1994 Honda Accord EX Coupe Retro DriveJim Fets - MotorTrendHappy 50th birthday, Honda Accord! To date, the Japanese automaker has moved more than 15 million Accords in the U.S., with about 13 million of that number having been built right here in America's Heartland. In addition, several of the latest-generation Accords have been designed and developed here, as well. Many were even exported to Japan.To celebrate this auspicious anniversary, Honda cracked open its vintage-vehicle vault and made models from six of the first seven generations of the Accord available for test drives. Your vintage scribe—old enough to have driven all 11 Accord generations when new—chose the first one he recalls reporting on as a new car: a fifth-gen Honda Accord coupe.New Old StockThe brand spanking new 1994 Accord EX Coupe you see here, serial #RA000001, resplendent in Bordeaux Red Pearl, was delivered to the MotorTrend offices with an odometer reading 000315—vastly fewer miles than were on the press cars we'd have driven back in the day. Apparently, the factory squirreled this one away. Surely, it's had oil changes, but could it even be properly "broken in"? The tires have been replaced, but we went easy on them because they're date-stamped 2005.Jim Fets - MotorTrendMy Editorial Take in 1994My first crack at the by then 18-year-old and already vernerable Accord was in its wagon guise, at my former employer, where the staff had named the Accord to its storied 10 Best list every year except the final two years of the fourth-gen car. The '94 had returned the Accord to the list—and it won MotorTrend's Import Car of the Year that year, as well. But as a wagon, it offered knapsack space amid a field of six backpackers, which, along with its "smallest and least torquey motor of the bunch," kept it from the winner's circle. Nevertheless, we conceded that these shortcomings were more than made up for with "typical Honda quality."AdvertisementAdvertisementWe also enthused about the dynamic handling and steering feel afforded by its rare-for-the-class fully independent control-arm front, multilink rear suspension. "Great steering on the twisty stuff, very composed at nine-tenths, but could use more aggressive tires." Clearly, it was the most sedanlike entrant in the wagon class. We also noted that "drivers of all sizes praised the superb seating position, control relationships, and visibility out of the cockpit," adding, "All the buttons and knobs are nicely placed and easy to reach and understand."My original assessment of the Accord ended with this semi-prescient observation: "The Accord goes about its business with a mild-mannered meekness that may help it inherit the earth but earned it only a third-place finish." Indeed, half of that comparison's nameplates are as dead today as the family-wagon segment, including the winning VW Passat.That same year, an Accord LX took first in a sedan comparison test I participated in, winning "on pure automotive talent." We noted: "It's nearly the shortest of the bunch, and it has the smallest-displacement engine. But it makes the most of what it's got—it's the only four-cylinder that keeps pace with the V-6s when the pedals go to the metal. Yet it cleans them all in fuel economy by a clear margin, 25 mpg on our trip."Jim Fets - MotorTrendTime TravelingSettling into the mouse-fur velour seats that were all the rage in the day in an interior that's nowhere near finished with its chemical off-gassing, my olfactory glands trigger, stirring up warm thoughts of the Civic we owned back in the day. Memories flood back of new love, Jon Bon Jovi warming up the crowd for a Bill Clinton rally, and a body that never ached. The thin-rimmed, all-plastic steering wheel, single-DIN cassette-radio with press-to-release concentric knobs for bass/treble and balance/fade, and cupholders sized for 12-ounce cans only speak to a simpler, lower-frills motoring era. (Sadly, we're unable to assess the four-speaker audio system's fidelity. Frequent battery disconnects have it asking for an anti-theft code.) And the utterly undisguised passenger airbag cover was Honda's way of showing off being four years ahead of a dual-airbag mandate that would forever end our collective motorized-belt malaise.AdvertisementAdvertisementThis top-shelf EX model was fitted with a sunroof (controlled by a switch curiously located on the dash to the left of the steering wheel), but the rear seat gets no vents or plugs and few amenities aside from a wide passenger front-seat-back pocket and a tiny ashtray. Only the passenger seat slides forward for access (returning to a mid-track position), but I'm quite comfy back there.The trunklid, released by a floor lever ganged with the gas-filler door release as God intended, opens via gas struts assisting four-bar articulated gutter hinges—a cargo-space-saving design popular back then but rare today. Of course, there's a mini-spare—corporate cost/weight accountants wouldn't start canceling those for another decade. The rear seat back folds in one piece, using a release way up under the package shelf or the ignition key in a cylinder atop the rear package tray. With no goosenecks, it's super roomy.Jim Fets - MotorTrendHow's She Drive?The VTEC engine lights immediately and then falls into its sewing-machine-smooth idle. I drop the shifter back and overshoot D4, landing in D3 as so often happened back in the day. That skinny steering wheel rim delivers more feels than any of its electric descendants can muster, and there's a fluidity of chassis motion leaning the car into turns that cars with struts struggle to replicate. Sure, she's a little slow—even was back in the day (when everybody measured 8-plus-second 0–60-mph times). But the single-overhead-cam VTEC, actuating four valves via three finger followers, does yeoman's work aping V-6 power from a 2.2-liter four. And we're in no hurry to return to the present anyway.The factory fill of R12 refrigerant has all either leaked out or been removed, but on the Wednesday evening of the 2026 Woodward Dream Cruise week, it's not too hot, and keeping the windows and sunroof open lets us more clearly appreciate adoration from onlookers at the curb and in neighboring vehicles. All of which absolutely have more miles on their odometers.Jim Fets - MotorTrend"Checking" the EngineOn our second morning with the car, following maybe 10 minutes of warm-up idling while photographing details, the check-engine light came on. We Googled the diagnostic procedure for this pre-OBD/OBD II-era car and performed the steps: 1) Find a blue diagnostic connector above the passenger footwell tucked behind the kick panel. 2) Insert a paperclip or wire to jump the terminals. 3) Turn the ignition to "on" and count the check-engine light's long and short blinks. We got one long and two short blinks on repeat.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe internet identified "12" to indicate an EGR-circuit fault. Figuring something was probably just sticky from sitting for three decades, I rapped on the EGR valve with a big screwdriver, then cleared the code by pulling an under-hood 7.5A fuse marked "BACKUP" for 10 seconds.Jim Fets - MotorTrendSoon enough, having agonizingly increased its odometer reading by roughly 20 percent, we sealed our little time machine up tight (remembering to hold the switches and then release them, lest the motors strain against the window seals—limit switches and anti-pinch sensors were still a few years off) and sent it back to Honda, feeling grateful for this little passage through a 1990s wormhole.Photo credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendAdvertisementAdvertisementPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendAdvertisementAdvertisementPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendAdvertisementAdvertisementPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendAdvertisementAdvertisementPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendAdvertisementAdvertisementPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendAdvertisementAdvertisementPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrendPhoto credit: Jim Fets - MotorTrend