Scotty, What your thoughts about the current generation of the Honda Accord? I know it's still a fairly new model but what I can gather Camry and Accord still hold the crown for midsize cars and Honda has a good track record for reliability with the Accord. Thanks.
How many years and miles are you planning to get out of it? If you are hoping to put hundreds of thousands of miles on it, we just don’t know how long it will hold up. You have a better chance with the Camry (but NOT with the Dynamic Force Engine naturally aspirated I4 - stick to the more true and tried NA V6), although jury is out on its 8-speed AT. If it were my money and decision, and I like to keep all my vehicles for a long time, I would not get the Honda Accord. For the Honda Accord, besides being more susceptible to oil dilution in the Honda 1.5L (and even 2.0L) turbo charged GDI engines, the engine is also direct-injection only and susceptible to carbon buildup on the back of the intake valves over time (which equates to more maintenance and $$ to address periodically). The Camry has none of those shortcomings, and better to deal with a naturally aspirated engine (provided it is reliable) over a turbocharged one (if given a choice). And no one knows about the longevity of the Honda designed 10-speed AT (I’ll take my chances on the Camry’s 8-speed versus the Honda’s 10-speed).
I think overall they’re fantastic cars, but I’d stay away from the 10-speed auto and get either the CVT or manual. I don’t believe they still offer the manual in the 2021 model, so if that’s the year you want, get the CVT and not the 10-speed. Honda seems to make relatively solid CVTs but their conventional automatics are relatively weak.
I have the 2020 Accord 2.0T Sport with the 10-speed. It has been an excellent car for 1 year/17k miles so far. In fact, it's been so good I just added another Honda to my fleet yesterday: a 2021 Honda Ridgeline Sport HPD AWD. I'm impressed with Honda's quality so far. Of course, our 2015 Toyota Camry XLE is still kicking along at 76k miles. Only issues we have had with it are 2 full brake jobs. For some reason, the brakes don't seem to hold up as well as the previous model.
I've had ZERO issues from Honda's 10-speed. Very smooth shifts and I get around 35MPG mixed driving as long as I'm easy on the gas.
Congratulations!
Thank you