Honda has managed to cure one of my biggest comfort-related complaints that have to do with Hybrids in this latest

Honda has managed to cure one of my biggest comfort-related complaints that have to do with Hybrids in this latest Accord - maintaining temperature in Idle Stop mode, thanks to an air conditioner that too is a hybrid. (Photo: Justin Couture, Canadian Auto Press)

Accord - maintaining temperature in Idle Stop mode, thanks to an air conditioner that is also a hybrid. When the engine is running, the belts operate the 75 cc compressor, but when you're sitting still in traffic or at a stop light in 'idle stop' mode, it switches over to a smaller 15 cc electric compressor. Warm or humid air from surroundings continues to be chilled, backed only by the silence-breaking hum of the compressor, helping you keep your cool.

Investing in the Accord Hybrid has more going for it than just saving the environment, it's chock full of goodies that makes doing so a treat. Essentially, with the extra cost to fit the Accord with the new technology, Honda made the Hybrid the top of the line model, equipping all options available on the EX-V6 and more. Leather-trimmed heated seats, digital climate control, ABS brakes, traction control, and side curtain airbags are all standard.

Essentially, with the extra cost to fit the Accord with the new technology, Honda made the Hybrid the top of the line model, equipping all options available on the EX-V6 and more. (Photo: Justin Couture, Canadian Auto Press)

The Hybrid is also the most refined Accord, with extra noise-damping equipment, as well as a six-disc CD stereo system with noise cancellation. So hushed and isolated is the car at speed that you might find it difficult to argue something like the much more costly Lexus ES330.

One switch that stays blank, normally filled on regular Accords is the power glass sunroof. This was the only thing stripped from the options list, done so to help preserve weight. Americans do have the option of a touch-screen satellite navigation system with voice-operated commands, a system pulled straight out of the Acura TSX. The system should arrive for Canadian markets sometime in 2006, but would've helped me to avoid a few unnecessary "Michigan Lefts". Other than this, the Accord Hybrid is very much a "what you see is what you get" affair, what you get, being everything.