Camry vs. Accord

[CamryGuy.com]

Consumer Report recently wrote that the Honda Accord was the best family car sold in America, based upon overall quality (fit and finsh), features, reliability and so on.

I've always thought my Camry was about as good as a family car can get (no problems in almost ten years) but I have noticed the instrument panel of the Corolla and Matrix leaves a lot to be desired.

What do you think? Is Toyota losing their focus on quality?

[1996camry]

I go with TOyota... My 96 Toyota camry LE 4 Cylinder still running strong with 140K miles. I am the 2nd owner, and have had the car for 8 years... CAR RUNS STRONG and doesn't give me any problem except done some preventive list below....


I only done preventive maintaines...
replaced oil every 3K
replaced front strut suspention
flush cooling antifreeze
flush transmission
flush differential fluid
replaced spark plugs
replaced distrubutor (caps, rotor, buttons)

Now, I need work on rear suspention..
WAIT FOR EXTRA $$$.....

[JvR]

In Europe Toyota always won the "riliable trophy"...but the last years......
The quality of other cars is getting better and Toyota a bit worse.

[EEngineer]

yea seems like if you go for cheapest trim, u get the cheapest shit.

that's why when u buy new vehicles, NEVER EVER go for BASE TRIM, always go for the GTs, SEs, XLEs...ETC

i got both accord and camry in the family, 07 Accord SE certainly do have a better interior than the 08 Camry LE but similar quality with the Camry SE but the SE just came out so it was like 5k more expensive than the accord.

as for quality, nothing beats toyota's engines when it comes to use and abuse....u NEVER blow a toyota engine as long as you are not stupid....as for honda's new engines, i cannot say the same. they may be more powerful in certain sense, but mess something up, and ur done for. my mechanic blew his 07 civic engine cuz his CAI sucked in a little water. Honda's engines in the 90s were tuff. B16 17 18 GSR were solid.

[Hajoca]

From my experience (having performed maintenance to the following: 80&81 tercels, and 85civic, 89& 90 & 03 Accord, 98 & 00 Camry, 01 Sienna, 04 CRV and then78 LTD, 81 Vega, 87 Bonneville,88 Caravan, 89 Cavalier ) which my family has owned in Canada here, the hondas and Toyotas were most reliable, the 89 Cavalier was just cheap to fix and lasted till last year and was retired at 425,000 + kms. Though frequent every repair was under $150.

Between the early 1980's Hondas and Toyotas, both were simple. Then in the late 80's where the hondas are the type of layout of accord made servicing more difficult, like oil filter is behind engine by firewall, that would be accessible with removal of air cleaner, or a contortionist if you did not want to crawl under. This has carried on on the late hondas.

Toyota servicing is much more friendly, even considering the time changing bank2 spark plugs are on the transverse V6's.

Accord suspension geometry and control tops the Camry.

[Quicksilver300]

Originally Posted by EEngineer

as for quality, nothing beats toyota's engines when it comes to use and abuse....u NEVER blow a toyota engine as long as you are not stupid....as for honda's new engines, i cannot say the same. they may be more powerful in certain sense, but mess something up, and ur done for. my mechanic blew his 07 civic engine cuz his CAI sucked in a little water. Honda's engines in the 90s were tuff. B16 17 18 GSR were solid.

well, remember I blew my toyota motor, doing nothing out of the ordinary, so never say never.

[bigbird]

the main reason i think the honda sometimes beats out the camry is because they offer some sportiness as opposed to the camry which is not sporty at all...at least compared to the accord.

[EEngineer]

yea the 07 accord's suspension is quite stiff. i like it very much.

[Zviator]

Notice 3 things:

This is the eight generation of accord vs sixth generation of camry, honda updates their products line more often than toyota.

Younger people tend to chose honda over toyota, as mentioned above for sporty looks and feels.

Modern camry and it' relevant line (corolla, vios, yaris ... ) looks too similar and lack of creativiy.

[redtigerrocks]

My family is personally a big Camry fan. We've owned a 2nd Gen Camry LE , another 2nd Gen Camry LE V6', 3rd Gen Camry XLE V6' (Which i drive), and a 5th Gen Camry LE. All of the Camry's my family has owned have absolutely no major issues and none of the engines were blown. I remember the 2nd Gen Camry LE had around 216K miles (the engine was still running strong) before we bough the 5th Gen. We eventually got rid of the 2nd Gen due to stupid inspection and emission tests(it wouldve probably passed but we didnt wanna go through the hassle of maintaining all 5 cars). Ive always loved Toyota Engine quality( probably because of their ISO9000 Quality) and never had major issues. The only thing i have problems with is the cheapness of the interior parts such as door handles and the vinyl dash on my 3rd Gen( the vinyl started to "darken" and burn almost black now and door handles just break cause of the cheap plastic). and maybe the batteries- ive had my current battery in my camry for only 2 years and its already showing "moderate" to "low" charge at the dealer.
just my opinions

[Venom_5]

this shouldnt be in the gen 3 & 4 section ...

Honda and Toyota are both good brands, its kinda pointless to argue which one is better because they are both almost always in the top

[ECale3]

Accord is better IMO. Toyota made their best cars in the Mid-90's. I think they've been on a down slope as of late. Interior quality, fit and finish, and ergonomics is much better in the Accord IMO.

[redgtxdi]

Well, I'll throw in my .02....

First it seems to be common knowledge that the accord suffers from bad road noise at higher speeds. (but IMHO this has always been the case in camry vs accord logic).

Now that right there turns me off to the accord. But that's also why I'd choose an LE over an SE too cuz I like smooth, quiet and comfortable. Not only is the ride more harsh on an SE but even the seats are harsh. Slip into an LE and you are immediately more comfortable in the nice, soft cloth.

The biggest thing that frightens me about the gen6 camry is how all over the place the MPG is. I *know* what gen4 gets in the i4 but gen6 appear to be a roll of the dice.

That alone is what has me cosidering the corolla over camry OR accord.

[eyeball96]

I don't notice "road noise" in the wifey's 04 Accord...I guess depends on the tires ur runnin.

I do know the car has been dead on reliable, for the past 4 yrs! KNOCKS ON WOOD!!

[eurohazard]

Originally Posted by Camricer

This is the eight generation of accord vs sixth generation of camry, honda updates their products line more often than toyota.

Well Honda has sold the Accord since 1976, the Camry came along in 1982. Honda does not update more often than Toyota. But I will say the gen 4 update was a weak effort for Toyota.

I will also say if I were to buy a new car, it'd be a tight race between the Chevy Malibu, Hyundai Sonata, Toyota Camry, and Honda Accord. And without having scrutinized all of the to the point I will pick one right now.....I think the Accord would be #1 (particularly EX I4 manual). I must also add, Toyota makes a lot of money, and they should focus more heavily on their interior design and quality.