Compare the2023 Honda AccordVS 2023 Subaru Legacy

The Honda Accord has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Legacy doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.

The Accord EX-L/Sport-L/Touring has standard Parking Sensors to help warn the driver about vehicles, pedestrians or other obstacles behind or in front of their vehicle. The Legacy doesn’t offer a front parking aid.

Compared to metal, the Accord’s plastic fuel tank can withstand harder, more intrusive impacts without leaking; this decreases the possibility of fire. The Subaru Legacy has a metal gas tank.

Both the Accord and the Legacy have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, available blind spot warning systems and rear cross-path warning.

Honda pays for scheduled maintenance on the Accord for 2 years and 24,000 miles. Honda will pay for oil changes, lubrication and any other required maintenance. Subaru doesn’t pay scheduled maintenance for the Legacy.

There are over 68 percent more Honda dealers than there are Subaru dealers, which makes it much easier should you ever need service under the Accord’s warranty.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2022 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that Honda vehicles are better in initial quality than Subaru vehicles. With 8 fewer problems per 100 vehicles, JD Power ranks Honda higher than Subaru.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2023 Auto Issue reports that Honda vehicles are more reliable than Subaru vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Honda 2 places higher in reliability than Subaru.

The Accord’s standard 1.5 turbo 4-cylinder produces 10 more horsepower (192 vs. 182) and 16 lbs.-ft. more torque (192 vs. 176) than the Legacy 2.5i’s standard 2.5 DOHC 4-cylinder.

On the EPA test cycle the Accord gets better mileage than the Legacy:

Regenerative brakes improve the Accord Hybrid’s fuel efficiency by converting inertia back into energy instead of wasting it. The Legacy doesn’t offer a regenerative braking system.

The Accord has a standard cap-less fueling system. The fuel filler is automatically opened when the fuel nozzle is inserted and automatically closed when it’s removed. This eliminates the need to unscrew and replace the cap and it reduces fuel evaporation, which causes pollution. The Legacy doesn’t offer a cap-less fueling system.

For better traction, the Accord Sport/Touring’s tires are larger than the largest tires available on the Legacy (235/40R19 vs. 225/55R17).

The Accord LX/EX/EX-L’s standard tires provide better handling because they have a lower 50 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Legacy Base/Premium’s standard 55 series tires. The Accord Sport/Touring’s tires have a lower 40 series profile than the Legacy Sport/Limited/Touring’s 50 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Accord Sport/Touring has standard 19-inch wheels. The Legacy’s largest wheels are only 18-inches.

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the Accord’s wheelbase is 3.1 inches longer than on the Legacy (111.4 inches vs. 108.3 inches).

The Honda Accord may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs about 250 pounds less than the Subaru Legacy.

The Accord uses computer-generated active noise cancellation to help remove annoying noise and vibration from the passenger compartment, especially at low frequencies. The Legacy doesn’t offer active noise cancellation.

The Accord has .1 inches more front headroom, .1 inches more rear headroom, 1.3 inches more rear legroom and .6 inches more rear hip room than the Legacy.

The Accord has a much larger trunk than the Legacy (16.7 vs. 15.1 cubic feet).

With its sedan body style, valet key, locking rear seatbacks and remote trunk release lockout, the Accord offers cargo security. The Legacy’s non-lockable folding seat and non-lockable remote release defeat cargo security.

The Accord uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Legacy uses a prop rod to support its heavy hood. It takes two hands to open the hood and set the prop rod, the prop rod gets in the way during maintenance and service, and the prop rod could be knocked out, causing the heavy hood to fall on the person maintaining or servicing the car.

The Accord Sport-L/EX-L/Touring’s standard easy entry system glides the driver’s seat back when the door is unlocked or the ignition is switched off, making it easier for the driver to get in and out. The Legacy doesn’t offer an easy entry system.

The Accord Touring has a standard heads-up display that projects speed and navigation instruction readouts in front of the driver’s line of sight, allowing drivers to view information without diverting their eyes from the road. The Legacy doesn’t offer a heads-up display.

The power windows standard on both the Accord and the Legacy have locks to prevent small children from operating them. When the lock on the Accord is engaged the driver can still operate all of the windows, for instance to close one opened by a child. The Legacy prevents the driver from operating the other windows just as it does the other passengers.

On a hot day the Accord’s driver can lower all the windows from a distance with the keyless remote or at the outside door handle. The driver of the Legacy can only operate the windows from inside the vehicle, with the ignition on.

The Accord’s standard speed-sensitive wipers speed up when the vehicle does, so that the driver doesn’t have to continually adjust the speed of the wipers. The Legacy’s manually variable intermittent wipers have to be constantly adjusted. The Accord Touring’s standard wipers adjust their speed and turn on and off automatically according to the amount of rainfall on the windshield.

The Honda Accord outsold the Subaru Legacy by almost seven to one during 2022.