2021 Honda Accord Interior Review | The Family Sedan Lives Up To Its Name

March 26, 2021

The 2021 Honda Accord is our top-recommended midsize sedan, and of its handful of variants, the Accord Hybrid you see here would be our pick of the litter. Its superior fuel economy and agreeable drivability without significant compromise comes at a perfectly reasonable price premium. As we're reviewing the interior here, there's also nothing here to dissuade you from hybrid ownership. Unlike the previous-generation Accord Hybrid, this new version's trunk is uncompromised by the battery pack and identical to the one you'd get with a 1.5T or 2.0T Accord. The instrument panel gets some unique readouts in the Accord's large color screen that occupies the spot normally reserved for a tach, while the center console houses Honda's unloved push-and-pull electronic shifter shared with the 2.0T. Otherwise, everything you see in this review of the interior is common throughout the Accord line, or in some cases, the top-of-the-line Touring trim.

Now, join us for a deep dive into the interior's materials, storage, technology, space and infant car seat fitment. We'll touch on cargo space, but our Accord Luggage Test post already covered it thoroughly. It all adds up to a family sedan that lives up to that descriptor by being pretty darn useful for family use.

First, let's talk about the infotainment system. The Accord and Odyssey have the good Honda infotainment system. Everything else has some form of earlier system that's slow, convoluted in areas, prone to glitches and has minimal physical buttons. That includes the CR-V, which we reviewed here.

Why is the Accord better? The graphics are sharper, more colorful, distinguish between buttons better and are simply more modern. There are sufficient physical buttons, which reduces the chances of needing to weed back through menus. And while I can't rule out glitches, I've never experienced them with an Accord as opposed to the CR-V and others.

Still, this system is far from class leading. The navigation system is rudimentary in appearance and functionality. The touchscreen navigation system in my 2007 Acura TSX (effectively a fancy Accord) was easier to use than this thing and looked roughly equal in modernity despite being introduced in the middle of W's presidency. Then there's the audio controls. Why are there only four radio presets shown at a time? Why does Honda continue to be the only car company that includes a satellite radio genre-selection button (the one that says "rock" here). Who are these people who routinely go, "You know, I've had enough of rock music, let's check out a jazz channel."

Wireless charging shows up starting with the Accord EX-L or Accord Hybrid EX. There is always a USB media port and a USB charge-only port. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are included on every Accord, but wireless connectivity is featured only on the same upper trims that get wireless charging. Lower trims get the wired variety. Although this means you're stuck with a wire in that instance, at least the Accord's voluminous phone-storage bin allows you to keep those wires from snaking across the console.

The same trim levels that get wireless charging also gets this pair of USB charge ports in the back seat.

For 2021, the Accord gets revised cruise controls (above right). There is now a traditional cruise control icon (the little car with the speedometer and arrow) used to engage the system rather than the weird "Main" button that probably made sense to some engineer somewhere but was utterly befuddling to anyone else who actually used the system. The following distance button (that pyramid of lines) is a little different, too.

The controls on the left are the same. The Home button and thumb wheel control the large digital display that appears in the left side of every 2021 Accord's instrument panel.

Speaking of which ...