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Hyundai Sonata vs. Honda Accord vs. Toyota Camry vs. Ford Fusion
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It doesn't matter what one says about fleet sales vs. retail sales, but at the end of 2006 when over 150,000 Sonatas are sold vs. about 100,000 in 2005...and the Sonata is the #3 import sedan (0ver the Altima), well, the dispute is ended and Hyundai has made the Sonata a contender. They also have billion$ in sales to boot.
That Camry was at Toyota of Greenville! I was just there last week!
I can't believe i missed out!!!! Darn.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
~alpha
How much of that have you smoked today, oldjoe? :shades: :P
Do people love Hondas around here or what ? Honda's got such a great reputation that it'll take a huge sustained effort from say, Hyundai, to put a dent in it's share.
Thanks, I appreciate your cooperation going forward.
PS: I believe I read that Lexus will have the 8-speed in the new "10-Best" issue of Car and Driver, for those interested in the full article.
thegrad
Please folks - we need to get back to comparing the Sonata, the Accord, the Camry and the Fusion - or we need to wrap this up if we're done with that subject line.
Been considering the Sonata LX but I think I'll wait til the new Camry comes out and compare. I think its got way better styling. Sonata is mechanically good but the styling suffers.
The 06 Accord needs updating.
Thanks for consideration, and for leaving my post,
thegrad
The extra gears, in any of these cars, don't seem to have much value except for high speed cruising. At lower speeds, extra gears may be counter-productive, causing the engine to lug in order to save minimal rpm's in an attempt to get a fractional improvement in mpg.
For local driving, maybe 5 speeds is better than four, maybe Fusion's 6 speeds is better than 5. It all depends on how the tranny is matched to the engine. I wouldn't want my car to change gears everytime my speed changed by 5 mph in local driving. At highway speed an extra gear for every 10 mph could be nice.
My last stick shift was a '71 Volvo 1800--4 speed + overdrive. Had to drive it at at least 2000 rpm, otherwise it would lug and foul the plugs. 4th gear @ 50 MPH was 2000 rpm, overdriver @ 70 mph was 2000 rpm. It was painful driving at 55 or 60 when the national speed limit was 55.
The "tranny fishing" mentioned earlier regarding the '06 Sonata may be a case of the engine turning too few rpms for the speed driven. Extra gearing at the lower end may contribute to that.
too subtle, even for our esteemed host.
This type of pressure from either side is not good. Let Ford, Hyundai, Honda & Toyota, etc. make and market their cars without political pressure. Let the public decide which car they prefer. All car companies want to improve their cars to help them sell more cars and make more profit.
Advertising- it will be interesting to note how this impacts Ford, though I expect it will be not by much. Perhaps they should have explored the venue for the Milan, keeping the Fusion more family oriented. Could have been a competitive advantage- I'm not aware of any such advertising for the Camry, Accord, or Sonata.
~alpha
Sonata-Accord-Camry-Fusion
Sonata-Accord-Camry-Fusion
That being said having looked at Accord, Sonata and the Milan and my preliminary thoughts were that they are pretty much equal except that the seats in the Accord were uncomfortable.
Sonata has it on price but I am not sure you can get leather seats and a stick and I know that sticks only come with 4 bangers.
The Milan gives me most of what I want except for a V-6 with a stick.
Now with the Accord I can get the whole nine yards including the stick on the V-6 but as I said earlier I find the seats rather uncomfortable and the price is a few thousand more than the Milan or the Sonata.
Still haven't looked at the Camry.
So far I am really leaning towards the Sonata, but just might go with the Milan.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
To Pat, and all of the other hosts on here. Thank you for the tremendous job that you are doing. I know that it is sometimes frustrating, and may lead to early balding, due to the hair pulling, and also sudden abnormal growths on the head, due to the head banging. At any rate I truly appreciate this site provided for us by Edmunds, and wanted to thank someone for it. Also, I like the tools part, where I can check on my recent posts.. I sometimes forget what or where I said something, not because of old age, it must really be the fault of the new technologies.
You may or may not agree, it is this kind of cost cutting that has hurt the Ford and GM to the extent that they are close to filing bankruptcy.
COming back to the Sonata, I have read numerous reviews on the car, and there have been positive and negative comments as would be for any car tested by a variety of sources. I was pointing to one that I felt agreed with me.
On another note, when MT comments something that you don't agree to, you go "shame on people not agreeing to you and MT' and on the other hand you quote CD who praised the Sonata and ask me to quote pubklications that have negative comments on the Sonata? How hypocritical can you get????
If publications have no meaning to you, then include all, not just those that that disagree with you.
The purpose of a "XXX vs. XXX" discussion like this is to have a place to offer opinions on these cars, and disagreement is a part of it. So there's no need to get bent out of shape because someone disagrees with you--"they jumped all over me...". I don't get "riled" when people disagree with me. I do get frustrated when some people don't know the difference between fact and opinion, and turn the disagreeements into personal attacks. I also get a little peeved when people state a generalization as a fact, but get upset when someone else asks for some corroboration.
Anyway, the reason I asked you to name three publications that had commented negatively on the Sonata's HVAC/audio/dashboard design is because you stated as a fact that lots of reviews had been negative on that point. I've read a lot of reviews on the Sonata and I can't recall lots of reviews that were negative there. If you don't want to back up your statement, fine.
-The average gay audience is male and 36 years of age.
-They are THREE times more likely to be college graduates and typically bring home SIX times the average national income
-When asked if they would prefer buying products specifically targeted to their demographic, over 80% said yes.
(Source: Fraser Seitel, The Practice of Public Relations)
I would love to know the demographics of the typical buyer for these 4 vehicles- from time to time when the Wall Street Journal has a vehicle profile, they include this stuff and its really interesting.
~alpha
-The average gay audience is male and 36 years of age.
-They are THREE times more likely to be college graduates and typically bring home SIX times the average national income
-When asked if they would prefer buying products specifically targeted to their demographic, over 80% said yes.
(Source: Fraser Seitel, The Practice of Public Relations)
I would love to know the demographics of the typical buyer for these 4 vehicles- from time to time when the Wall Street Journal has a vehicle profile, they include this stuff and its really interesting.
So what. What does this have to do with Sonata vs the others? We all know about the gay stats.
Secondly, you would see from my posts that I mostly add IMO or IMHO, and not make generalizations or represent my statements as fact.
cheers!
Maybe when you figure on allowing a model line to languish for 6 or so years before redesign, with fleet sales increasing every year... its not such an issue....
~alpha
I have started seeing more '06 Sonatas driving around. Someone at my church got a GLS V6, black, and just loves it. I have seen a black LX in the parking lot of my wife's eye clinic each time we've been there recently--must be someone who works there. I saw one '06 Accord the other day, but that's it. No Fusion (or Milan) sightings yet--but they and the '06 Accord have only been out a couple of months.
And exactly what this discussion is for is a comparison of the specific vehicles in the topics. The vehicles themselves, not the manufacturers.
Thank you.
I'm glad you like the My Recent Post thing - I think that was a great addition for just the reason you say. I hope you and everyone have noticed the really terrific increase in response time after this last upgrade. I'm pretty astounded at the improvement!
In terms of the hair-pulling and abnormal head growths, yah, these are indeed hazards of the trade. But I think what might suffer the most is the wall beside my desk. It's really developing some serious dents from the head-banging ... I do have a very hard head otherwise known as a thick skull, um, yeah ...
We used to have a Talk to the Hosts discussion but it got swallowed up by the newbies who didn't know where to post. I guess if anyone wants to "talk to the hosts", the Forums Discussion Finder discussion is still the best place, even though the name would not particularly lead you there. But do give it a shot if that's what you'd like to do.
Now, as some have said (I b'lieve I was one of 'em!), repeat after me:
Sonata/Accord/Camry/Fusion
Sonata/Accord/Camry/Fusion
Sonata/Accord/Camry/Fusion
Sonata/Accord/Camry/Fusion
:P
Also, any hints at the next Altima, what it will pack, and how much it should cost?
the grad
You can't go wrong with the cars in this grouping (I'll be kind and go ahead and say the Fusion belongs, but after driving one TOD, I wouldn't buy it ahead of these other 3)
~alpha
If you like the 6 you'll probably love the 07 Camry. Great photos of it on the Camry board. I like it. I think Toyota will solidify its hold on top dog in this lineup with this redesign. Its got the Lexus look going. CAn't wait for its dealer debut.
Drove in an Azera Saturday. Talk about bland. Hyundai certainly went the inoffensive route there. No pizazz.
These are the kinds of "intelligent" comments I just love--insinuating that the smart people buy Hondas and Toyotas, and the others--that would be the stupid people, right?--buy Hyundais.
I bought two Hyundais, and I like the Sonata, so call me stupid I guess. But did I move from smart to stupid all at once, when I went from being a Honda and Toyota owner to Hyundais, or was it gradual? I went through some Nissans etc. first. :confuse:
I'm sorry to be so hard-nosed about this, but if this discussion is going to continue, we have GOT to get back on topic. Period.
Thanks to any and all who are willing to help that happen.
The Altima, Mazda 6, or even Impala would be more comparable to the Sonata or Fusion....
If you want to compare the Altima, Mazda6 and Impala to the Accord and Camry it's really easy to set up a discussion to do that.
If you want to compare the Altima, Mazda6 and Impala to the Accord and Camry it's really easy to set up a discussion to do that.
Well, it got started because of the numerous one-on-one comparos that people had started. I originally started with six competitors, but the host wisely decided that four would be the most that one forum could handle. (I had included the Nissan Altima and Mazda 6 as well as these four).
While I think the Sonata is a great vehicle, I have yet to see a comparison where the Sonata beats the Accord and Camry where similar trim lines are considered. (In M/T and C/D, the Sonata beat the Camry but not the Accord... and in C/D, the Sonata's win was a mere 3 points over the 5 year old Camry).
Now, at similar price points, hell yes, I'd take a V6 Sonata over a 4 cylinder Camry or Accord.
~alpha
That's kind of lame. There's a "cute ute" forum that compares the Escape/Tribute, Liberty, Forester, Vue, Grand Vitara and Santa Fe.
Is this one limited to 4 due to the popularity of the cars in question? Pat?
I for one would like to see the Mazda6 and Altima included as they add something that is lacking in the other 4. Style and soul. If you think about it there is a clear cut meter in which to gauge all six of these mid-sized competitors as no two are exactly alike in what they bring to the table.
It's kind of like the left and right of politics actually, but here we have a conservative end and a sporty end. :P