Honda Accord Vs. Toyota Camry Vs. Nissan Altima
Closeout Comparison: Honda Accord Vs. Toyota Camry Vs. Nissan Altima
With the new-car market as hot as ever, what’s the best deal out there on a midsize sedan?
The time after Labor Day and before Thanksgiving is usually the best time to buy a new car. There are no spending oriented holidays like Christmas, Memorial Day, or the 4th of July. Also millions of buyers who are looking to finance cars, haven’t received their generous tax returns or end of year bonuses that make those deals possible.
As for sellers, new car dealers are trying to broom their current inventory and make way for the new models while manufacturers respond in kind by clustering their strongest rebates and incentives during this time of year. All of these convergences between supply and demand result in a buyer’s market. We’re talking about discounts that are often times well over 20% off sticker where the typical discount is usually closer to 12%.
Here’s a look at the three most heavily discounted versions of the best-selling midsize sedans—the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord and Nissan Altima—including two that will be clearing out for refreshed 2016 editions:
MSRP
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TrueCar
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Discount
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% Off MSRP
| |
2015 Nissan Altima SL (4 Cyl.)
|
$31,050
|
$25,270
|
$5,780
|
18.6%
|
2015 Toyota Camry V6 XSE
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$35,768
|
$28,469
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$7,299
|
20.4%
|
2015 Honda Accord Hybrid EX-L
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$32,875
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$28,082
|
$4,793
|
14.6%
|
These mainstays of the midsize market have been nationwide bestsellers for several years now. Unlike discount laden competitors such as the Volkswagen Passat, Mazda 6, and Chevrolet Malibu, the Camry, Accord and Altima are generally the three top names, with the Ford Fusion sometimes given a look-see as well.
The Camry was the best-selling car last month at 34,487 units, while the Accord was nipping at the heels with 33,641. The sixth-ranked Altima is due for a refresh and registered a far more modest 24,224. But keep in mind that the Altima has also become the fastest rising star in this market segment over the past decade, with its own healthy reputation as a sporty alternative to the top two.
Price is only one ingredient in the car buying recipe. Fun, features, performance, reputation, and safety all have their own big roles to play as well. Everyone wants to leave the dealership with a grin—and still have that feeling a decade down the road.
So let’s figure out which one of these three is the best when it comes to that enduring smile.
Exterior:
One man’s distinction is another man’s disaster when it comes to looks, and ugly kills sales more than anything else when it comes to cars, which is why all three of these popular vehicles play a conservative game. So I crowdsourced the judging.
I parked each one of the cars in front of my car lot and put “$999 Down” on their windshields. Big bright neon green stickers with small numbers on expensive cars have a way of bringing in customers to your dealership that dancing gorillas and kiddie rides just can’t match.
The Accord won this contest with nine drive-by gawkers who pulled over while the Camry and Altima took in seven each. We gave each person a guided tour of the vehicle including a free drive around town and a can of pop for their troubles.
The big take-away? Every model had minimal negatives and were given overwhelmingly positive compliments. The multi-layered egg-crate front grille design on the Camry, lack of ostentation on the Altima, and arguably plain-jane rear on the Accord, may be nitpicks for the hardcore enthusiast. But exterior design for this segment has a lot in common with car seats Everyone has their own unique loves and likes, and my own personal preference (the Accord) may not necessarily be yours.
Interior
Toyota Camry
This is where the three models were as close to each other as Mercury is to Pluto. Open up the front door to the Toyota Camry XSE and you get an amazing level of material discordance designed to make a cheaper product look and feel like a more expensive one.
The dashboard above the instrument cluster is given the same thick padding and red stitching that were first found in the 2009 Lexus CT200h. Look near the hazy graphics on the infotainment unit and you’ll find the same silver satin nickel coating that used to be a common design element in prior generation mid-size cars.
Nissan Altima
Car buyers who had kept their rides for at least 10 years will be perfectly happy with the interior of the Camry. That is until they sit inside any other competitor in the midsize market. My neighbor who had the unique fortune of sitting in all three cars for several hours during my weekly runs to a nearby auto auction thought the Altima looked about $5,000 more expensive than the Camry—een though it was $3,000 cheaper.
The instrument cluster, command buttons and dashboard materials in the Altima all had a more upscale feel than the Camry, and to their credit, the Altima designers steadfastly avoided the Camry’s overload of cheap plastics that adorned everything from Cadillacs to Volvos a generation ago.
Honda Accord Hybrid
However, the Accord was by far the best of the three. Everything from the leather seats to the instrument clusters and dashboard displays were more reflective of an Acura or a Lexus. Small touches, from the high-quality feel of all the dashboard knobs and steering wheel controls, to the dashboard itself being composed of one solid unit (most competitors assemble three to seven pieces with lined gaps to match), made the Accord the luxury cruiser of the group.
Performance
23, 34, 49. Those were the respective mpgs of the V6 Camry, four-cylinder Altima, and Accord Hybrid—and, when read in reverse order, also measured their enjoyment factor.
The Camry is surprisingly fun to drive. The suspension is taut in a way that would please enthusiasts a lot more than common Janes and Joes. In the potholed world of snowbelt states, the intrusions would probably be a bit hard to take, and the noise level is surprisingly high thanks to excessive tire roar at highway speeds. But take any winding one lane road and the Camry simply outperforms the other two by a commanding margin.
The 3.5-liter V-6 produces 268 horsepower, which is nearly 50% more than the 182 hp four-cylinder engine in the Altima and the slightly more robust 195-hp unit found in the Accord. Other V-6 models in this segment provide similar bang for the buck. But the Camry deserves special kudos for being the sleeper of the bunch. It has one hell of a wallop.
The Altima is more fun to drive in the slow speeds of suburban commuting where everyone is forced to spend most of their time dealing with traffic.The Altima offers a more flexible torque band and a sharp driving feel at that leisurely pace while the Camry has a tendency to buckle down to the highest gear as early as possible to conserve fuel.
The Accord always offered solid handling throughout the sprawling ex-urbs of metro-Atlanta, but the suspension prioritizes luxury over sport even when you switched onto a sport setting. If quiet is your thing, the Accord Hybrid is the one to buy. During initial acceleration the Accord is as smooth as an entry level luxury car, and during stops you are rewarded with the sounds of silence thanks to the perpetual shutting off of the gas engine.
Every hybrid offers that unique package and it’s worth noting that just as a Camry hybrid offers a similar aural experience to the Accord, the V-6 Altima I drove last year was just as fun as the Camry. Whether you prefer a 4, a 6, or a hybrid powertrain it will be well worth your time to cross shop all three models.
Long-Term Reliability
The Long-Term Quality index has provided a combined 65,000 trade-ins for these three vehicles with over 25,000 for the Accord alone. Their findings? All three models only hovered around the average level during the most recent prior generation. The Camry suffered the greatest fall from grace due to excessive oil consumption issues that have resulted in a service bulletin that instructs dealers on this issue, but doesn’t go as far as a total recall.
The CVT in the Altima may still be problematic if it’s not serviced at a reasonable interval, and it’s incredibly expensive to replace out of warranty. The Accord was most consistently above average, but the ratio was small, and Honda’s historical record on V-6 transmissions and hybrid powertrains haven’t been nearly as strong as their competition.
The good news here is that all three of these models have been consistently near, at, or above the average for over a decade. The bad news is sealed transmissions and cost containment practices have greatly reduced the once legendary gap between these three Japanese brands and their American competitors. If recent history is a true guide of long-term reliability, these three models will substantially outperform their European and Korean competition. Feel free to click here, here, and here for the Camry, Accord, and Altima respectively, and go here if you want to search for other models.
Value
The 2015 Honda Accord Hybrid is a technological tour de force that offers the upscale touches that the Camry and Altima lack, With a hybrid powertrain and EX-L trim the Accord also provides the fuel economy and pricing that will likely make it cheaper to own than both of the competitors if you plan on keeping it for at least 100,000 miles.
The Camry is the most fun to drive, but that fun factor isn’t enough to tip the scale towards its favor due to the cost containment found in the interior. The powertrain is among the best in the segment but the materials that surround the owners are still a full generation behind the class leaders.
Once the 2015 models are gone, I would strongly suspect that the current $3,000 difference between the Altima and Accord will likely spread to $5000. Plus the new Altima for 2016 will soon arrive in dealers. If you’re a sport-oriented enthusiast looking for a cheaper purchase price for a 2016 model, the Altima along with the often overlooked Mazda 6 deserve strong consideration.
For at least the next few weeks, though, a leftover 2015 Accord Hybrid EX-L appears to be the best deal to be had of the three.
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