Video: 2010 Honda Accord Crosstour

When Honda first introduced pictures of the Crosstour: people across Facebook, Twitter, and even our own KickingTires blog kind of revolted. They called the car disgusting, hideous, and even quote "a Crossturd". That last one's kind of funny, actually. We'll talk about styling, we'll talk about what effect it has on the cars utility and overall driver friendliness compared to some of the other wagon-like cars and crossovers you can get. The biggest lightning rod for criticism seems to be this grill. Really dominates the front end. Much more so than the grill on the Accord Sedan does. As you go back the profile kind of culminates in this jellybean-ish rear end here. You either like it or you hate it. I got to say, it doesn't look nearly as bad in person as photos and probably videos like this, might have you think. Unfortunately, that sloping profile doesn't really help out the cargo situation. You'll notice that there's not a lot of vertical space here. It's kind of lopped off by the hatch that comes down. Behind the second row seats you're looking at about 25 cubic feet of cargo volume. Honda's answer is this under-floor stowage box here. It's nice, it adds a little bit of extra space. It's got this reversible cover you can kind of wipe down with a hard plastic flooring on the other side. You fold the seats down with these levers here. Another convenience. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of space between the wheel wells to kind of shoehorn things in. With the seats down you're looking at about 50 cubic feet of maximum cargo volume. And if you compare the Crosstour to cars like the Subaru Outback, the Toyota Venza, the Nissan Murano, the Ford Edge, all of those have more than 30 cubic feet behind the second row, and 60 or 70 cubic feet with their seats down. The design affects things from the driver's seat too. The rear window is narrow and kind of low and it's got this bar that splits it across the middle. There's pretty substantial deep pillars too. So I think a lot of drivers are going to find that this car has a pretty big blind spot. With its DNA from the well-received Accord Sedan, the Crosstour does deliver a solid driving experience and respectable cabin quality. But the more you investigate, the more the utility storage just doesn't add up. People who want to tow stuff should know the Crosstour maxes out at 1500 pounds. That's 500 more than the Accord Sedan, but 2000 pounds less than the Venza, the Murano, the Ford Edge. People who drive in a lot of heavy snow will want to know that ground clearance is only six inches. Again, well short of the competition. Sometimes a car can defy all such logic and make you just kind of want to get one anyway. Cars from the Mazda 3, to the Infiniti EX35 are kind of examples of this. But, there's nothing about the Crosstour that really jumps out and makes me want to go get one anyway, especially compared to all the other wagon things in the segment you could buy. (upbeat pop music) (Announcer)- For more car related news, go to cars.com. Or our blog, KickingTires.net.