1997 Honda Accord US Wagon SiR review from Australia and New Zealand

Nothing so far.

This car is our third Accord, so I know they’re a great car. We needed a wagon with the impending arrival of a second child, and nothing else appealed in our admittedly low price range.

From experience, I wanted a VTEC engined car, having had Accords with and without that technology. I ended up buying a Japanese Import US Wagon with the rare (for a wagon) “black top” twin-cam VTEC head and 190hp. Really, this engine is miss-suited to a family wagon and it doesn’t go like the rocket I was hoping for. The VTEC change over happens at 5,500 RPM and from there to the limiter at 7,900 RPM it pulls quite hard, but who’s going to do that with the family in the car….? At that point you’ve also exceeded the NZ open road speed limit in second. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a cracker of an engine at high revs and quiet and smooth when cruising, but it’s just not quite what I was expecting. The single cam VTEC is more frugal and has a better spread of power.

0-100kph is 10.2 seconds, which is the same as my previous LXi Accord without VTEC and 50 less hp.

Otherwise this is a great car – it has lots of the little features I wanted like climate control, ABS, air bags and the heavily tinted rear windows really do reduce the in car temperature in the summer sun. The rear disc brakes don’t work better than drums though. Steering is very light and it rides and handles well.

Reliability has been faultless so far, as I’d expect, and when this car has done its dash I’ll certainly be looking for another Honda.