2005 Honda Accord 2.2 i-CTDI Exec from UK and Ireland - Comments

Bass rattle in left door.

It’s got a great engine, especially when you feed it good diesel (BP ultimate or the like makes a surprisingly large difference). Overtaking is a doddle, and you can easily break the limit without noticing. The cruise control is going to be a licence saver.

It is nowhere near as efficient as I was expecting – I get about 40 mpg, which is good considering the performance, but very bad considering the claimed combined figures.

It does use some oil – I’ve got used to just checking my oil after I’ve gone in and paid when refuelling. It’s used 2 litres in 6k miles so far.

It handles astoundingly well for such a large car, is massively comfortable while not sacrificing fun on twisty roads. You only notice the size when you look in the mirror at the distant rear window.

The electric boot is surprisingly useful.

It has a great stereo (on Ex spec), but no input for mp3 player.

It’s massive, and the single fold seats are very useful. I got a double mattress in there without folding it.

I’ve got the optional 17” alloys, but haven’t found that they mess up the ride too much, but they do tram-line sometimes, not enough to be annoying though.

It’s not as quiet as I would have liked, but this is very road surface dependant and I think it's probably due to the 17" wheels.

Overall I'm delighted, with only the fuel and oil consumption niggling. From other drivers, I have good grounds to believe that both will improve markedly over the next 10k miles.

Note: I don't own this car, but my dad does and I have driven it a few times and also know quite well of his experiences and thought I would comment.

With regard to fuel consumption I've heard that use of the air conditioning can return low MPG figures. In general, this should improve with time, as already stated. My dad did once get 50 MPG when we first got it (as a used car @ 15k miles though) but he has since developed a heavier right foot due to the brilliant diesel engine, but still gets mid 40s MPG.

Oil consumption is quite high - before he never had to check his oil on previous cars, but now he does every week to make sure it doesn't get low. Car is at 25k miles now and oil consumption seems like it should.

Road noise is definitely due to the 17" alloys. We asked another Honda Accord owner who had different alloys and he said his car was almost silent. Stiffer sports suspension may also be to blame.

I've also read reports of the windows creaking - we had that problem too and it seems to have simply disappeared.

Only other complaint about the car would be the light steering. Other than that, it's a great car with a good feel to it.

Sigh. If only Honda would release a diesel Accord over here in the States.

Uh, I doubt that USA diesel fuel conforms to these new diesel engine fuel regulations! Low sulphur especially. This 2.2 i-CTDi compared to the usual USA turbo diesels is light years away in every aspect, hence the need for better quality fuel.

So is my opinion, I do not live in the States to know the real situation; I'm open for comments.

Apparently the clean Diesel is slated to come to North America in 2007 sometime.

Luckily I noticed the tramlining problem before I bought the car. I got the dealer to replace the 17 inch alloys with standard 15 inch alloys. It made a huge difference to the ease of driving the car.

The small windows in the back are not popular with my passengers.

The oil consumption does sound excessive, but this can be the case in the first 10k kms 6500miles.

After this you SHOULD see an improvement and try changing to a synthetic diesel engine oil, this helps.