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For those rejecting the SUV
Transcript
00:00Without a doubt, sedans used to be the backbone of the automotive industry.
00:04Since then, SUVs have taken over, so that is no longer the case, but that doesn't
00:08mean there are no more good sedans to buy. With me are four excellent
00:13mainstream midsize sedans. The Honda Accord, the Hyundai Sonata, the Toyota
00:17Camry, and the Kia K5. We're gonna drive them all, check them all out, and tell
00:21you which one is the best one.
00:28The trusty Honda Accord. This latest generation debuted last year, so
00:33basically everything you see here is brand new.
00:36Honda's new corporate face with the hexagonal grille can be seen here, and
00:40there's almost a fastback design to its shape. Let's go around back, take a look
00:45at that. You see that? Little fastback design. That's cool.
00:48Silver trim looks nice, too. Around back, the taillights make great use of this
00:55flat horizontal line, making the Accord look modern but not over-designed. You
01:03know, it's like the Camry. They want to sell a lot of these things. They can't
01:07alienate anyone, so they have to make the car look good but not scare anybody off
01:11with radical design. Inside, if you've seen the new Civic at all, it's basically
01:18the same car. So you have more of that horizontal design language going across
01:23the entire length of the dashboard. The use of piano trim here is a little
01:27concerning to me, as I think it will be a challenge to keep clean. Anybody who has
01:31piano black will attest to this. But you get nice big cup holders, charge port for
01:36wireless charging for one phone, room for a couple of others, and also charge ports
01:42if you need to plug anything in. Nice dials and buttons. Nice volume knob. The one
01:48thing I take issue with in this interior is the screen. Not that it has a screen,
01:52that's inevitable. It's the screen placement. I feel like at this point in
01:562024, we can integrate screens better into dashboards. This one still looks
02:00like it was, like, just pasted on top. You know, I don't love it. It makes the
02:05otherwise pretty modern interior look kind of dated, but it is what it is. This
02:09is a nice steering wheel, though. It's leather-wrapped. Feels quality. This door
02:13panel, this door card here. I feel like I could have used more color instead of just
02:17black. Personally, I like more color. Your back seat. Spacious, of course. Room for
02:26three. It's good that there are vents back here for passengers, and there are
02:31charge ports in case you need to charge your devices. No storage space here,
02:35though. Interesting. Let's look at the cupholders. Am I right? Oh, I'm right, too.
02:40Nice. As for the trunk, oh, look at how small this logo is. Everyone's always
02:47doing bigger, bigger logos. Honda does a smaller logo. It's nice. Oh, yeah. This is
02:52definitely very adequate trunk space. It's wide. It's deep. This is a good class.
02:57The midsize sedan is a good class. Plenty of storage space for all your stuff, and
03:03if you need any more space, those seats fold down, right? You can see those anchors
03:06right there. Those seats fold down, and you can fit basically whatever you want
03:10in here. Today's Accord is in the Touring trim, which means it is the most option-out
03:15Accord you can buy. Luxury touches include laminated windshield and front
03:20door glass to cut down on wind noise, as well as ventilated front seats and heated
03:24rear seats. There's wireless charging, a 12-speaker Bose sound system, built-in
03:28Google applications, as well as a head-up display. And as the top-of-the-line
03:33Accord, the only available engine is the hybrid, which is a 2-liter unit that makes
03:37204 horsepower and 247 pound-feet of torque. All 2024 Accords are front-drive,
03:44and mileage estimates bring it to 46 miles per gallon in the city, 41 on the highway,
03:49and 44 combined. Accord Touring Hybrids start around $38,000. Things in the Honda
03:56Accord feel grown-up, mature, and very well-assembled. This steering wheel, for example,
04:03is so good in the hand. It feels so upscale. And everything just feels, like, screwed down
04:10really well. Solid, substantive quality. It's good. Punches above its weight. I mean,
04:18it's the Accord. Like, the world will end, and the Accord will still be here.
04:24It's the kind of strength that this model has. Yeah, so we've been cruising around town in
04:30all-electric mode, or at least mostly electric mode. The switch between electric and when the
04:37gas engine kicks in, seamless. You don't even notice it happening. It's a very, very nice hybrid
04:44system. The road chatter is coming in, despite the laminated glass. But I think this road is
04:52particularly bad. And there is, oh yes, there is lane centering, which is happening now. Let's
04:59see how it takes this turn. Not great. It likes to put us in the middle of the lane.
05:09No, I, this is not, I don't, I'm turning this off. I don't like it.
05:14It likes to put you waging close to the center lane, for my liking. Like, I felt it turning,
05:21but I, if I were driving, I would have started following the road way earlier. Ride is good.
05:32I don't know if this counts for anything, but also good tactile feedback in the turn signal.
05:36Drive mode's right down here.
05:41Whoa, you put it in sport mode immediately. The engine is louder.
05:47There's a little more theater to this when you put it in sport mode.
05:50It's kind of fun. Yeah, that's good. Power is where it needs to be.
05:57There's definitely some weight and heft to this chassis. That being said, because everything feels
06:07so well to put together and assembled, kind of makes it feel like one solid mass.
06:17Everything is working in harmony with each other. There's adequate power everywhere.
06:22The transmission's been keeping up just fine. Brakes are smooth. Steering is pretty good, too.
06:32Not terribly quick, but certainly fast enough to keep up with what we're doing right now.
06:39Kia K5. Always been a fan of this thing. I've always thought the exterior design
06:43looked like it was punching way above its weight for how much Kia sells it for. And
06:48especially in this most recent refresh, they added this really attractive amber
06:54constellation-looking running light. Let's go take a closer look at that.
06:57As you can see, there's that S-shaped design, plus that nice swoop down the middle. It reminds
07:02me of the light that is on the EB9 and EB3, though obviously the K5 is not electric.
07:09I think behind the Sonata, the K5 is the second most visually interesting car that we have here
07:14today. It's certainly very sporty looking and very sculpted with all kinds of cool body panel
07:19lines. The only thing I don't really love about the design is this floating roof look here,
07:25this piece of silver trim. I think that makes it look a little dead. The biggest change comes from
07:29the back, where things have been cleaned up and simplified, so it's less cluttered.
07:36Taking a look inside, it's pretty basic K5 stuff still. It's not hugely different,
07:41so it means a steering wheel, and then all your equipment stuff is a good mix of touchscreen
07:46and physical controls. That big panoramic screen you should be used to seeing if you've spent time
07:52in any modern Kias, liking this wood-looking design here. Especially a special call out there.
07:59Also, it's nice that there are charge ports here, as well as a single charge pad, and also it looks
08:06like a little shelf for your phone. Nice two wide cupholders here, additional storage here,
08:13nice chunky gear selector lever, and I just like that there are buttons for the things that you
08:18would need. I think that's really nice. Now, moving to the back, room for three, with AMOLED
08:26room for three, with ample headroom, and climate vents, and additional charge ports for these
08:34passengers. So it's basic stuff, but it is expected basic stuff. As for the trunk,
08:40it's pretty decent. Definitely deep. It gets a little narrower towards the back there to make
08:46room for the wheels. There's nothing to be done about that, but this front section is quite wide.
08:51Plus, you get folding seats, which can lower those rear seats in case you need to put something
08:57bigger back there. So, handy. Today's K5 comes to us in the EX trim, which is mid-tier. This is the
09:05K5's volume seller, so Kia paid special attention to it as part of the 2025 refresh. As a result,
09:12EX K5s get a Bose sound system, 10-way power driver seat, 360-degree camera, and heated steering wheel
09:20as standard. I know, it's pretty fully loaded. The EX also gets 18-inch wheels. Beneath the hood,
09:27a 2.5-liter four-cylinder puts out 191 horsepower and 182 pound-feet of torque and sends it to the
09:33front wheels. At this time, there is no hybrid K5, so EPA economy for the front-drive EX is 25
09:41miles per gallon in the city, 36 on the highway, and 29 combined. K5 EXs have a starting MSRP of
09:49$35,645. Oh, whoa, this has heated steering wheel and heated and cooled seats in a Kia van.
10:04Living in a lap of luxury here. If you told me, like, 10, 15 years ago that a Kia would have
10:10heated and cooled seats and a stylish interior like this and this nice panoramic screen,
10:16I'd put a laugh in your face. I think everybody would have.
10:22So loud. All right, just with that initial acceleration, so the rest of the
10:31K5, so stylish, so sporty, so sleek. The engine sound, at least, a little crude. It's a little
10:42loud. I'm a little surprised. I think it should be better insulated from the cabin. We got moving
10:50now, and it's great. I wouldn't say this is the fastest car in the entire world. I mean,
10:57it got up to speed just fine, but listen to how hard the engine is working. It's kind of surprising.
11:04We went over some chattery road back there. You could definitely hear it in the cabin.
11:10So I think in this regard, on roads like this and acceleration pulls like that,
11:15the K5's budget appeal shows through more than perhaps Kia would like it to, but yes, it's there.
11:27This is a car that's like around $30,000,
11:30and in those situations, it feels and sounds like a car that's around $30,000.
11:37I mean, it's not an unpleasant sound. It just sounds like engine working very hard,
11:42where I don't expect to hear it. And up these hills, you can feel the car working a little bit
11:48just to get his thumb up the hill. But yeah, so we were talking about the K5,
11:55but yes, what we were talking about before was this. There's nice wood trim, the steering wheel
12:01is leather wrapped, and this is not even the highest trim K5 there is. It makes me think
12:07in lieu of a more refined driving dynamic, it gives you a lot of upscale touches.
12:15And for a lot of people, that is a perfectly good trade on this road here. Very agreeable.
12:21Feels happy once you get it up to speed, likes to stay at speed. But just if you
12:27introduce a little bit of an incline, gotta gotta feed in some more pedal travel.
12:35I also had a chance to try out the adaptive cruise control. I thought it was really nice.
12:41It kept me nicely centered in the lane, definitely took off a lot of fatigue in those long drives.
12:48This system does not have the assisted lane change that higher up KIAs like the Sorento have.
12:57So you still have to change your own lanes while you're using adaptive cruise control.
13:02Other than that, though, I think it's a very intuitive system. You can trust it. Again, I'm
13:09flummoxed that this is stuff that you can get on a mainstream midsize KIA.
13:19This was unthinkable not that long ago. I think of all the automakers out there,
13:23KIA has made probably the biggest strides into giving people more bang for their buck.
13:32The KIA K5, the first thing I noticed at least was how grabby this brake is.
13:41There's a lot of pressure right up top, a lot of pinch right when you start to depress the pedal.
13:52And then it sort of goes away after a while. It's interesting.
13:59So this Toyota Camry, entirely new generation. This is the brand new Camry and we have it here
14:04at Car of the Year. Cool stuff. As for styling and design, well, if you've seen the new Prius,
14:09then you've seen the new Camry. So Toyota basically took a lot of the new styling
14:13elements from the Prius, put it on the Camry, not complaining because I think the Prius looks great.
14:17So you have that hammerhead looking headlight design as well as the grille shape. Let's go
14:23and take a closer look. And as an entirely new generation, Toyota didn't go really ham
14:29on redesigning the Camry. It still looks like a Camry. That's not a bad thing, though, but
14:34it's an automaker that has traditionally leaned more conservative. And the Camry as a volume
14:39seller, it makes sense that they don't rock the boat too much. As for me, I can't wait to see
14:46these as the new fleet of Uber and Lyft taxicabs in New York City. But I must say in this pearlescent
14:53white looks really good under the desert sun. So let's check out the inside. Inside, you get a
15:00thoroughly modernized interior. That's a nice big screen there that has been integrated smoothly
15:05with the rest of the dashboard. And I'm really enjoying those vent strakes that double as design
15:13accents for the passenger side. Oh, and speaking of the passenger side, this little segmentation
15:18that's happening here kind of makes the passenger area look and feel like a cockpit. So it's
15:23definitely a little sportier. Take a look at this cool fabric trim here, like the quilted fabric.
15:30You know, that's usually something you see on cars way more expensive. But here it is on a Camry.
15:36As for cup holders, well, we've got two cup holders here, especially a little bigger and a little
15:42deeper. But, you know, it is what it is. And here's another little area for knickknacks or whatever.
15:49And one charging port and space for one phone. But I suppose you could put phone over there, too.
15:55I like that there are buttons for all of the climate controls. And I see the volume knob
16:00right here. That's already great. And this cubby right here offers a decent amount of room.
16:08Checking out the back, we have room for three, of course, pocket here,
16:16vents for your backseat passengers as well as charging ports. I will just note, though, because
16:24of the sloped design of the roof, if you're a little taller, you might bonk your head on it.
16:30So just watch out for that. Checking out the trunk, it's decent. I mean, the Camry trunk has
16:37always been good. So this one, of course, does not disappoint. There are areas here that you can
16:44pull that will lower those rear seats so you can store extra things back there. Very, very handy.
16:50I mean, it's a Camry, guys. Toyota has been making these things forever. Toyota will be
16:54making them forever, and they'll likely run forever. And so while the Camry didn't get huge
17:00upgrades outside, it sure did inside. Toyota made the executive decision to make the Camry hybrid
17:06only for this latest generation, which means that V6 version isn't a thing anymore. Instead, all
17:12Camrys are offered with a 2.5 liter four-cylinder engine paired with two electric motors. Front drive
17:18models get 225 horsepower. Adding a third electric motor to power the rear wheels for all wheel drive
17:24models gets you 232 horsepower. This Camry is the XLE front drive version, which is the trim that's
17:31the top comfort-oriented grade. With it, you get 18-inch wheels, leather and microfiber interior
17:37trim, heated seats, eight-way power driver and passenger seats, and front side acoustic laminated
17:42glass for a quieter cabin. And the EPA estimated mileage figures? You ready? 48 miles per gallon in
17:50the city, 47 on the highway, and 47 combined. We love to see it, folks. XLE front drive Camrys start at $34,495.
18:04Chatter, chatter, chatter road in the Toyota Camry. Chatter, chatter, chatter. Can't
18:09completely erase it. I've accepted it. That's fine. While coming out here, though, seamless handshake
18:17between electric hybrid system and internal combustion. Absolutely seamless. And there's a
18:24dial right here that shows you exactly when that handoff is happening. So it kind of becomes a game.
18:30You're like, am I using gas? Am I not using gas? It's kind of fun. And then you can see exactly when you
18:34charge. And there is regen braking. You can feel it when you take your foot off the accelerator and
18:38you coast to a stop. You can absolutely feel it. This vehicle feels thoroughly modern. I mean, it
18:45only came out earlier this year. It is brand new and it feels brand spanking new. It's like
18:51the most innovative stuff the Toyota's got so far. It's here. I went on the first drive of this car
18:58in San Diego all those months ago. I remember having a blast with it on those canyon roads.
19:06The center of gravity was so low. I was shocked by how enjoyable it was. And it's happening again.
19:12I'm already having a blast and we haven't even really hit the fun roads. We're just cruising here.
19:17And so far, everything has been refined. Like the Honda, things feel buttoned down, put together
19:23really well. And since we're going downhill, feeding all that energy right back into the battery.
19:31This interface is easy to read, too. You can see how full the battery is. It's kind of nice.
19:37It's become a game now. You show me a dial like that, driving becomes a game.
19:44All this steering is nice. This is an accurate and it's a quick system.
19:54Can't retake the transmission.
19:58Cool. Nice.
20:01Keeps it in power band, hustles it right up the hill.
20:03Keeps it in power band, hustles it right up the hill. I think this could use better tires.
20:09I've driven this path and other cars at the same speeds. Haven't heard an entire chatter.
20:15But that's easily fixable. The brakes are smooth, too. There's no weird grabbing. It's very linear.
20:22Seamless action. So you're never guessing how much feedback to put in as to what you're getting
20:30out of it. It's good lean in the corners. And this is the comfort Camry. What's the sporty Camry like?
20:45There has to be a GR Camry in the works. There has to be. This chassis is so good.
20:52Anyway, yeah, the car feels engaged, lively, a very willing dance partner to you.
20:58And to think all of this comes from conservative Toyota. Sure, there's the GR line, the GR Corolla, GR Supra.
21:12But this is a Camry.
21:15This is for like cab drivers and our moms. And yet here we are having a ball.
21:27The Hyundai Sonata already looked great and then they redesigned it and now it looks leaps forward
21:33than before. Love it. Actually, it looks kind of like Robocop, but in a good way and especially
21:39compared to the more conservative styling of the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry. This is a really
21:46nice departure from all of that stuff. Look, it even has fender vents. I mean, they're cosmetic,
21:52but they're there. You got a nice swoopy design here. Cool visual accents along this piece of
21:59black trim and a nice geometric taillight design with a Heck blend. I think it's called a Heck
22:06blend straight line taillight. So inside, it is very much in the style of the new Santa Fe.
22:18You'll recognize this pano screen here. I really like the shape of the steering wheel, though.
22:23Let's talk about that for a second. It's also got that nice horizontal design that you see on the
22:28front and the back. We do love consistency here. These seats look quite plush and they are fabric.
22:35That's true. And look, they even put this little design here like that makes it a little more
22:39upscale. Love it. This white leather armrest here. Not sure about this. I feel like this would get
22:47dirty pretty quickly. This is a high touch area. But here you get room for at least two smartphones,
22:54plenty of charging ports, cupholders, big roomy. This looks pretty touch screen heavy. We'll see
23:02what that's like in practice. But there is a volume knob. I see it right there. I snipe that
23:07volume knob. Got to make sure they're taking them away from us. That's also a cool little armrest
23:12design on the door to in the back. Entry exit point looks a little tight. Again, our taller
23:22friends might want to exercise caution. But once we're in here, I mean, the headroom looks pretty
23:26good. Decent. There are no backseat pouches back here. Interestingly, perhaps they think that you'll
23:34just use this door pocket here. But I don't know about you. Whenever I put things in the door
23:38pocket, I forget about them probably because it's out of my line of sight. I would also like to draw
23:41your attention to the fact that there are no vents back here for passengers. There are charge
23:46ports, though, but I don't want to trade the charge ports for the vents because there's so
23:50many ports up front. Just get an extra long cable you can share. I'd rather be comfortable.
23:55Cool visuals here, though, just like the rest of the car. As for the trunk, it is decent,
24:03pretty deep, pretty wide. I think you'd be able to fit a lot of stuff in here. And plus,
24:09the seats fold down. This Sonata is the all-wheel drive SEL trim. As its name suggests,
24:16there's all-wheel drive with the help of a 2.5 liter four-cylinder that makes 191 horsepower
24:21and 181 pound feet of torque. EPA estimated ranges are 25 miles per gallon in the city,
24:2834 on the highway, and 28 combined. For the size of the car and its all-wheel drive system,
24:34these numbers are pretty standard. Your base Sonata SEL all-wheel drive starts at a very
24:39reasonable $30,150. This one also has no help from a hybrid system. So what we're getting here
24:51is pure unfiltered internal combustion engine. As a result, you can hear and feel a little more
24:57strain up these hills. Just like the Kia K5, there's this large panoramic, well not panoramic,
25:06but this large extra wide infotainment driver cluster screen combination here. I've got
25:12sunglasses on, it's very bright out, you can see it very easily. The climate controls are touch
25:18sensitive, however, not buttons and coming from all these cars that have lovely buttons for all
25:23this stuff. This is a bit of a disappointment to see all your stuff as touch screen climate
25:32controls. At least it's not hidden behind a menu like certain other cars like Subarus. You have to
25:38navigate a menu to get to a climate. Here, this screen right here, always dedicated climate, so at
25:42least that part doesn't move anywhere. Your drive modes are handled down here via a button. There's
25:49an extra mode here the K5 did not have, which is snow mode, owing to the fact that this powertrain
25:56is all-wheel drive, whereas the Kia was just front-wheel drive. We'll see how that makes a
26:01difference in the canyons in a little bit, but those of you living in places with inclement
26:05weather, pay attention, this one is all-wheel drive. So far the gear shifts seem rather
26:14imperceptible. I don't have as much confidence in this car as I do the other ones. I think it's
26:20because the chassis is more comfort-oriented. It feels inherently a little less happy
26:29in this situation. Come on, come on, come on. Oh, come on, it upshifted for me.
26:35Oh my god, where's power? There it is. Lost it for a second.
26:47No trust. Where is the trust? Yeah, so the Camry and the Accord back here in sport mode, they just
26:59snap into it. This one, the steering I find is... I think my biggest problem with it
27:06is the steering. The power is fine, transmission's kind of dopey. I don't like that it overruled me.
27:11I know what I'm doing. It's the steering. It's pretty numb. There's almost no feedback coming in
27:21through the rack. So I feel like I'm guessing a little bit with what's about to happen.
27:29And what's happening with the front wheels. Flowiness with which it negotiates these curves.
27:37I think there could be a little more initial bite in the brakes at the top of the pedal,
27:42just to get things going a little sooner. A little more, a little more brake pressure earlier
27:48would be appreciated. It feels like it needs a little something to get it moving faster at low
27:55end. Not something that you would really think about if you didn't just get out of a hybrid.
28:02That is one of those things, though, that sets a hybrid apart from a non-hybrid.
28:10As we have demonstrated, all four of these cars have their own strengths
28:14and weaknesses. But seeing as this is a comparison review, we got to pick a favorite.
28:19And so the verdict is as follows. In fourth place, Kia K5. In third place, Honda Accord.
28:29In second place, Hyundai Sonata. And sitting pretty in first place, Toyota Camry.
28:37So how did we arrive at this conclusion? How do we get here? Well, to start, me and three other
28:43editors, special shout out to Zach Gale, Scott Evans and Alex Leans for their help on this
28:47comparison review. Everyone loved the way the K5 looked. It's sporty, it's sculpted,
28:52even the inside outfitted for a midsize mainstream sedan. We loved it. However,
28:59we found that the powertrain just couldn't back up all of the claims that design was making.
29:04It looks way sportier than it drives. And we just couldn't get over the fact that it was
29:08an unrefined powertrain. It just wasn't that impressive. It was loud, wasn't that fast.
29:13And Leans in particular, who is 6'10", felt that just a little difficulty fitting in the K5.
29:19Doesn't mean it's a bad car, just behind all the rest of the competition here.
29:23Now, third and second place was where it got a little interesting. We duked it out between the
29:27Sonata and the Accord and finally decided that the Accord would be in third place. And the Accord is
29:33still a wonderful car. We love how smooth the hybrid system is, how comfortable it is. The
29:38brakes feel great. The interior is so luxe for an Accord. That part is great. Now, the biggest
29:45issue that we took was actually with the price. This Accord Touring is the highest trim Accord
29:50that you can get, which means with all the bells and whistles and everything, it's $40,000,
29:55which is a lot to ask for in a mainstream midsize sedan. So yes, there is a hybrid system,
30:01and it's very nice. But then if you compare it to the hybrid system in the Camry,
30:04hmm. The Camry pulls ahead a little bit, and we'll get to that in just a second.
30:08Now, in second place, the Hyundai Sonata. We really like this car. The looks can be polarizing.
30:15I personally think it's very modern and sleek. I liked it a lot. But what we like most of all
30:20was that it is just a car that does car things. There's no fanciness to it. There's no complex
30:27hybrid system. It is just an engine where you get into it, it will bring you to work.
30:31But at the same time, it is such a cohesive package. Everything feels like it works really
30:35well together. It's just pleasant to be in. The interior is great. And most of all,
30:39Hyundai did the thing that was actually kind of rare. They sent us a not top trim loaded to the
30:44gills model, which means that this car definitely has more to be optioned with. But as it stands
30:51right now, you don't feel like you're lacking. It means that Hyundai does not punish you for
30:56not getting the highest trim. And we like that here at Motor Trend. And finally, in first place
31:01position was the Toyota Camry. We felt that the hybrid performance, the perfect blend of battery
31:09and gasoline engine, how smooth it was around town, how eagerly it got out of stoplight situations.
31:16All of that was so great. And bonus fact, it was pretty fun on back roads. We thought it was a
31:22little tight and everyone else who's taller than me, which is to say literally everyone else,
31:26a little tight. And I can agree, it can be a little claustrophobic in that cabin. But in the
31:32way of how much that car costs and what incredible mileage you get, it really can't be beat. It is
31:38thoroughly modern, feels great. Excellent job, Toyota. That is the conclusion of our four-way
31:44midsize mainstream sedan test. If you want more information, you'll find words by yours truly
31:49up at MotorTrend.com. Otherwise, give us a subscribe. And thank you so much for watching.
31:53We'll see you next time.

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