When I was a kid, the term "Big Three" was synonymous with General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. To be precise, I am old enough to remember the Big Four, but let's not go there. If we talk about the term "Big Three" now, they are probably talking about the three best-selling cars in the United States: Ford F-series, Chevrolet Silverado and Ram 1500. Honda Accord, Nissan Teana and Toyota Camry, the three best-selling cars in the United States, no longer exist. Today, SUVs dominate, and only Toyota's Camry is still the top 10 best-selling model. Nevertheless, Honda, Toyota, and Nissan mid-size sedans are still very important (the Accord and Altima are among the top 25 best-selling vehicles in the United States).
I think we should start with the similarities first, because these three family cars are very similar in many ways. The size is an area. The wheelbases are within 0.2 inches of each other. Nissan and Toyota have 111.2 inches of wheel spacing, while Honda's is 111.4 inches. The track, length, height and width of the car are also almost the same. It can be considered that the mid-size family car is the most mature and competitive market segment in this industry. Outside of trucks, this may be true. The point is that these automakers are watching each other like hawks. If one person takes action, others will follow up quickly.
The layout of these cars is very similar, but the power system is indeed different. Honda and Nissan use a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT), while Toyota uses an eight-speed automatic transmission. The suspension options are actually the same. I copied the next part from the Accord’s specification box: "Struts, coil springs, anti-roll bars; multi-links, coil springs, anti-roll bars." Or Camry? you understood. Likewise, as my 4-year-old kid likes to say.
The engines are completely different from each other. Toyota keeps it simple in the Camry, the naturally aspirated 2.5-liter I-4 can output 203 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque. This Accord is equipped with a turbocharged 1.5-liter I-4, which provides 192 horsepower and 192 pound-feet of torque. Nissan demonstrated the most complex—if not the most complex—engine: (optional) a variable-displacement turbocharged 2.0-liter I-4 that produces 236 horsepower and an impressive 267 pound-feet of torque. As you might expect, Nissan is definitely the other two models in terms of performance, reaching 60 mph in 5.8 seconds, while the Accord and Camry require 7.2 and 7.5 seconds, respectively. The quarter mile shows essentially the same results, with the cars being completed in the same order, with times of 14.3, 15.5, and 15.8 seconds, respectively. Winner: Nissan. Kind of.
Look, the Accord is equipped with a 252-horsepower, 273-pound-feet turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine and a 10-speed automatic transmission. This variant can accelerate to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds and run a quarter mile in 14.3 seconds, although it adds $4,530. Altima comes standard with 188 horsepower, 180 pound-feet 2.5-liter I-4. For some reason, Nissan installed its VC Turbo engine into Altima at a price as low as US$31,575 or US$32,905 as tested. This price is very competitive with our Accord EX-L's starting/testing price of $32,285. Camry? The basic price of this SE is very low, at 27,480 US dollars, the test price is 29,217 US dollars, there is no turbocharger option, but the price of the XSE V-6 is 3,935 US dollars higher. Both Honda and Toyota offer gasoline-electric hybrid versions of Accord and Camry, but this is another article.
The last objective thing to note before we conduct a subjective evaluation is that Honda is much lighter than the other two. It weighs only 3,206 pounds, which is nearly 200 pounds lighter than the Camry (3,373 pounds) and Altima (3,416 pounds). This, combined with the significantly reduced engine, helped the Accord to achieve the highest overall fuel economy in the group: 33 mpg, while the Camry’s overall fuel economy was 32 mpg, while the Altima’s overall fuel economy was only 29 mpg.
Buy Honda. I know I know. You may want to hear some of the reasons and rationale behind such statements. However, if time is money, you can save yourself some much-needed (let us assume) money and time just by buying a Honda Accord. Are other cars scary? No, although I personally don't like Nissan very much. Nevertheless, both Nissan and Toyota have the right to exist. It's just you, knowledgeable, smart, and I dare say that sexy MotorTrend readers don't need to get involved in the details of what, why, how, and where. When I said that if you want to buy a mid-size family car, you can trust me, the best is the Honda Accord. You believe me, don't you? To support my point, here are some of my colleagues' thoughts.
"From the driver's point of view, Honda may have achieved the perfect balance between participation and comfort," said contributing editor Christian Sibo.
"It did a great job." said Miguel Cortina, editor-in-chief of MotorTrend en Español. "Johnny is right. If Porsche has to design a mainstream sedan, the Accord is it," he added. Hey, I like what this person thinks! Please go on, kind sir. "Whether it is design, engineering, technology or interior space-Accord is the trump card of this market segment." Indeed.
“Overall, this is the Platonic ideal for mid-size gasoline-powered cars in 2021,” said staff editor Conner Golden. "If you are in this market segment and you actively care about your driving, Accord should be your first choice." Do you believe me now?
The second place is Toyota Camry. Toyota's bread and butter sedan has no particular problems, but there is nothing particularly good. All in all, the Camry looks good, the interior feels good, and the handling is good. In addition, it is quite comfortable. Cortina summed up the experience very well: "Honestly, it's better than I expected. Driving back to back with the Accord shows that the Camry has made a lot of mistakes, but it's not that bad at all." Look? Camry is okay.
Indeed, some people like Camry more than others. Golden praised Toyota faintly, saying: "On the one hand, I like the Camry, even in this comparison I don't think it is higher than the mid-range." Bold? Executive Editor Mac Morrison talked about what most of us think of Toyota: "I haven't noticed anything. There is nothing in this car that makes you particularly good, I want to say, or interesting, but there must be nothing that makes me feel that way. Oops. It's just a device."
At the end of the test, the biggest highlight of the Camry was its low price. As Cortina said, “We have a lot of value here.” However, as the feature editor Scott Evans pointed out, “Single-zone climate control is disappointing. I think it’s The only place where there is no seat heater. It seems to lack a lot of features.” Of course, closing the price gap with more advanced trim levels or more options will also narrow the feature gap.
The last one is Nissan Altima. Let me start by saying that the recent Nissan has exceeded my expectations. In fact, not only my own, but the entire MotorTrend. This is why the Nissan Rogue is the 2021 SUV of the year finalist, and the Nissan Sentra is the 2021 car of the year finalist. This company can make great cars. Altima? none of them. Yes, as we have seen, it is fast, but not faster than the Accord of the same specification. Everything else, well, I'm not a fan. Neither is my colleague. Cortina said: "I tried to find any advantages, but it is difficult for me to find something better than the engine, and the engine is not even that good." Yo!
What, in particular, is wrong? "The steering feels unbalanced, the suspension makes the car bounce all over the place, and the CVT is very loud," Cortina said. I think what he meant was that the CVT forced the engine speed to exceed expectations. Honda managed to conceal this noisy feeling. Evans said: "Even the seat does not feel any thigh support." "Every bump on the road will enter the driver's seat at least a little bit. It should be able to filter out more of these. The body control is not as good as other cars. Okay," he added.
From Honda to Nissan, this is very obvious. Down, well, everything is amazing. The powertrain feels harsher, more rattling, relatively poor steering, worse driving position, cheaper material feel, more demanding ride quality,... well, go on. I almost feel sorry for Nissan. Likewise, almost because Nissan has shown to Rogue and Sentra that its engineers can make Altima as good as Accord. They just didn't.
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