For several years now the Honda Accord Tourer, viewed from the frame of other cars windscreens, has always looked so appealing and futuristic; and being a Honda, it will not doubt be as practical as bullets too. Despite this, the arrival of the new, facelifted, Accord Tourer, elicited all the clichéd, Honda based jokes from my colleagues. “Don’t forget your denture cream…; are you going to play bridge or backgammon this weekend…?” And so it goes on. But what else can you expect from people’s expectations of the Chris De Burgh of automakers.

In the metal it certainly is a big, substantial thing, handsome in a tea and scones at your in-laws house kind of way. I will say it is more attractive than the regular Accord sedan and even more attractive now with the subtle styling tweaks around the front end. You and your father-in-law can spend several minutes standing in the driveway with your arms folded, discussing the virtues of Honda’s reliability and strong residual value, and now the good looks. While the ladies shuffle off inside utterly bored with knowing you. But what are they going to go talk about that’s so riveting? Shoes, hand bags? Yes, exactly.

There is a new delicacy to the Accord’s design, the wheels were always too small for its oversized proportions but now the optional 18-inch wheels that we have on ours (17-inch wheels come standard) look like they want to fit the wheel arches. The front styling always looked a bit too villainous for a Honda, but now that’s fixed as well, like a good blue rinse. The enlarged rear three quarter that transforms it into an estate makes use of a lot of metal, and gives the impression of some latent sportiness, along with the twin tail pipes. It looks properly good.

Out on road the Accord’s ride is extra soft and absorbent, and not suffered by the chopped up ride quality you used to get in the old one. There is a 2.2-litre diesel power unit, a 2.0-litre petrol and then a 2.4-litre petrol, in ‘Exclusive’ specification, which is what we have here for R424 400. Power delivery where it is lethargic and sanguine in the two smaller engines is urgent and appropriate, in the 2.4-litre, and for a car of this size. The din from the big, four cylinder motor is evident but less intrusive than before due to new and improved NVH measures around the bodyshell, bonnet, and undercarriage of the Accord.

We’d strongly advise you take full advantage of the 2.4-litre i-VTEC engine, with 148 kW and 234 Nm of torque being channeled through a slick shifting, 6-speed manual gearbox. It’s normally aspirated of course, which means it doesn’t blast off the line with all that much gusto, but the front suspension and a very good traction control system handles the job of getting the power admirably. It does have great mid-range ‘go’ and a surprisingly good soundtrack from those two tailpipes. The consumption is on the thirstier side, somewhere in the 8 to 9-litres per 100km range in normal driving conditions, but despite the thirst, it’s also the crispy way the Accord Tourer feels to drive that, if anything; encourages you to misbehave and give it a boot full of throttle every now and then.

Honda has also introduced a wide array of driver aids to the new Accord Tourer. Adaptive Cruise Control – ‘ACC’ is a worthwhile one that pulls it closer to its German competitors on paper. Another is Lane Keeping Assist System – ‘LKAS.’ The merits of this system are brilliant. It gently tugs you back into your lane with an almost imperceptible nudge on the steering wheel if it notices you straying over the white lines. I cannot stress to you what a much needed addition this system is to your traditional, semi-retired Honda driver. Both systems engage when using the ‘ACC,’ so on the motorway you really can settle down and let the car do all the work. It’s very good in this respect, and very relaxing to drive.

Honda have also introduced Crash Mitigation Braking System – ‘CMBS’ which tugs on your seat belt three times and provides additional braking if it senses you’re approaching uncontrollably towards another vehicle. Two practical issues with this system however are, that it A. won’t bring you to a complete stop, it needs your help (unlike the Volvo system) and B. it only works if you’re aimed at a moving target. It therefore, in our opinion, is only of use if you have the ‘ACC’ engaged and have either forgotten it’s on, or have lost concentration for a split second… which is entirely possible for your traditional Honda driver we suppose. It also can freak out if you do some spirited swerving through busy traffic. I managed to get it to tug on my seat belt three times once, despite being well clear of the car I’d already overtaken.

All in all though, the Honda Accord Tourer 2.4 i-VTEC is a great car. But we do maintain you need the right combination of petrol VTEC power and a manual gearbox to get the most driving enjoyment out of the Accord Tourer. The odd dichotomy of Honda products continues, because the Civic and FR-V don’t feel nearly as old and fuddy-duddy as the Jazz and CR-V for instance, while the ballistic S2000 still ranks up there as one of our all-time favourite cars to drive. We’re happy to report there is a slight wiff of S2000 to this Accord Tourer.

What we like…

• The new styling and bigger wheels.
• Petrol engine pulls well through the manual gearbox and has a good soundtrack.
• Handsfree bluetooth & USB are nice additions to the conservative Honda interior.
• Comfortable, effortless driving with the adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assist.

What we would like…

• The Accord to provide a price advantage over the Subaru Legacy and Audi A4 Avant, our other two favourite estate cars.
• Lighter weight, better aerodynamics to help with fuel consumption.
• Perhaps a model with raised ride height some time in the future.

Ray Leathern has been test driving and critiquing cars for four years now. You’ll find his work at autocirca.com and, of course, right here on SACarFan.