has anyone noticed a decrease on fuel efficiency (mpg) with this model relative to earlier honda accords?
Define earlier models. Are you talking about 2000s , 1990s. or 1980s?
Honda Accords have been getting larger and haevier over the years. A 1987 Accord is only slightly larger than a new Civic. So, yes a stickshift late 1980s Accord is more economical than a new one which is quite a large car. Many of my friends who have old Accords now buy Civics for that reason.
The Honda’s of the 80’s mostly had carburetors, though they did switch to fuel injection sometime in the late 80’s, not sure which years the switch occurred. The fuel injection went a long way to help Honda make a larger car that got better mileage than its predecessors. The VTEC also helped the Accord gain a little more weight and power and still keep the fuel economy.
I think the newer Accords are doing quite well too. You have to keep in mind that the EPA has a new formula for computing fuel economy that is closer to reality than the older one was. The EPA has a web site where all the older vehicles have been recalculated to the newer formula so you could see if the newer Accords have really gone downhill all that much. I haven’t done that. We have a 97 Accord that was rated at 23 city and 30 highway. I did look up the recalculated numbers once. I don’t remember the numbers but it was a couple mpg’s lower, and much closer to what we actually get.
My daughter has an 03 Corolla. When she bought it, it was optimistically rated at 29 city and 38 highway. She does all city driving and gets about 27. I thing the recalculated city was 28. (turns out to be 25)
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/calculatorCompareSideBySide.jsp?column=1&id=627
OK I just looked up the Honda Accords. All 4 cyl automatics. 87-21/27; 97-21/28; 06-21/31
I had a beaten up Accord from 1982 with 250,000 miles on it that got 36 MPG on the highway with manual transmission and AC. I just bought it to learn about the CVCC engines. I learned a lot by rebuilding it as cheaply as I could while leaving the crankshaft in the car, then using straight 30 weight oil from the 99 Cent store. My 83 Corolla without AC got 41 MPG on shorter highway trips. 110 miles and the rest local driving. Some people think it was a tin can of a car, but I think it was a bigger car than we should be driving now, if there werent such monster cars and SUVs on the road to crash into when prudent driving doesn’t happen. I predict that gasoline will get expensive last year.