It never ceases to amaze me. There, I’ve said it. Oh, what never ceases to amaze me? Good Question. What never ceases to amaze me is how critical those in the motoring press (which now thanks to the InterWebTubes can be just about any schmo or schmoette) can be regarding the appearance of a new vehicle before they’ve actually experienced it in the flesh. When Honda announced their new Accord CrossTour, one website in particular that is very popular but regularly full of poopish prose (I shan’t mention them by name as they are backed by dangerous money), attacked the appearance of this sport wagon like it was the second coming of the Pontiac Aztek.
It isn’t. Oh, and let us all be thankful that Pontiac’s tribute to Bad Origami has vanished, but lament the fact that it may have helped pull the rest of the division into the whirlpool with it. I miss the G8 GXP already. Aussie Art and Muscle, baby.

But I digress.

What the CrossTour actually is is something far more stylish, fun to drive and very competitive in the all-weather sport wagon class. It goes up against Toyota’s excellent Venza, sure, but I also think it does battle with the latest Subaru Outback wagon although the latter has more cargo space. The CrossTour is a bit larger than the Accord it’s based on, has more ground clearance and an optional Real Time All Wheel Drive System. It still has all the Accord attributes people love, except there’s more room and is more able to combat the winter nasty. The higher chassis doesn’t seem to mess with handling as near as I can tell, although the steering seems a tad lighter than I remember on the sedan. The brakes are superb (60-0 arrived in an average of 117.5 feet). All in all, this is a pretty sweet package especially if you need more cargo space but not a full-on box. I’d like to see a Fusion, Altima, etc. take on this style as well because I think it makes all the sense in the world.