Family Sedan Face-Off- Toyota Camry vs. Kia K5 vs. Hyundai Sonata vs. Honda Accord | MotorTrend

Without a doubt, sedans used to be the backbone of the automotive industry. Since then, SUVs have taken over so that is no longer the case, but that doesn't mean there are no more good sedans to buy. With me are four excellent mainstream midsize sedans. The Honda Accord, the Hyundai Sonata, the Toyota Camry, and the Kia K5. We're going to drive them all, check them all out, and tell you which one is the best one. The trusty Honda Accord. This latest generation debuted last year, so basically everything you see here is brand new. Honda's new corporate face with the hexagonal grille can be seen here, and there's almost a fastback design to its shape. Let's go around back, take a look at that. You see that? Little fastback design. That's cool. Silver trim looks nice too. Around back, the taillights make great use of this flat horizontal line, making the Accord look modern but not over-designed. You know, it's like the Camry. They want to sell a lot of these things. They can't alienate anyone, so they have to make the car look good but not scare anybody off with radical design. Inside, if you've seen the new Civic at all, it's basically the same car. So you have more of that horizontal design language going across the entire length of the dashboard. The use of piano trim here is a little concerning to me, as I think it will be a challenge to keep clean. Anybody who has piano black will attest to this. You get nice big cup holders, charge port for wireless charging for one phone, room for a couple of others, and also charge ports if you need to plug anything in. Nice dials and buttons. Nice flame knob. The one thing I take issue with in this interior is the screen. Not that it has a screen. That's inevitable. It's the screen placement. I feel like at this point in 2024, we can integrate screens better into dashboards. This one still looks like it was just pasted on top. You know, I don't love it. It makes the otherwise pretty modern interior look kind of dated, but it is what it is. This is a nice steering wheel, though. It's leather wrapped. Feels quality. This door panel, this door card here. I feel like I could have used more color instead of just black. Personally, I like more color. Your backseat, spacious, of course, room for three. It's good that there are vents back here for passengers, and there are charge ports in case you need to charge your devices. No storage space here, though. Interesting. Let's look at the cupholders. Am I right? Oh, I'm right, too. Nice. As for the trunk, look at how small this logo is here. Everyone's always doing bigger, bigger logos. Honda does a smaller logo. It's nice. Oh, yeah, this is definitely very adequate trunk space. It's wide. It's deep. This is a good class. The midsize sedan is a good class. Plenty of storage space for all your stuff. And if you need any more space, those seats fold down, right? You can see those anchors right there. Those seats fold down, and you can fit basically whatever you want in here. Today's Accord is in the Touring trim, which means it is the most option-out Accord you can buy. Luxury touches include laminated windshield and front door glass to cut down on wind noise, as well as ventilated front seats and heated rear seat. There's wireless charging, a 12-speaker Bose sound system, built-in Google applications, as well as a head-up display. And as the top-of-the-line Accord, the only available engine is the hybrid, which is a 2-liter unit that makes 204 horsepower and 247 pound-feet of torque. All 2024 Accords are front-drive, and mileage estimates bring it to 46 miles per gallon in the city, 41 on the highway, and 44 combined. Accord Touring Hybrids start around $38,000. Things in the Honda Accord feel grown-up, mature, and very well-assembled. The steering wheel, for example, is so good in the hand. It feels so upscale, and everything just feels, like, screwed down really well. Solid, substantive quality. It's good. Punches above its weight. I mean, it's the Accord. Like, the world will end. The Accord will still be here. It's the kind of strength that this model has. Yeah, so we've been cruising around town in all-electric mode, or at least mostly electric mode. The switch between electric and when the gas engine kicks in, seamless. You don't even notice it happening. It's a very, very nice hybrid system. The road chatter is coming in, despite the laminated glass. But I think this road is particularly bad. And there is... Oh, yes, there is lane centering, which is happening now. Let's see how it takes this turn. Not great. Who likes to put us in the middle of the lane? No, I... This is not... I don't... I'm turning this off. I don't like it. It likes to put you way too close to the center lane for my liking. Like, I felt it turning, but if I were driving, I would have started following the road way earlier. Ride is good. I don't know if this counts for anything, but also good tactile feedback in the turn signal. Drive mode's right down here. Whoa, you put it in sport mode immediately. The engine is louder. There's a little more theater to this when you put it in sport mode. It's kind of fun. Yeah, that's good. Power is where it needs to be. There's definitely some weight and heft to this chassis. That being said, because everything feels so well put together and assembled, kind of makes it feel like one solid mass. Everything is working in harmony with each other. There's adequate power everywhere. The transmission's been keeping up just fine. Brakes are smooth. Steering is pretty good too. Not terribly quick, but certainly fast enough to keep up with what we're doing right now. Kia K5. Always been a fan of this thing. I've always thought the exterior design looked like it was punching way above its weight for how much Kia sells it for. And especially in this most recent refresh, they added this really attractive amber constellation-looking running light. Let's go take a closer look at that. As you can see, there's that S-shaped design, plus that nice swoop down the middle. It reminds me of the light that is on the EB9 and EB3, though obviously the K5 is not electric. I think behind the Sonata, the K5 is the second most visually interesting car that we have here today. It's certainly very sporty looking and very sculpted with all kinds of cool body panel lines. The only thing I don't really love about the design is this floating roof look here, this piece of silver trim. I think that makes it look a little dead. The biggest change comes from the back, where things have been cleaned up and simplified, so it's less cluttered. Taking a look inside, it's pretty basic K5 stuff still. It's not hugely different. So it means a steering wheel, and then all your infotainment stuff is a good mix of touchscreen and physical controls. That big panoramic screen you should be used to seeing if you've spent time in any modern Kias. Liking this wood-looking design here, especially a special call out there. Also, it's nice that there are charge ports here, as well as a single charge pad, and also it looks like a little shell for your phone. Nice two wide cup holders here, additional storage here, nice chunky gear selector lever, and I just like that there are buttons for the things that you would need. I think that's really nice. Now moving to the back, room for three with ample headroom, and climate vents and additional charge port for these passengers. So it's basic stuff, but it is expected basic stuff. As for the trunk, it's pretty decent. Definitely deep. It gets a little narrower towards the back there to make room for the wheels. There's nothing to be done about that, but this front section is quite wide. Plus you get folding seats, which can lower those rear seats in case you need to put something bigger back there. So handy. Today's K5 comes to us in the EX trim, which is mid-tier. This is the K5's volume seller, so Kia paid special attention to it as part of the 2025 refresh. As a result, EX K5s get a Bose sound system, 10-way power driver's seat, 360 degree camera, and heated steering wheel as standard. I know, it's pretty fully loaded. The EX also gets 18-inch wheels. Beneath the hood, a 2.5-liter four-cylinder puts out 191 horsepower and 182 pound-feet of torque and sends it to the front wheels. At this time, there is no hybrid K5, so EPA economy for the front-drive EX is 25 miles per gallon in the city, 36 on the highway, and 29 combined. K5 EXs have a starting MSRP of $35,645. Oh, whoa, this has heated steering wheel and heated and cooled seats in a Kia? Man, living in a lap of luxury here. If you told me like 10, 15 years ago that a Kia would have heated and cooled seats and a stylish interior like this and this nice panoramic screen, I'd put a laugh in your face. I think everybody would have. So loud. All right, just with that initial acceleration, so the rest of the K5, so stylish, so sporty, so sleek. The engine sound at least a little crude. It's a little loud. I am a little surprised. I think it should be better insulated from the cabin. We got moving now and it's great. I wouldn't say this is the fastest car in the entire world. I mean, it got up to speed just fine, but listen to how hard the engine is working. It's kind of surprising. We went over some chattery road back there. You could definitely hear it in the cabin. So I think in this regard, on roads like this and acceleration pulls like that, the K5's budget appeal shows through more than perhaps you would like it to. But yes, it's there. This is a car that's like around $30,000. And in those situations, it feels and sounds like a car that's around $30,000. I mean, it's not an unpleasant sound. It just sounds like engine working very hard where I don't expect to hear it. And up these hills, you can feel the car working a little bit just to get his thumb up the hill. But yes, what we were talking about before was there's nice wood trim, the steering wheel is leather wrapped, and this is not even the highest trim K5 there is. It makes me think in lieu of a more refined driving dynamic, it gives you a lot of upscale touches. And for a lot of people, that is a perfectly good trade. On this road here, very agreeable. Feels happy once you get it up to speed, likes to stay at speed. But just if you introduce a little bit of an incline, gotta feed in some more pedal travel. I also had a chance to try out the adaptive cruise control. I thought it was really nice. It kept me nicely centered in the lane, definitely took off a lot of fatigue in those long drives. This system does not have the assisted lane change that higher up Kias like the Sorento have. So you still have to change your own lanes while you're using adaptive cruise control. Other than that, though, I think it's a very intuitive system. You can trust it. Again, I'm flummoxed that this is stuff that you can get on a mainstream midsize Kia. This was unthinkable not that long ago. I think of all the automakers out there, Kia has made probably the biggest strides into giving people more bang for their buck. As the Kia K5, the first thing I noticed at least was how grabby this brake is. There's like a lot of pressure right up top, a lot of pinch right when you start to depress the pedal, and then it sort of goes away after a while. It's interesting. So this Toyota Camry, entirely new generation. This is the brand new Camry, and we have it here at Car of the Year. Cool stuff. As for styling and design, well, if you've seen the new Prius, then you've seen the new Camry. So Toyota basically took a lot of the new styling elements from the Prius, put it on the Camry, not complaining because I think the Prius looks great. So you have that hammerhead looking headlight design, as well as the grill shape. Let's go and take a closer look. And as an entirely new generation, Toyota didn't go really ham on redesigning the Camry. It still looks like a Camry. That's not a bad thing though, but it's an automaker that has traditionally leaned more conservative, and the Camry as a volume seller, it makes sense that they don't rock the boat too much. As for me, I can't wait to see these as the new fleet of Uber and Lyft taxi cabs in New York City. But I must say in this pearlescent white, looks really good under the desert sun. So let's check out the inside. Inside, you get a thoroughly modernized interior. That's a nice big screen there that has been integrated smoothly with the rest of the dashboard. And I'm really enjoying those vent strakes that double as design accents for the passenger side. Oh, and speaking of the passenger side, this little segmentation that's happening here kind of makes the passenger area look and feel like a cockpit. So it's definitely a little sportier. Take a look at this cool fabric trim here. Like the quilted fabric, that's usually something you see on cars way more expensive, but here it is on a Camry. As for cup holders, well, we've got two cup holders here, especially a little bigger and a little deeper, but you know, it is what it is. And here's another little area for knickknacks or whatever. And one charging port and space for one phone, but I suppose you could put phone over there too. I like that there are buttons for all of the climate controls. And I see the volume knob right here. That's already great. And this cubby right here offers a decent amount of room. Checking out the back, we have room for three, of course, pocket here, vents for your backseat passengers, as well as charging ports. I will just note though, because of the sloped design of the roof, if you're a little taller, you might bonk your head on it. So just watch out for that. Checking out the trunk, it's decent. I mean, the Camry trunk has always been good. So this one, of course, does not disappoint. There are areas here that you can pull that will lower those rear seats so you can store extra things back there. Very, very handy. I mean, it's a Camry, guys. Toyota has been making these things forever. Toyota will be making them forever and they'll likely run forever. And so while the Camry didn't get huge upgrades outside, it sure did inside. Toyota made the executive decision to make the Camry hybrid only for this latest generation, which means that V6 version isn't a thing anymore. Instead, all Camrys are offered with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine paired with two electric motors. Front drive models get 225 horsepower. Adding a third electric motor to power the rear wheels for all-wheel drive models gets you 232 horsepower. This Camry is the XLE front drive version, which is the trim that's the top comfort-oriented grade. With it, you get 18-inch wheels, leather and microfiber interior trim, heated seats, eight-way power driver and passenger seats, and front side acoustic laminated glass for a quieter cabin. And the EPA estimated mileage figures? You ready? 48 miles per gallon in the city, 47 on the highway, and 47 combined. We love to see it, folks. XLE front drive Camrys start at $34,495. Chatter, chatter, chatter road in the Toyota Camry. Chatter, chatter, chatter. Can't completely erase it. I've accepted it. That's fine. While coming out here, though, seamless handshake between electric hybrid system and internal combustion. Absolutely seamless. And there's a dial right here that shows you exactly when that handoff is happening. So it kind of becomes a game. You're like, am I using gas? Am I not using gas? It's kind of fun. And then you can see exactly when you charge. And there is regen braking. You can feel it when you take your foot off the accelerator and you coast to a stop. You can absolutely feel it. This vehicle feels thoroughly modern. I mean, it only came out earlier this year. It is brand new and it feels brand spanking new. It's like the most innovative stuff the Toyota's got so far. It's here. I went on the first drive of this car in San Diego all those months ago. I remember having a blast with it on those canyon roads. The center of gravity was so low. I was shocked by how enjoyable it was. And it's happening again. I'm already having a blast and we haven't even really hit the fun roads. We're just cruising here. And so far, everything has been refined. Like the Honda, things feel buttoned down, put together really well. And since we're going downhill, feeding all that energy right back into the battery. This interface is easy to read too. You can see how full the battery is. It's kind of nice. It's become a game now. You show me a dial like that. Driving becomes a game. Oh, this steering is nice. This is an accurate and it's a quick system. Can't retake the transmission. Cool. Nice. Keeps it in power band. Hustles it right up the hill. I think this could use better tires. I've driven this path and other cars at the same speeds. Haven't heard an entire chatter. But that's easily fixable. The brakes are smooth too. There's no weird grabbing. It's very linear. Seamless action. So you're never guessing how much feedback to put in as to what you're getting out of it. It's good lean in the corners. And this is the comfort Camry. What's the sporty Camry like? There has to be a GR Camry in the works. There has to be. This chassis is so good. Anyway, yeah, the car feels engaged, lively. A very willing dance partner to you. And to think all of this comes from conservative Toyota. Sure, there's the GR line, the GR Corolla, GR Supra. But this is a Camry. This is for like Cam drivers and our moms. And yet here we are having a ball. The Hyundai Sonata already looked great. And then they redesigned it. And now it looks leaps forward than before. Love it. Actually, it looks kind of like Robocop, but in a good way. And especially compared to the more conservative styling of the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry. This is a really nice departure from all of that stuff. Look, it even has fender vents. I mean, they're cosmetic, but they're there. We got a nice swoopy design here. Cool visual accents along this piece of black trim. And a nice geometric taillight design with a Heck blend. I think it's called a Heck blend. Straight line taillight. So inside it is very much in the style of the new Santa Fe. You'll recognize this pano screen here. I really like the shape of the steering wheel, though. Let's talk about that for a second. It's also got that nice horizontal design that you see on the front and the back. We do love consistency here. These seats look quite plush and they are fabric. That's true. And look, they even put this little design here like that. Makes it a little more upscale. Love it. This white leather armrest here. Not sure about this. I feel like this would get dirty pretty quickly. This is a high touch area. But here you get room for at least two smartphones. Plenty of charging ports. Cup holders. Big, roomy. This looks pretty touch screen heavy. We'll see what that's like in practice. But there is a volume knob. I see it right there. I sniped that volume knob. Gotta make sure they're taking them away from us. That's also a cool little armrest design on the door, too. In the back. Entry exit point looks a little tight. Again, our taller friends might want to exercise caution. But once we're in here, I mean, the headroom looks pretty good. Decent. There are no back seat pouches back here. Interestingly, perhaps they think that you'll just use this door pocket here. But I don't know about you. I wonder if they put things in the door pocket. I forget about them. Probably couldn't out of my line of sight. I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that there are no vents back here for passengers. There are charge ports, though, but I'd almost want to trade the charge ports for the vents because there's so many ports up front. Just get an extra long cable you can share. I'd rather be comfortable. Cool visuals here, though, just like the rest of the car. As for the trunk, it is decent. Pretty deep, pretty wide. I think you'd be able to fit a lot of stuff in here. And plus, the seats fold down. This Sonata is the all-wheel drive SEL trim. As its name suggests, there's all-wheel drive with the help of a 2.5 liter four cylinder that makes 191 horsepower and 181 pound feet of torque. EPA estimated ranges are 25 miles per gallon in the city, 34 on the highway, and 28 combined. For the size of the car and its all-wheel drive system, these numbers are pretty standard. Your base Sonata SEL all-wheel drive starts at a very reasonable $30,150. This one also has no help from a hybrid system. So what we're getting here is pure unfiltered internal combustion engine. As a result, you can hear and feel a little more strain up these hills. Just like the Kia K5, there's this large panoramic, well, not panoramic, but this large extra wide infotainment driver cluster screen combination here. I've got sunglasses on. It's very bright out. You can see it very easily. The climate controls are touch sensitive. However, not buttons and coming from all these cars that have lovely buttons for all this stuff. This is a bit of a disappointment to see all your stuff as touch screen climate controls. At least it's not hidden behind a menu like certain other cars you have to navigate a menu to get to a climate here. This screen right here, always dedicated climate. So at least that part doesn't move anywhere. Your drive modes are handled down here via a button. There's an extra mode here the K5 did not have, which is snow mode owing to the fact that this powertrain is all wheel drive, whereas the Kia was just front wheel drive. We'll see how that makes a difference in the canyons in a little bit. But those of you living in places with inclement weather, pay attention. This one is all wheel drive. So far, the gear shifts seem rather imperceptible. I don't have as much confidence in this car as I do the other ones. I think it's because the chassis is more comfort oriented. It feels inherently a little less happy in this situation. Come on, come on, come on. Oh, come on. It upshifted for me. Oh my God, where's power? There it is. Lost it for a second. No trust. Where is the trust? Yeah, so the Camry and the Accord back here in sport mode, they just like snap into it. This one, the steering, I find is I think it's I think my biggest problem with it is the steering. The power is fine. Transmission is kind of dopey. I don't like that it overruled me. I know what I'm doing. It's the steering. It's pretty numb. There's almost no feedback coming in through the through the rack. So I feel like I'm guessing a little bit with what's about to happen and what's happening with the front wheels. Flowiness with which it negotiates these curves. I think there could be a little more initial bite in the brakes at the top of the pedal just to get things going a little sooner. A little more, a little more brake pressure earlier would be appreciated. It feels like it needs a little something to get it moving faster at low end. Not something that you would really think about if you didn't just get out of a hybrid. That is one of those things, though, that sets a hybrid apart from a non-hybrid. As we have demonstrated, all four of these cars have their own strengths and weaknesses. But seeing as this is a comparison review, we got to pick a favorite. And so the verdict is as follows. In fourth place, Kia K5. In third place, Honda Accord. In second place, Hyundai Sonata. And sitting pretty in first place, Toyota Camry. So how did we arrive at this conclusion? How do we how do we get here? Well, to start me and three other editors, Everyone loved the way the K5 looked. It's sporty, it's sculpted, even the inside outfitted for a midsize mainstream sedan. We loved it. However, we found that the powertrain just couldn't back up all of the claims that design was making. It looks way sportier than it drives, and we just couldn't get over the fact that it was an unrefined powertrain. It just wasn't that impressive. It was loud. It wasn't that fast. And Lian's in particular, who is 6'10", felt that just a little little difficulty fitting in the K5. Doesn't mean it's a bad car, just behind all the rest of the competition here. Now, third and second place was where it got a little interesting. We duked it out between the Sonata and the Accord and finally decided that the Accord would be in third place. And the Accord is still a wonderful car. We love how smooth the hybrid system is, how comfortable it is. The brakes feel great. The interior is so luxe for an Accord. That part is great. Now, the biggest issue that we took was actually with the price. This Accord Touring is the highest trim Accord that you can get, which means with all the bells and whistles and everything, it's $40,000, which is a lot to ask for in a mainstream midsize sedan. So yes, there is a hybrid system and it's very nice. But then if you compare it to the hybrid system in the Camry, Camry pulls ahead a little bit and we'll get to that in just a second. Now, in second place, the Hyundai Sonata, we really like this car. The looks can be polarizing. I personally think it's very modern and sleek. I liked it a lot. But what we liked most of all was that it is just a car that does car things. There's no fanciness to it. There's no complex hybrid system. It is just an engine where you get into it, it will bring you to work. But at the same time, it is such a cohesive package. Everything feels like it works really well together. It's just pleasant to be in. The interior is great. And most of all, Hyundai did the thing that was actually kind of rare. They sent us a not top trim loaded to the gills model, which means that this car definitely has more to be optioned with. But as it stands right now, you don't feel like you're lacking. It means that Hyundai does not punish you for not getting the highest trim. And we like that here at Motor Trend. And finally, in first place position was the Toyota Camry. We felt that the hybrid performance, the perfect blend of battery and gasoline engine, how smooth it was around town, how eagerly it got out of stoplight situations. All of that was so great. And bonus fact, it was pretty fun on back roads. We thought it was a little tight and everyone else who's taller than me, which is to say literally everyone else, a little tight. And I can agree, it can be a little claustrophobic in that cabin. But in the way of how much that car costs and what incredible mileage you get, it really can't be beat. It is thoroughly modern, feels great. Excellent job, Toyota. That is the conclusion of our four-way midsize mainstream sedan test. If you want more information, you'll find words by yours truly up at MotorTrend.com. Otherwise, give us a subscribe. And thank you so much for watching. We'll see you next time.