The Honda Accord is rumored to be seeing a bit of a face lift for next year's model. This, we find out, thanks to the release of the Honda Inspire upgrade in Japan. See, overseas Accord is well-known as Inspire.
The Accord is still a global name. Honda created an Accord for each major type of market: Japan, Europe and North America. Japan and Europe started sharing a more compact version of the Accord since the seventh generation, while the US Accord joined the size race. And since bigger is better we get the North American body.
Our version of the Accord was launched back in April 2008, making it three years old next year. It's almost time for a face lift, so let's look at the refreshed Inspire to see what's next.
This Inspire upgrade is an mild rework similar to the face lifted US Accord, and the changes obvious. Inspire gets a new grille with a rounder bottom half compared to the current car, and the look is consistent with Honda's recent products like the Odyssey minivan.
The new grille combines with the strong chin to create a narrower and more prominent "U" shape. At the back, the bumper is reprofiled and there are chrome strips flanking the number plate.
The cabin looks similar to last year's model, but this 3.5 V6 Inspire has a full color navigational system that uses the main central display, so the climate and audio info are shown on a separate strip just above the air con vents.
The center console is still full of buttons, but the layout is slightly different. These updates won't make it to the US this year, and sadly we shouldn't expect satellite navigation standard anytime soon.
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