2008 Honda Accord LX review from North America

Rear brake pads wore out completely at 23,000 miles for a car that is driven gently on country roads for 80 miles a day with few stops. Front pads are at about 80%. Have seen lots of complaints on the intranet and filed with NHTSA. Dealer says Honda changed the brake bias so that the rear brakes do most of the work, but I am highly skeptical. This is the first year for a new rear brake design. I think it's just poorly engineered. Front and rear pads on my wife's 2 Hondas have gone well beyond 40K miles.

Wipers smeared the window almost from new. I was stupid enough to go to the dealer thinking it was covered by the warranty. They put new wipers inserts on for $24 and said it was a wear item. Next time, will do my own, with high quality wipers for 1/2 the price.

Enough rattles to make a baby happy. Dealer fixed a bad rattle in center console and another in the glove box. Once it's off warranty, I'll use the Italian approach to creaks and rattles....just turn up the music.

Drivers seat sometimes slips off the seatback lockdown unexpectedly, dropping back 2 or 3 notches. It's scary when you're driving along in traffic and this happens.

AC compressor also vibrates at idle.

Will have the dealer look at both the seatback and AC before the car goes off warranty.

Car is like white bread. Does its job, but nothing more. The car does not raise my pulse.

The seats are comfortable, the car rides smoothly, and the fuel mileage is OK. I get between 23 and 25 mpg on country roads, and have gotten 27 mpg on trips.

The styling is interesting. I like the car from most angles, except looking at the car from the rear where the curves fail miserably. Once Honda makes changes in future years, I'm afraid this will look dated very quickly.

I love the color. Called polished metal, but really a dark gray.