The 2010 Honda Crosstour will be based on the company's Accord. The European Accord wagon is shown here.

Consumer Guide's Impressions of the 2010 Honda Crosstour

Don't look now, but another crossover SUV is coming. It's a new midsize wagon based on the popular Honda Accord and aimed right at the new Toyota Venza. 

What We Know About the 2010 Honda Crosstour

Honda's Pilot SUV bulked up for 2009, allegedly in response to customer requests. But that left a spot in the lineup for a smaller, lighter, and more fuel-efficient midsize SUV--something like the original 2005-08 Pilot. Wouldn't you know, spy photographers have lately spotted that very thing testing on American roads less traveled. It's a European-market Accord wagon modified with all-wheel drive, elevated ride height, a few telling inches spliced into the body, and a U.S.-market Accord sedan nose. Behold Honda's answer to the new Toyota Venza. Sources say it's coming to showrooms as a 2010 model after a concept teaser at the January 2009 Detroit Auto Show.

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But wait, there's more. Word is that Honda's upscale Acura brand will add its own midsize crossover based on the Accord-derived Acura TL premium-midsize sedan. That makes sense in marketing, manufacturing, and money terms, as both versions are intended mainly for the U.S. market. No surprise, then, that sources expect both to be built in the same American plant as their sedan parents. That would be Honda's Marysville, Ohio facility.

We don't have a name yet, but the Acura would presumably be dubbed something like CDX. Honda's will be named Crosstour. The Passport name was earlier predicted; Latitude has also been rumored.

The rest of this story is decidedly anticlimactic. For starters, the 2010 Honda Crosstour won't look anything like the above-mentioned prototype, which is just another "mule" of the sort engineers routinely throw together to get a rough idea of how the finished product will work. Like the Venza, the Crosstour will have unique tall-body styling without traditional wagon boxiness, plus a slightly larger footprint than its sedan parent. It will also mimic the Venza with two-row seating for five passengers and no third-row option.

For more inside information on hundreds of new cars of today and tomorrow, check out:

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