In Accord with a ROAD TRAIN

Author's Rating:

Pros: eighty comes up remarkably easily and it feels unbreakable

Cons: none of note

The Bottom Line: 
Well, nothing is perfect, they say, but the Honda Accord is mighty impressive and will do me anytime.

Author's Review
Well I finally went and did it - yes I know its un Australian, that I might be banished to New Zealand, but sufferin Snakes, the kids have grown up and I wanted a change.

What am I on about - I have abandoned the mainstream Australian cars and bought a Honda Accord Sedan!

And worse yet, here we are just off the train at Alice Springs, dead centre of the Australian continent, with plans to drive to Darwin and all the way back to Adelaide, abut 4,000 miles. Well at least we are going to find out what these babies really can do.

But I should be in one of the big Aussi designed and built wagons, made for just such touring in any temperature. How can this relatively little buzz box make it.

Well, first I have to say, its not that little, especially inside and everything is in easy reach. I really can't wait to hit that open road and see what happens.

Up with the sparrows and away we go. Most would probably think the road across the thousand miles of desert that lies ahead would be all boring, desolate and straight. Actually its the opposite. The road itself consists of two lanes, one each way, and billiard table smooth. Each lane is extra wide to safely accommodate the Road Trains, which are numerous.

A Road Train is a semi tractor/trailer towing up to three extra large and long trailers full of cattle or fuel.

Since it’s October it isn’t too hot, only around eighty five degrees, ideal traveling weather. We pick up speed, there being no limit, to seventy miles per hour and I am pleasantly surprised just how easy this car cruises. Better keep an eye on the temperature gauge - but it isn’t moving! I am really starting to enjoy this. After about half an hour seventy feels very slow, so a little squirt sees eighty come up remarkably easily. And I just realized the bends in the road have been handled with consummate ease.

When the road was built it could easily have been constructed in a straight line, but frequent bends were built in to help the driver’s concentration. Ah, whats that ahead, a Road Train. Now contrary to popular belief Road Trains are actually pretty slow, around fifty miles per hour so we slow right down and catch up to it, remaining about three car lengths behind. All heavy vehicles in Australia will signal when its safe to pass - they do this by giving two or three flashes of the right hand side indicators.

No matter how well you can see always wait for the signal. The trouble with cars in the Outback is that the driver is sitting very low and can’t see ahead as well as the Road Train or even a Truck driver, who sitting much higher can see into the road variations and whose eyes are not effected by the “mirage”, that large area that looks like water up ahead, which of course doesn’t exist.

Believe me there is nothing worse than pulling out alongside a Road Train and have someone loom out of a blind sport in the road at a hundred and eighty miles per hour.
So accelerate fast past the vehicle, give a quick “toot” of the horn as you go past the cab (be friendly!) and get over to the left as quickly as possible.

Well the Accord is really “singing” and is an absolute pleasure to drive - and I freely admit every bit as good as the bigger cars. It feels unbreakable and if its half as good when we get to Darwin in some very humid city driving I will be more than satisfied.

Through the whole Alice Springs to Darwin thousand mile section there are regular small towns, and I do mean small. The majority are well under fifteen people, the only ones bigger being Tennant Creek, about two thousand, and two hundred miles from Darwin the beautiful Katherine. Here there are Gorges, lush green terrain having just taken over from bare sand and stony outcrops. Katherine is the start of the tropics - the temperature doesn’t change much but the humidity goes through “the roof”. Very warm at 2 a.m. through to stinking hot and humid during the day is what to expect from now on, and it will never let us down. And a word of warning, we are now in crocodile country.

It is a very pleasant two hundred miles to Darwin, with the airconditioner on flat out! - and the Accord “eats” the hills regardless.

In no time we are in Darwin, nearly a hundred thousand people, probably that may tourists plus huge numbers from time to time of military personnel from many countries playing war games - above all testing our defences. Fortunately we usually “win the War”.

The Accord handles city driving with ease, just at home here as on the open road. I must say I am delighted and looking forward to the trip home, eventually.

Well a bit about this marvelous automobile;


Name: 2000 Honda Accord Sedan LX V-6 4
Brand: Honda
Year: 2000
Trims: DX 4 Dr Sedan · EX 4 Dr Sedan · EX V-6 4 Dr Sedan · LX 4 Dr Sedan · LX V-6 4 Dr Sedan · SE 4 Dr Sedan
Vehicle Class: Passenger Car

Description: The Accord Sedan returns for the current model year with few changes to the interior and exterior. It is available in six trims: DX, LX, SE, EX, LX V-6 and EX V-6. As with the Accord Coupe, the LX and EX Accord sedans, when equipped with the 2.3-liter 4-cylinder engine with automatic transmission, meet the Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV) standards. The Base DX comes standard with an AM/FM stereo cassette, tilt steering and rear defroster. The LX trim adds power windows and door locks, cruise control and air conditioning. The EX features a power moonroof, remote keyless entry and alloy wheels. The optional Leather Interior Package includes dual side air bags, an eight-way power driver's seat and leather seats, door panels and steering wheel.

LX V-6 4 Dr Sedan
6 Cylinder, 3.0 Liter, 200 Horsepower Engine

20/28 mpg



Well, nothing is perfect, they say, but the Honda Accord is mighty impressive and will do me anytime.