Hello Accord owners! My name’s Susan. I live in Ohio with my husband and four year old daughter, and we’ve just recently found out that another is on the way. Hooray! Now that we’ve got this great new addition coming to our family, though, we’ve decided that it’s about time to find ourselves a new car. That’s where you come in.

Neither Bill or I are experts, so I’ve been asking around for lots of advice. Basically it’s come down to four Hondas: the Acura, the Accord, the Civic, and the Odyssey. What do you all think? We’re blessed to be able to choose the car we’d like, specifically the best of the four in terms of family friendliness, SAFETY and gas mileage. Generally we're hearing Odyssey, but somebody just suggested that I check out the Accord. And where better than here for first opinions!

So my question for all you experts and owners out there (since you probably know so much more than I do) is which of these cars you think is the safest and most family-friendly. Can you help?

Thank you so much!

SuzieQ

 

The civic has a bit of a sporty ride so it may not be the most comfortable on long trips and it lacks practicality with a small back seat and small trunk. Gas mileage is a plus. The accord is practical, but gas mileage suffers. I actually find myself leaning towards a honda fit. My friend purchased one and you can fit a great deal of things in it and there are many modes of seat arrangements that allow things most cars can't. But, if gas mileage is not a concern, the odyssey is an excellent car for family, it's a larger fit basically (I know you haven't mentiond it). Another car you haven't mentioned is the Honda Element which I also found to be surprisingly great. With a near waterproof interior it is easy to maintain and accomodate spills your children may have. In addition, it can carry a lot of stuff as well. But out of the civic, accord, and odyssey with everything in consideration I would go with the odyssey.

 

The "Acura" isn't a single car, so it's hard to comment about. They're upmarket hondas that are nice, if you like the luxury touches. There's big & small Acuras.

Civic seems too small to me, in contrast against allthe others. But when my kids were that age, I had an '82 Rabbit & an '86 Jetta. An '07 Civic seems to be about that size.

 

Odyssey spells family..more vehicle for the family..

WheelBrokerAng [sm=americanasmiley.gif]

Hello and welcome to the forums:

 

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned the Pilot. A good friend of mine has a Pilot for his family car and loves it. The gas mileage is less than a car's, but it's an SUV so you get the protection of it's size plus all wheel drive. There are a lot of other benefits to the SUV, but as far as "safest and most family-friendly," my vote goes to the Pilot.

 

Also keep in mind many (if not all) Acuras require premium fuel - so you will be hurt more at the pump if you are concerned about that sort of thing. My wife and I have our first baby on the way (due November 16th) and as you can see from my signature, we both drive Accords. However, when we have the money, I hope to buy my wife an SUV for the safety aspect. If safety is what you are after, I would have to second the Honda Pilot suggestion. Or if you have free cash to spend, Acura makes the RDX and MDX - both SUV's. Working in insurance claims I have seen first hand how SUV's stand up to accidents - normally much better thancars.
I just did a little research. The Odyssey received the same crash-test safety ratings as the Pilot. So........ go for the Oddysey. FYI: If you want to do research like I did, go to MSN.com and click on "autos" from there you can choose any car you want to find information about, the old (from about 1987 or so) to the newest models. I love that site. There is lots of helpful info on there.

 

NO if and or buts, you got kids ,ODESSEY is a must ,,trust me on this one been there done that ,, especially when traveling

 

Wow, quick responses! You guys are great. Do you know how the Odyssey is safety-wise?

I appreciate all your help!

SuzieQ

 

This is on the 2007 Model: http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/sa...;model=Odyssey
5 stars on all safety aspects tested except for rollover, which got 4 stars.

 

Thanks! And I just went back and saw your edit, I appreciate the research!