Watch the video of this comparison here.
With the arrival of the 2019 Nissan Altima, it’s time to re-evaluate which of the big three family sedans is the best buy. The Camry has not been topped in sales in decades, with the Accord always in second place and the Nissan always in third. However, as my comparisons have proven, more often than not, the Camry isn’t the best vehicle. Oftentimes the Accord or even Sonata have it beat. The Camry and Accord were new for the 2018 model year, and the Altima is brand new, so none of these cars are even half way through their product cycles yet. Should make for a good, particularly fair comparison.
With the arrival of the 2019 Nissan Altima, it’s time to re-evaluate which of the big three family sedans is the best buy. The Camry has not been topped in sales in decades, with the Accord always in second place and the Nissan always in third. However, as my comparisons have proven, more often than not, the Camry isn’t the best vehicle. Oftentimes the Accord or even Sonata have it beat. The Camry and Accord were new for the 2018 model year, and the Altima is brand new, so none of these cars are even half way through their product cycles yet. Should make for a good, particularly fair comparison.
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| 2019 Toyota Camry |
The
2019 Honda Accord EX-L starts at a slightly more expensive $30,120. Exterior
features that are standard on this trim are LED brake lights, fog lights and
daytime running lights, heated mirrors with turn signal indicators and smart
entry with walk away and auto lock. The Honda also has a power moonroof and
17-inch wheels. Moving to the inside of the car, we see a similar dual-zone
climate control system, push-button start, leather steering wheel and shift
knob, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror and HomeLink. Leather, heated front
seats are 12-way power adjustable for the driver and four-way adjustable for
the passenger. The driver seat has two memory programmable functions. In the
center console is an eight-inch display with Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay, Android
Auto, HondaLink, SiriusXM, and a 450-watt audio system with ten speakers and a
subwoofer. It’s worth noting that the Camry has a more standard six speakers.
Active safety features on the Accord are lane-keeping assist with Honda
Sensing, adaptive cruise control with low-speed follow, a traffic sign
recognition system, collision mitigation braking, road departure mitigation,
forward collision warning, and a blind spot information system with a cross
traffic monitor.
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| 2019 Nissan Altima |
The Nissan Altima SL is brand new for 2019 and comes with a base price of $29,840. Exterior features include 17-inch wheels, LED headlights and fog lights, heated outside mirrors with turn signal indicators, and a power moonroof. The Nissan comes appointed with dual-zone climate control, remote engine start with intelligent climate control, and HomeLink. The Altima also has a smart key with push-button start. The seats are eight-way power adjustable for the driver and four-way for the passenger. The fronts are heated, and all seats as well as the steering wheel and shift knob are leather-wrapped. Interior trim in this version is wood, similar to the Toyota. The infotainment system touchscreen in the Altima is eight-inches like in the other two, but it also has navigation with voice recognition. SiriusXM, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and Bluetooth round out the standard technology services. The Altima SL has a premium audio system from Bose with nine speakers. Active safety in the Altima comprises of intelligent cruise control, forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, intelligent lane intervention, blind spot warning, and rear cross traffic alert with rear automatic braking. Nissan has developed a few of their own unique safety features called ProPilot and Intelligent Driver Alertness. ProPilot comes in different forms in other manufacturers, but basically it slows down or speeds up the Altima to match the vehicle ahead of you in a form of autopilot. It is especially useful in stop-and-go traffic. The driver alertness system monitors steering wheel inputs from the driver to make sure the driver is staying alert and awake, and if they aren’t it will chime at them to wake them up or pressure them to take a break. Of course, for people that would rather fall asleep and wreck into a tree, the system can be turned off.
Let’s now talk about the
passive safety ratings of each vehicle. The 2019 Toyota Camry is a Top Safety
Pick Plus from the IIHS, getting good in every category and superior in front
crash prevention. The 2019 Honda Accord is a Top Safety Pick, and gets the same
ratings as the Camry in every category except headlights, where it got
acceptable, preventing it from getting the ‘Plus’ designation. The 2019 Altima
has not yet been rated by IIHS at the time of this writing, but the 2018 model
received a Top Safety Pick rating and got good ratings everywhere except
headlights, where it matched the Honda and child seat anchors, where it got
marginal. Typically, newer models don’t perform worse than previous ones, so
I’ll give the Nissan the benefit of the doubt and rank it the same as the
Honda. If it receives even better rankings than I am predicting, I will edit the comparison and adjust the scores.
Next, let’s look at the
powertrain of each vehicle, and its corresponding performance. The Toyota uses
the familiar company 2.5-liter four cylinder. It received an update in 2018 and
is now rated at 203 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque. The transmission
was also updated with the launch of the new Camry and Toyota dropped the
antiquated six-speed for a new eight speed slushbox. The Honda has a smaller
1.5-liter inline four cylinder, that compensates for its smaller size with a
turbocharger. It’s rated at 192 horsepower and 192 pound-feet of torque. In the
interest of fuel economy, the Honda uses a Continuously Variable Transmission,
or CVT. These transmissions have no actual gears, and are instead constantly
shifting RPM, instead of upshifting or downshifting. The Nissan also uses a
CVT, so it’s interesting to see Toyota sticking with a more traditional
automatic. Companies have increasingly been switching over to CVTs in the name
of fuel economy, so we’ll see later if the engine and transmission combination
in the Camry will hamper its performance relative to the Nissan and Honda.
Anyway, the CVT in the Altima is connected to a basic 2.5-liter four cylinder
like the Camry, but it’s rated at 188 horsepower and 182 pound-feet of torque.
These engines aren’t the
most powerful or the most fun, but let’s see how they’ll do in acceleration
tests. The 2019 Camry hits 60 miles per hour in 7.6 seconds, while the Accord
manages 7.3. The 2019 Altima is expected to be right in the middle of those
times at about 7.5 seconds.
More importantly, let’s see
how the powertrains line up when it comes to fuel economy, which is an issue
deeply ingrained in this segment. The Camry, with its eight-speed automatic
gets a very good 28 miles per gallon in the city and 39 on the highway. The
Accord tops the Camry in the city by two MPG at 30, but loses one on the
highway at 38. The Altima matches the Camry’s ratings exactly. Apparently,
Toyota was able to stick with a larger engine and traditional automatic and
still remain competitive.
Next, let’s look at our
only subjective category, which is styling. It used to be that the Camry was
the homeliest of the group, but with the 2018 update, the styling actually
got—dare I say it—attractive. The Accord is still my favorite of the group, and
the car genuinely looks good—much better than the previous generation. The
Altima is also much better looking than the previous generation. I like all
three, but I guess I still have to rank the Camry last even though it’s
actually good looking. The Altima has a cookie cutter rear end that’s
surprisingly striking, but it’s sort of unoriginal. Some Lexus, Kia, and the
previous generation Toyota Avalon all have extremely similar rear ends, though
I do think Nissan did the design the best. On the interiors, the Altima has the
cleanest design, followed by the Accord. The Camry isn’t bad but the weird
darked out shape in the center stack doesn’t flow well. I think the steering
wheel looks dated, and I don’t think it’s changed much from the 2012 Camry. The
Nissan’s small center and svelte shape are much more attractive.
Our final category to
evaluate is reliability. I get my ratings from Consumer Reports, which has been
testing each vehicle for years and has amassed an extensive database. The Toyota
is, unsurprisingly, rated Better than Average, and the Honda gets Average,
which also isn’t anything new. The Altima, however, matches the Camry’s rating
of Better than Average, which is unusual for most Nissans. Nissans of yore were
plagued with reliability issues and were typically related below average. In
fact, I have seen countless mid-2000 era Nissans ready for the junk yard much
faster than their owners anticipated. However, the new vehicles must be of
better quality, for the 2019 Altima fares well in this testing.
Well, that’s all I have
for this comparison! Here are the standings ranked for each car on a scale from
one to ten. As you can see, there’s a lot to digest here. In all my years of
comparing, the 2019 model year has never fared so well for Toyota. Though it
didn’t win, it was extremely close, and usually the Toyotas are objectively noncompetitive.
Welcome back, Camry. As you can see, the spread that separates the winning
Altima from the losing Accord is one point, so all three of these cars are not
only extremely close, but also all very good cars that I would have no problem
recommending to people. In previous years, the Honda almost always won, and the
Nissan has never won a comparison before, so these new models are really
bringing some changes about. The Altima offered significantly better features
than the other cars for a middling asking price, especially navigation, hence
its value score. The Accord wins overall
styling, but loses big points in reliability, because I assign two points to
every level up or down in Consumer Report’s rankings. The Nissan won by a half
point, which can be chalked up to nothing, but it’s a victory for Toyota and
Nissan to even be competitive enough to beat the Accord. Tune in next year to
see if Honda has a response.
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| Here are the standings and how I ranked each car. Altima's asterisk is because it's official IIHS ratings haven't been published yet. |
