2023 Honda Accord: Car and Driver 10Best

What’s the old saying? Nothing is certain but death, taxes, and the Accord making C/D’s 10Best list? This year is a little different in that Honda is shaking up its offering with the 11th-generation model. Our favored powertrain, the turbo 2.0-liter paired with a 10-speed auto, is dropped from the lineup. For 2023, you get a turbocharged 1.5-liter paired with a continuously variable automatic transmission or the hybrid. That’s it.

On paper, the new Accord looks like much less of a contender without the blue-chip enthusiast bent of the 2.0-liter combo. We barely got over the Accord dropping the manual transmission following the 2020 model year. In both cases, Honda couldn’t make a business case to keep them, so tough love it is. Flirting with single-digit take rates will do that.

As 10Best jurors, we equally weigh value, mission fulfillment, and fun. Seeing as the Accord costs about as much as the outgoing model and the 204-hp Hybrid is targeting 46 to 47 mpg combined (we expect the 1.5-liter powertrain to deliver 32 mpg combined), we can’t really knock it there. Mission fulfillment, too, is above reproach. With a spacious back seat and a cavernous trunk, it serves well as comfortable transportation for five adults. There aren’t many family sedans left, let alone one that can garner all the aforementioned praise.