Not Giving Up
Times change. And fast. Just seven years ago—the last time we published a midsize sedan Big Test comparison—four-door family car sales were booming. Back then, four midsize sedans made the top 10 best-selling list. In 2020? Only the Toyota Camry made the cut. Expand that to the top 20, and the Honda Accord squeezes through in 17th place. Americans bought more RAV4s than Altimas, Optimas, Sonatas, Mazda 6s, and Legacy sedans combined. The once-popular midsize sedan is having an existential crisis.
The lineup
1 Honda Accord $32,285
2 Hyundai Sonata $32,174
3 Kia K5 $31,430
4 Mazda 6 $34,245
5 Nissan Altima $32,905
6 Subaru Legacy $30,820
7 Toyota Camry $29,217
The combination of reduced space, a lower ride height relative to SUVs, and cheap gas is killing sedans. As you may have noticed, there are no American nameplates in this Big Test. Ford discontinued the Fusion, Chrysler unceremoniously dumped the 200 before it could even complete its model cycle, and Chevrolet is reportedly letting the Malibu die after the 2023 model year—just like Volkswagen is doing with the Passat.
But the family sedan is far from finished. Americans bought nearly 1 million of them last year. Japanese manufacturers keep investing in the segment, and the Koreans are not giving up—the Kia K5 is the newest model in the class, while the redesigned Hyundai Sonata arrived in late 2019. After all, with Detroit walking away from sedans, its market share has to go somewhere, right?
So let us defend the sedan. With better driving dynamics, superior fuel economy, and, let’s face it, much better looks than crossovers, the midsize sedan continues to be a key player in the game. But can the industry convince car shoppers to make sedans great again?
What’s Left in the Shop Window?
With our consumer hats on, we were mindful of the tight budgets people face when buying a new car, so we tried to limit each sedan to $32,000. (The average transaction price for a new vehicle in the U.S. crested $40,000 last year.) But with the pandemic causing strains on manufacturers’ press fleets, a couple of test sedans slipped past that price ceiling.
WITH BETTER DRIVING DYNAMICS, SUPERIOR FUEL ECONOMY, AND, LET’S FACE IT, MUCH BETTER LOOKS THAN CROSSOVERS, THE MIDSIZE SEDAN CONTINUES TO BE A KEY PLAYER IN THE GAME.
One of
