Video: 2010 Honda Accord

And this generation introduced for the 2008 mile a year looks to continue that tradition. It's a big car with plenty of family-friendly features, but the competition's catching up, and I'm not sure the Accord will have as much distinct appeal as it used to. The first thing you notice getting in is how big the Accord is. By EPA standards, the current generation is no longer a mid-sized car. It's a full-sized car, and it feels that way. The windshield kind of drops away ahead of you, and the eight pillars are pretty narrow. So overall visibility, pretty good. I'm about six feet tall, and I have plenty of headroom that also feels like a pretty wide car. There's plenty of room for my knees to kind of just hang out to either side and a lot of competing family cars, that's not the case. There's a bigger center tunnel here with just more encroachment generally makes it feel like a narrower car. The backseat is equally huge. I have plenty of leg room and head room, and the seat cushions are actually long enough for adult passengers to have enough thigh support. This week, we've been evaluating the Accord against seven of its popular competitors. This is probably the best back seat in the class. So why is the Accord slipping? Well, it's a number of little things. Trunk, 14 cubic feet, a little bit shy in the stand of a number of competitors. And the backseat only folds in a single piece, not a 60/40 split like a lot of competitors do so you can't have a lot of large cargo and a passenger back there. The four-cylinder engine in our EX test car moves things along quickly enough, but the Accord still rides on the firm's side, especially compared to arch rivals like the Toyota Camry, and the Chevy Malibu. The EPA ratings of 21 miles per gallon in city, and 31 miles per gallon in highway, again, a little bit short of the competition, and for what you get, Honda still charges a lot. That said, the Accords reliability has been good so far, and it's definitely worth checking out. But before you buy it, be sure you drive the competitors. (car engine revving) <v Announcer>For more car related news, go to cars.com, or our blog kickingtires.net.