they corroded that made the difference.
The Accord in the photos appears to be an EX model, the most expensive of the range, which included the premium interior, power mirrors, windows, & locks. The Japanese learned early that buyers now wanted all these extras in a sub-compact car.
My 2nd 1984 Honda Accord LX hatchback
This is the identical twin to my first car that I bought new in 1984 in Charlottesville, VA when I was 23 after graduatingfrom college. I loved that car for the way it drove and its extreme reliability especially compared to the ,”Big 3″.
I had it until around 2000 and it had around 250,000 miles on it, but at that point it was my 2nd car and it had rust issues
About 2 years ago, I saw its twin for sale on Ebay in CA and I bought it. I had some minor rust repairs done and a new paint job, put on the same kind of louvers and pop up sunroof that I had in my first one. I drive it listening to my 80s tunes and to a significant extent it makes me feel 23 agsin
This looks just like my original 84 Accord LX fid in 1984.