Honda Accord, inconspicuously inviting

2016 Honda EX-L

Car type: Sedan

Transmission: 6-speed Manual

Drive train: Front Wheel Drive

Width: 6 ft. 0.8 in. (72.8 in.)

Height: 4 ft. 9.7 in. (57.7 in.)

Length: 16 ft. 0.5 in. (192.5 in.)

Wheel base: 9 ft. 1.3 in. (109.3 in.)

Horsepower: 185 hp @ 6400 rpm

Torque: 181 ft-lbs. @ 3900 rpm

Curb weight: 3170 lbs.

Fuel economy (cty/hwy): 23/34 mpg

As a boy, I endured many paternal lectures on “conspicuous consumption” — buying stuff to “show off” rather than to get the best functional value of an item or service at the best price.

My father was a proud World War II Army veteran. He earned several battle campaign medals in Italy and North Africa — stored postwar in ceremonial boxes in his bedroom closet in our New Orleans home.

Talking to him favorably about German or Japanese cars could bring out the Trump in him, although he grudgingly conceded that the Germans “made good tanks” and the Japanese “made good planes.”

But those concessions quickly vanished with “We fought them. We kicked their butts.”

That was that. American victories on the battlefield were erroneously conflated with U.S. superiority in the automotive marketplace.

But I am sure that Dad, now nearly two decades deceased, would have loved the subject of this week’s column, the 2016 Honda EX-L sedan. He was a “science man” who seldom let a good story get in the way of observable facts — unless you were talking about the Roman Catholic religion, in which case it was best to agree with the church or shut up.

I shut up on religion but stood my ground on cars.

Japan’s Honda is one of the world’s best automobile manufacturers. The restyled 2016 Honda Accord EX-L sedan with navigation and Honda Sensing technology is one of the best family sedans sold anywhere.

At a final transaction price of $31,505, the front-wheel-drive, midsize Accord easily would pass Dad’s tests of “getting what you paid for” and “common sense.”

With its new front fascia and reworked rear, the new Accord is pretty, too.

I drove the model with a 2-liter in-line four-cylinder gasoline engine (185 horsepower, 181 pound-feet of torque). The power was enough for city-suburb commuting, but not for showing off. The engine was linked to a continuously variable automatic transmission, which sometimes felt choppy when moving from speeds of 55 to 70 mph. But that proved a good thing on the heavily patrolled (state and county law enforcement) section of Interstate 95 around Baltimore.

Overall, I liked the car and easily could see myself buying it. With a full suite of Honda Sensing technology, it comes with forward collision monitoring, lane-keeping assistance, camera-assisted right turns and the best onboard high-definition camera I’ve seen in any car at any price. It also has one of the most comfortable, best-crafted cabins available in the U.S. or European markets.

Except, well, some men marry their mothers. I seem to have married my father.

I hinted at wanting to buy the Accord. But along came the late Daniel T. Brown Sr. in the person of wife Mary Anne Brown. To wit:

“What is the essential difference between the Accord and that Civic we drove a few weeks ago?” she asked.