First Drive: 2010 Honda Accord Crosstour

Here's Honda with a highly styled, $31,000 to $37,000, large, five-passenger SUV.

At what point does a Honda become an Acura or worse a truck?

Well, with the Accord Crosstour – a 197-inch long, 4,000-pound SUV – I’d argue that the day has arrived. And, I’m not thinking that it’s necessarily a good idea for Acura either, though it’s a better fit.

This faddish vehicle comes from a normally astute company and largely “green” automaker. Honda has — thus far — avoided the ongoing full-size pickup truck and SUV disasters that Toyota and Nissan brought on themselves and are costing their shareholders billions upon billions of dollars as assembly and engine plants lay idle or underused.

Cargo volume because of the fastback is less than twice that of the Accord's trunk.

Now here comes Honda with a highly styled, $31,000 to $37,000, large, five-passenger SUV built in East Liberty, Ohio. The four-wheel drive EX-L version can be fitted with a satellite-linked navigation system and “Real Time” 4wd, available together or separately. The navigation system includes a backup camera with guidance lines integrated into the display.

This will push the asking price toward $40,000 and return, ahem, 17 mpg on the EPA city cycle.

The lower trim level, EX, in front-drive configuration returns 18 mpg on the EPA city cycle. A day of test driving both models affirmed the ratings. Driven moderately at highway speeds 22-25 mpg is possible.

For the money, though, a prospective buyer will get a decent handling, adequately quick, and technology packed vehicle, which because of its fastback styling is severely compromised in interior room and rear vision.

Crosstour the car (EPA), er truck (NHTSA), er crossover (Honda marketing) was planned years ago when gasoline was $2 a gallon.

About 60% of Crosstour’s underneath components comes from the Accord, and with the evident exception of expressive exterior sheet metal, Crosstour has the same engine, chassis and instruments, as well as some interior bits from the car that —  along with the Civic —  made Honda such a formidable force in the U.S. market.

Much is praiseworthy here. Start with the 3.5-liter V6 rated at 271 horsepower at 6200 rpm and 254 pound feet of torque at 5000. It is smooth and quiet below 5000 rpm. The fuel saving cylinder deactivation system is seamless in operation — so much so that without the dashboard light indicating its operation, you would never know that the engine is running on four or three cylinders at part throttle and light loads. Get back into the throttle and the transition to V6 is invisible to the driver.

The conversion of the seats into the floor creates 51.3 cubic feet of cargo space.

The 5-speed automatic transmission includes enhanced gear holding capability that takes into account cornering G-forces, plus a more refined downshift algorithm that more closely matches engine revolutions during manual downshifts for easier transitions to lower gears. The day is coming soon when the car’s computer will be able to drive better than even the most experienced driver.

While the lighter and lower Accord is quicker, more agile, and therefore more fun to drive, Crosstour with its “vehicle stability assist,” double wishbone front and multilink rear suspensions is a competent and refined ride, with the 59%:41% front-to-rear weight distribution on 2wd versions providing the most understeer.

It is not likely that “empty nest” baby boomers that are the target market will ever push Crosstour hard enough to experience the plowing. They will probably be listening to the 360-watt, 7-speaker audio system rather than  working apexes, and on quickest racing line.  Overall, the Crosstour is tauter than the Toyota Venza, and softer than the BMW X6, which pioneered this segment.

Honda says that when work was begun a few years ago, the BMW X6 didn’t exist and no styling influence was derived from it. Nonetheless, in the highly inbred world of auto design, companies have once again arrived at the same solution to SUV version dot 2 – put a bigger snout on and attach a fastback hatch to the rear.

Crosstour the car (EPA), er truck (NHTSA), er crossover (Honda marketing) was planned several years ago when gasoline was $2 a gallon and the economy was booming from Wall Street’s various and numerous financial frauds. Crosstour now looks discordant with the harder times and higher fuel prices we are all enduring.

Moreover, the idea of emphasizing the sport while severely decreasing the utility with rakish styling just does not make sense to me.

We will have to wait and see what customers, or lack thereof, think about this latest entry. Honda is looking to peddle about 40,000 units annually. In addition, Acura has its own entry in this growing segment of sporty crossovers, the new ZDX.