2014 Honda Accord Hybrid Limited vs. 2013 Honda Accord EX-L Four-Cylinder

Honda Accord or Honda Accord? It's the kind of comparison shopping Honda dealers dream about, and a scenario that's about to happen in showrooms across the country.

Imagine it. You're on a dealer's lot or, ahem, on Edmunds.com looking for a brand-new Honda Accord. You find a nice EX-L you like. It's got the toys you want, an efficient four-cylinder engine and an EPA rating of 30 mpg combined (27 city/36 highway). Right next to it is an Accord that looks exactly the same, with the same toys, except this car's window sticker screams 47 mpg (50 city/45 highway). It's not a typo. It's the new, 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid.

At first blush, the 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid looks nearly identical to the Accord we're familiar with. Handsome and reserved without a hint of hybrid smugness, the new Accord Hybrid could be the fuel-saving family sedan we've been waiting for. Or it could be another half-measure hybrid that fails not only in the face of strict scrutiny, but also against the very vehicle on which it's based. We put it against its chief in-house rival to find out.

Spoiler alert: The Blue Accord wins.

Same Accord, Different Powertrain
The fun thing about comparing cars that are effectively a trim difference apart from each other is that we only have to say things once. Heck, they're even outfitted in the same Obsidian Blue exterior paint. Beyond that, we need to dig into the nuts and bolts of Honda's naming schemes to show exactly how similar these two Accords really are.

The 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid is available as a base Hybrid, an upgraded EX-L and a top-trim Hybrid Touring, the latter of which we have here. The traditionally powered Accord is available in far more trims including LX, Sport, EX-L and Touring. The official trim of our tester is "2013 Honda Accord EX-L with Honda Satellite-Linked Navigation System, Continuously Variable Transmission." Right.

Here's what that means: Both cars get a leather-trimmed interior, heated front seats, five-passenger capacity, dual-zone automatic climate control, 10-way power driver seat, 8-inch information screen, an audio control touchscreen, navigation, forward collision warning, lane departure warning, rearview camera, 17-inch wheels, push-button start and more.

The similarities extend beyond the features, too. Both cars use a very decent electric power steering system that will let you put the car where you want it to go on a twisty road, and a compliant suspension that still ties the car to the road in a confident way. At our testing facility we recorded a slalom speed of 63.7 mph for the Hybrid and 63.3 for the conventional Accord. Ignoring the powertrain, the experience is effectively the same.

It's MPG That Matters
The big difference between the 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid and the 2013 Honda Accord EX-L? A lip spoiler on the trunk and 17 mpg.

According to the EPA, the Accord Hybrid returns 47 mpg combined (50 city/45 highway) for an estimated annual fuel cost of $1,100. The EPA estimates the four-cylinder EX-L at 30 mpg (27 city/36 highway) for an estimated annual fuel cost of $1,750. Our testing showed the Hybrid's advantage to be even more significant.

Despite the normal exterior, the Accord Hybrid manages these numbers by being totally revolutionary under the hood.

Under-the-Hood Differences
The Accord EX-L has a 2.4-liter four-cylinder that's good for 185 horsepower and 181 pound-feet of torque. This twist goes through the front wheels via a supremely well-tuned continuously variable transmission (CVT). It is smooth, eerily quiet, fuel-efficient and as predictable as a golden retriever. Until we drove the Accord Hybrid, we'd say that this is the powertrain most shoppers are looking for.

An Atkinson-cycle 141-hp, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine powered by 87-octane gasoline lies at the foundation of the Accord Hybrid's powertrain. But Honda completely ditched the Hybrid Accord's transmission and replaced it with a pair of electric motors. One motor acts as a generator, powered by the gasoline engine to charge the battery while the other drives the wheels. When necessary — primarily at freeway speeds — the gas engine is locked to the drive wheels via the electric motor. In place of the regular Accord's large trunk and fold-down rear seats is a 1.3 kWh lithium-ion battery. Combined power output is 196 hp and 226 lb-ft of torque.

This novel approach to power delivery allows the Accord Hybrid to run in full EV mode (up to 74 mph), series-hybrid mode (where the engine is powering the batteries that are driving the wheels) and full-on gasoline mode for those long, steep climbs. If this sounds complicated, that's because it is. But the engineers at Honda did all of the thinking so we don't have to. Just dump it in Drive and let the computers figure out where the power is sourced.

Performance
At full whack, the 3,569-pound Accord Hybrid hits 60 mph in 7.4 seconds (7.1 seconds with 1-foot rollout as on a drag strip). The 3,358-pound EX-L achieves the same speed in 7.9 seconds (7.7 seconds with rollout).

Unsurprisingly, it's the brakes that are strange. But not like you might think.

In normal use, brake feel in the Hybrid is intuitive enough. It's distinctly missing the non-linearity that plagues many hybrids. Stepping on the Hybrid's brake pedal is more like releasing the throttle on a full electric vehicle than it is like braking a normal car. The first 20 percent or so of pedal travel is dedicated to triggering only regeneration, so it's easy to maximize energy return without using the mechanical brakes. And it will do it all the way down to 1 mph.

When Do I Break-Even?
Perhaps intentionally, Honda jumbled its pricing/packaging offerings of the Accord Hybrid relative to the traditional car, making a straight comparison difficult. Our battery-less Accord wears the "EX-L with Navigation" designation, which simply doesn't exist on the Hybrid. To get navigation in that car, you'll need to upgrade to the Touring package, which also throws in adaptive cruise control, LED headlights and the HomeLink built-in garage door opener. That same package, which adds LED headlights and adaptive cruise control, isn't available on conventional four-cylinder Accords, but can be had on the V6.

Our 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid tester totaled $35,695, while Honda asks $30,785 for the 2013 Honda Accord EX-L. That's a difference of $4,910. Using the EPA's numbers, which are calculated assuming 45 percent highway and 55 percent city driving, break-even happens in 7.5 years.

But things are rarely as simple as EPA numbers suggest. For starters, we didn't get 47 mpg combined out of the 2014 Accord Hybrid; we got a 46.3 mpg average over 881 miles. Our best tank, a 60/40 mix of highway and city driving netted an impressive 53.9 mpg.

The Accord EX-L didn't fare as well. We averaged 25.4 mpg over 620 miles: well below its 30 mpg EPA combined claim. The EX-L's best tank, a 36.3-mpg effort, happened on the highway-heavy 116-mile Edmunds evaluation loop. On this same loop, at the same time, the Accord Hybrid managed 47.5 mpg.

Substituting our real-world numbers for the EPA predictions changes things considerably. Using a California-average $3.60/gallon fuel price and assuming you'll drive 15,000 miles annually, the Accord Hybrid will save $986 per year. That shortens the break-even point to five years.

If fuel prices rise to $5.00/gallon the break-even point shortens to only 3.5 years. And, of course, you could buy the $3,000 less expensive Accord Hybrid EX-L, which forgoes navigation and adaptive cruise, and virtually eliminates any argument for the gasoline-only Accord.

2nd Place: 2013 Honda Accord EX-L

The 2013 Honda Accord EX-L doesn't do anything wrong and comes in at a lower price, so 2nd place hardly seems fair. But, sometimes you do everything right and the other guy just does it all a little better.

Honda made great strides with the 2.4-liter four-cylinder and CVT in the current Accord. It's an effortless and unobtrusive powertrain that manages to erase any notions we had that CVTs are annoying, while returning competitive fuel economy.

But at the end of the day, it's still an internal-combustion engine and relatively conventional transmission, while the 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid is the smoothest, most seamless hybrid we've ever driven.

Of course, the Accord Hybrid won't be for everyone. There are those who are simply looking to save money now and people who question the long-term, full-cycle environmental impact of hybrids and their precious-metal battery packs. And then there's your driving cycle. Climbing grades, long freeway drives or speeds above 75 mph will severely reduce the Hybrid's lead.

Your results may vary, but we found a very clear winner...

1st Place: 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid

We want to say this was decided the minute we accidentally managed more than 53 mpg in the Accord Hybrid, but it wasn't. Rather, it was decided along California's Interstate 10 between the 405 and the Pacific Ocean. Traffic was mercifully light and the Accord Hybrid was gliding along in EV mode returning some improbable fuel economy figure.

Bolstered by a decent descent, judicious use of the engine braking feature and a careful foot, we'd actually been running on electricity for a distance that would make the Accord Plug-in Hybrid nervous. Traffic slowed to a crawl just as our battery indicator was getting low and the regenerative braking renewed some much-needed power. This experience helped us fully appreciate not only how much smoother and quieter the Hybrid is, but how much more driver involvement it offers.

It's not fun in the traditional sense, but the 2014 Accord Hybrid makes fuel economy a satisfying game. Responsive and predictable brake regeneration, visual rewards for efficient driving and the ability to alter the character of the car with your right foot separate this from previous hybrids. Without becoming a rolling chicane, affixing cardboard spats or driving a futuristic pod, it manages to pay off both at the pump and from behind the wheel.

The New Normal
We can't help but feel that this is the beginning of the end for the non-hybrid Accord. With the exception of its trunk volume and lower price, the traditional Accord lags in every meaningful measure of midsize sedans. By ditching its transmission, Honda has refined the hybrid experience to a level that traditional powertrains can't achieve.

Faster, smoother and better fuel economy? We're sold.

The manufacturer provided Edmunds the 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid for the purposes of evaluation. Edmunds purchased the 2013 Honda Accord EX-L for the purpose of evaluation.