'06 Accord EX vs '07 Camry LE: Power, Safety & Price

For about $2K more than an I4 Camry you can get the Camry Hybrid that should average something like 35 mpg. It has a much smaller trunk but more HP than the I4 Camry. I'm pretty sure the Camry Hybrid stacks up well in your comparison.

We have one vehicle that is now used almost exclusively for short trips in town. A Toyota Hybrid could be a practical choice if we wanted that size car. But we're also looking at the new Civic. Not that much smaller, great mpg but perhaps $10K less expensive than the Camry Hybrid in another year or so. However, I worry about the short trips in town and what that might do to a new engine, especially in winter.

The purchase of a hybrid has been criticized of late as offering a false economy. CR wrote that you almost can't drive enough miles for it to make ($$) sense, especially compared to the more parsimonious gasoline engine cars. But if it gives you a nice big environmental "warm and fuzzy", I guess that's something ... unless you start looking at the energy required to manufacture and recycle batteries, etc.

I guess I would look at a Prius if I were going that route.

WAY smaller ...

Except for the biggie safety thing: You can't purchase vehicle stability control w/traction control even as an option on the Hybrid.

It's also hundreds of pounds heavier than a regular i4, so I'm afraid it would corner like a pig and would not stop as short.

Hmmm. Is the idea of suspension kit for a hybrid an oxymoron?

Consumer Reports admitted a mis-calculation for the Prius and probably the new Civic would be a reasonable choice too.

The only way I'd give up my stick is if my knees can't physically push down a clutch pedal anymore, haha. as for the safety features, I was suprised honda dind't offer it on the I4. I lot of peopel have made mention that it's not really needed with an I4, but living in new england, I would of liked it. that being said. I still managed to get an I4 EX manual with leather and NAVI for under 25k. It wasn't too bad in the snow either (although we got lucky with a pretty mild winter) I took a look at toyotas site, and I didn't see anyway to get a camry with navigation in a manual transmission.

I forgot: Is Accord Hybrid even available with stick?

I believe that the Acura TSX includes all of those features, and it is available with either a 6-speed manual or 5-speed automatic.

Anyone looking at well equipped Camrys or Accords should at least check out the TSX to see if it is the best choice for you. Acura dealers are discounting TSX pretty agressively while the new Camry, especially with desireable options, can be harder to find a good discount on due to it's newness.

John

Nice to see people still like to drive a stick shift. I've always loved the Honda (and Acura) manual transmission. Had an '89 Prelude Si stick shift and now have an '05 Accord LX stick shift. The traction control would have been nice but I've lived without it this long. Then again the whole EX package offers nice options for about 2k more. Test drove the Civic EX but got a really good deal on my Accord. Paid $16,945 + tax & tags.

Trying to stay on topic, much of it depends on whether you like driving the Accord or Camry more. If you want a smoother softer ride, the Camry is the way to go. If you want something that is more of the driver's car w/road feel, get the Accord. Both are by no means sports cars but each gives value, depending on personal preference. Can't go wrong with either.

-Dave

Nope and it doesn't pay for itself as a hybrid either.

It does have an i4/6M configuration, and this engine variant puts out

Edmunds reports MSRP w/dest of $28,505 and a TMV price of $27,652, still $4-7k more than a Camry LE. But it does have the i4/6M, and I'm guessing that the ride comfort / cabin noise compares favorably, with better handling.

Comes down to the money and how badly you want the "Acura" label, which we know that anywhere else in the world is just a Honda.

Once the price gets near $30K and sport enters into the equation there's no sense looking at modified FWD grocery getters when great RWD performance sedans like the G35, IS 250 and 3-series are available. IMHO, Accords and Camrys are good values at around $20K but not when they're over $25K.

Agreed.

Consumer Reports says... The Camrys are not getting anywhere near the EPA rated mileage in their V6 engines. Hondas do. So a V6 Camry should stay off your list, unless you want 80% of the promised mileage.

Also, Toy V6 engines are known to have a nasty gelling problem. Change the oil quite frequently if you have a V6, or -- for once -- synthetic oil is worthwhile in this application.

There is now a sports version of the Camry. The suspension may be a lot closer to an Accord than a standard Camry & I'm curious myself.

I have a 2004 Accord, but if it were totalled tomorrow, I'd seriously check out the V6 Camry.

That doesn't sound right to me. The various factors that reduce fuel economy should affect Toyota and Honda engines equally - unless you know a significant difference between them I don't know.

That's pretty out of date, and overblown even in its time (about 1 in 1000 was affected)

Mike

i thought it was decided that the gelling was due to neglect... mostly cars right off a 3 year lease that didnt have regular oil changes?

my moms scion xA has a required interval of 5000 miles between changes. i thought itd be longer than that, personally.

Nope, poor head design when Toyota attempted to extract more mpg from their 3.0L V6. Created hot/cold spots and poor maintenance made the problem obvious. A new valve cover was followed by a better head design. Fixed years ago.

By the way, I have 171K trouble-free miles on one of the sludge-prone

TeGGeR has an eye-opener in this 2001 Toyota V6 with less than 9000 miles (probably without an oil change):

Would be interesting to know how many months the car had gone without an oil change. If this happened after 3 months I'd have a different opinion than if it happened after 3 years.

If you search around you can find other equally well documented sludged engines from just about every manufacturer.

the cool thing about the scion is that the oil change indicator can be programmed to light up at intervals from 1-5k miles. standard is 5k.

awesome! in a scary way, of course.