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Family Sedan Heavyweight Bout
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Mention the term “family sedan” and most people very likely think of the Honda Accord or Toyota Camry.
With a reputation built on quality, reliability and ease of use, the Camry and Accord fight each other year after year to be the number one selling car in the United States. But which one is better? The last time we ran this comparison, the all-new Honda Accord came out on top. But now it’s Toyota’s turn. For 2015, the Camry has been refreshed head-to-toe and is thirstily hunting for some Honda meat.
A Good Looking Camry?
Unlike some Camry redesigns in the past, there is no mistaking that the two thousand fifteen model is a fresh car. Styling is subjective, but it’s hard to argue that the Camry’s fresh exterior isn’t leaps ahead of the old model. For once I can honestly say the Camry is more attractive to look at than the Accord.
It’s the same story inwards. Toyota infused the Camry interior with much-needed pizazz. Interesting styling elements and a better mix of materials in XSE model I tested make the Accord feel cold and unimaginative by comparison. But, it’s the Toyota’s usability that impresses us most.
Ordinary and Consumer Friendly
All of the Camry’s controls are effortless to understand, well placed and plain. The center stack buttons are massive and effortless to locate. Subtle fresh touches like a cell phone holder in the center console and sliding armrest only sweeten things more. It’s as if Toyota used all the money saved from not developing a fresh drivetrain for the two thousand fifteen model and poured it into consumer concentrate groups. I can’t stress enough how ergonomic the fresh Camry is.
It’s not like the Accord is a mess of sophisticated user interfaces, but scrolling through the various menu screens to find the right settings can take some time, especially with the navigation system. We do give the Accord the edge in build quality because everything seems better screwed together compared to the Camry, especially the door panels.
Tech Savvy
On the technology front, the two cars match up pretty evenly. Both are available with adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning and LED lighting. The one chunk of tech the Accord has over the Camry is the lane see camera. Every time the right turn signal is deployed, the top screen turns on demonstrating the right mitt three quarter blind spot. It makes an already easy-to-drive car, well, lighter to drive.
The Accord also trumps the Camry by featuring two separate display screens that are fine for relaying more pertinent details to the driver and passengers. Despite that, we find that the dedicated lower audio screen doesn’t give you all the necessary information. Despite the fact that it feels older, we would rather have the more user-friendly Camry infotainment system.
Power and Efficiency
As has been the case for a long time, both the Camry and Accord proceed to be suggested with four-cylinder and V6 engines. Our test cars came tooled with the drivetrain that predominates the mid-size sedan market – four-cylinder engines hooked up to automatic transmissions. But here the two cars differ. Toyota proceeds to use a traditional six-speed automatic while Honda uses a more efficient continuously variable transmission (CVT).
Since CVTs are lamented as being horrible automotive appliances, the Camry must have the better transmission, correct? Wrong. The CVT installed in the Honda Accord is a shining example of how well they can perform in the right setting. Anxious to react and never holding the engine at annoyingly high RPM, this CVT is fairly possibly the most seamlessly operating transmission in the entire segment. It lets the Accord accelerate quicker than the numbers would suggest. The Honda only has fourteen HP and eleven lb-ft. of torque over the Camry, but on the road it feels like dual or triple that.
What’s more, the Accord is also more fuel efficient, rated at twenty seven MPG city and thirty six MPG highway compared to the Camry’s twenty five MPG city and thirty five MPG highway ratings. It’s worth noting however that in real world testing that gap did shrink, as the Accord returned a 31.0 MPG observed average while the Camry managed a 30.Two MPG average.