Like the new Fusion, but I'd have a hard time ignoring the new Accord with a 6spd. I test drove an '04 Accord recently from a used car lot--5spd and 280000km on it. Not a squeak or rattle to be had. Felt like it would go double the mileage without much drama.
Had the wife's '12 Maxima in for service (I'm the OP and we just couldn't wait for the Fusion or the Accord to come out, the G35 Coupe was not gonna cut it and my son was born the first week of August, plus with rebates the Maximas are a good deal), and the dealer that sells Nissan has Honda along with it. They had a 2013 Honda Accord EX-L, 4 Cyl. Nice looking car, but to be quite honest it didn't strike me as being "The New Accord". However, I believe that's why Hondas are so timeless. They just nudge their design forward and that's probably why a ten year old Accord is still desirable. Looking at both within minutes, the Altima is using some of the Maxima's and 370s' design but it just doesn't seem to be the car that the new Accord is going to be. The Altima's wheels do not fill the wheel wells like cars of today have to do in order to be sucessful. The new Accord just seems to be a little more classy. Most Honda dealers that I have driven by still have the 2012s out front and only a couple of the '13s stuck in the back row out of view. The bombardment will not come for awhile I suppose. I have not seen any Fusions driving around my small town either yet....
Nice job! You'll love the "deep impact blue". We just got our first 20 or so 2013's in last week, and the impact blue was the best color I saw. My company has a fleet of about 500 "few-zens" as I call them. So far, everyone loves the new model. I'm stuck in a 2011 until the Spring order cycle, but so far 60k completely trouble free miles on mine.
Check out the interior, Honda has done a great job updating it. The generation which included the 2012 just had this ugly huge thing of cheap-ish buttons and that's been replaced thankfully. Though you can't get the nice touch screen with a 4cyl standard :huh but they still offer more features than most.
I should have went on to state that the new Accord seemed like a really nice well thought out car. I would buy one in a second. It won't be long that they will be everywhere. What is going to make it or break it will be the CVT trans. On second thought, probably 70% of buyers of Accords will not even notice their car not shifting. I have read initial reports that say that other makers should take note on how well the Honda Accord CVT performs. I will say again that the CVT in the 290 horse Maxima does great. I don't feel the rubber band effect.
Well I guess that old adage of "never buy an american car in the first year of production" still holds true. My company has a couple thousand Ford's in our fleet, and the new 2013 Fusions had just started being delployed. I was overly impressed with the car until now.... Last week, all were recalled for a headlight malfunction that causes the lights to go dim after they heat up. Fix is to replace both entire headlight assemblies.. Ford does not have sufficient parts for recall, status unknown. Then Sunday, I get an urgent email from our Fleet admin. that all new 2013 Fusions are grounded. Seems there's an issue with the 1.6L engine models that first gives an overheat warning, reduces power to limp mode, then the car catches fire. We've got about 200 in play already, and all are being returned to the dealer. As of now, they don't have a fix, but Ford is paying for loaner cars on each return..... Makes me kind of glad that my 2013 replacement Fusion won't be ordered until Spring. I hope FoMoCo can fix this mess.....
Wow! That's odd, we were waiting for the Fusion too per my starting this thread but the baby would not wait on Ford any longer so I found out they were heavily discounting Maximas in July...so that's the direction we went. The base model Maxima offers a lot for the price even though I opted for the Sport version as i felt bad for my wife trading in her prized G35 Coupe... Goodbye coupe life: Hello four door sports car:
As a daddy, you are obligated to have a car your kids will long to drive. It is written in the manual we all get in the postpartum care center.
Phew, it looks like a couple hundred of our fleet's 2013 Fusions may be on the road soon. A simple software update may keep them from making smores of themselves: http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-ford-escape-fusion-recall-20121210,0,7657348.story<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
My wife picked her new Fusion up three weeks ago and loves it. Base model with a few options in burgundy with the tan interior. I have yet to drive it. Her whining about the manual trans Focus has finally stopped, as it's mine now. I hardly use four wheel transport, so it should last me a good long time with just 118k miles on the clock. Come spring, I'll detail it well, go over the fluids and rotate the tires.