C&D Mid-Size Four-Door Sedans

[mikeyb]

<TABLE class=cdbgtext cellSpacing=10 cellPadding=0 width=560 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2>Two all-new sedans face off against the enduring benchmarks of the class.

BY PATRICK BEDARD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY AARON KILEY
December 2005

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top><TABLE width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>No point in overcomplicating this matchup. The mid-size-sedan market has two promising new four-doors. So we've set up the newbies against the benchmarks of the class, the bestseller Toyota Camry and a perennial 10Best favorite, the Honda Accord. If a star or two have been born, this method should point them out pronto and tell us how bright they are.


What's new? America's own Ford has just given birth to the Fusion, a boldly sculpted four-door dropped into the yawning gap between the size-S Focus and the size-XXL Five Hundred. And Korea's Hyundai has replaced its seductively priced Sonata with an all-new wider, taller, longer Sonata that's lost none of its window-sticker allure.

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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>word of advice: Expect your expectations to be shattered in this exploration, starting with birthplaces. The new Korean is made in the U.S., and the new American model is not. Hyundai built an all-new manufacturing plant in Montgomery, Alabama, for this 2006 Sonata. Ford's Fusion is assembled in Hermosillo, Mexico, on a platform borrowed from its partner's Mazda 6.


Although the benchmarks need no introduction, a few facts may bring them into better focus. The Toyota Camry was new for the 2002 model year and has proven to be immensely popular in the market: 426,990 were sold in the U.S. last year. This is one of the most trusted cars in America.

Honda's Accord sells less well386,770 found new American homes last yearbut it's a consistent C/D favorite, having earned a 10Best award in 19 of the 23 years we've been publishing that list. The Accord in stores now, face-lifted for 2006, is the seventh generation to wear that name. It was a new design for the 2003 model year. Both the Accord and the Camry are built in U.S. plantsthe Honda in Marysville, Ohio, and the Toyota in Georgetown, Kentucky.

While the Taurus still lingers in the Ford lineup, something for the fleets that insist on low, low prices, the Fusion is the logical replacement for that tired old workhorse. In size, the Fusion is about seven inches shorter than today's Taurus, but it's longer than the mid-'80s original (see sidebar). Today's discerning buyers, however, don't look to the Taurus as a reference. The Camry and the Accord set the tone of the market, and Ford has obviously used them as benchmarks just as we have. The Fusion is an inch longer than the Camry and nearly an inch shorter than the Accord, on a wheelbase that splits the fraction between them.

Really, there are no significant differences in exterior dimensions among any of these models. These four sedans are meant to compete vigorously for your dollars, and their makers have been diligent in duplicating the virtues of their opponents.

Although all these mid-sizers come with four-cylinder engines, manual gearboxes, and cloth interiors as standard equipment, we've moved our selections up the options lists to include V-6 engines, automatics, leather interiors, and other sybaritic pleasantriesseat heaters and steering-wheel radio controls, for example. The as-tested prices range from $23,495 for the Hyundai on the low end to $29,850 for the Accord, a price pumped up by a navigation system that gave this Honda no advantage in our ratings.

As usual, our driving included a mix of local roads and freeways, plenty of door slamming as passengers of varying sizes slid into and out of the seats, plus a full schedule at the test track. The benchmark models, of course, have made these same runs many times before. Which raises the question: Will one or both of them be edged out of their reference roles by the new guys? Let's find out.

<TABLE class=cdbgtext cellSpacing=10 cellPadding=0 width=560 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2><!-- author --><!-- photo --><!-- issue --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top><TABLE width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top><TABLE cellSpacing=5 cellPadding=3 width=255 align=right bgColor=#cccccc border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle>Toyota Camry XLE V-6

</TD></TR><TR><TD>Highs: Unflappable composure, impeccable interior details, plush-carpet ride, best back seat of the bunch.


Lows: Too AARP in its control responses, too Martha Stewart in its attitude.

The Verdict: A Maytag with Lexus quality.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Fourth Place

Toyota Camry XLE V-6

The Camry has held its benchmark status into its fifth year; we'll be talking about its replacement this time in '06. But age, by itself, didn't sink this Toyota in our rankings. Longtime readers know we respect Toyota's buttoned-down quality and thorough execution. That said, the Camry is also a singularly unemotional machine. Consider: Whereas the others all show bright dual exhausts under their bumpers, the Camry has a single unadorned pipe.

The steering responds politely, the accelerator takes a good poke to call up horsepower, the brakes expect your foot to travel a bit before the retardation starts in earnest, and the ride is relatively soft, smoothing the road and making it seem far away. These are the attributes of a superior transportation appliance. The automatic resists part-throttle downshifts, which probably helps fuel economy but also makes the car feel slow-witted in traffic. The word "responsive" just doesn't come up in any appraisal of this car.


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<TABLE class=cdbgtext cellSpacing=10 cellPadding=0 width=560 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top><TABLE width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>In acceleration, the Camry fell behind the others, although its 7.6-second run to 60 was barely behind the Fusion's 7.4. It finished last through the quarter-mile at 15.9 seconds and 89 mph, compared with 15.7 and 91 for the Ford, third best.


Cornering grip was also lowest at 0.77 g, surely attributable in part to the choice of Michelin Energy tires; they specialize in fuel economy and squeals of protest when pushed. They corner with large, loose, unfun slip angles.

The Camry scores better on the hospitality checklist. The front buckets are wide and unconfining, a virtue for all but the sport seekers. And the rear-seat accommodations are by far the best of the group, with excellent footroom for the 13s worn by one of our test drivers and no complaints up top from the staffer with the big hair. The bench, with fold-down center armrest, has the most supportive shape. There's a feeling of surface plushness in the padding, too, which suggests that the Camry is a class above the others.

We give high marks to the dashboard design, too. All the instruments and controls are high where you can see them easily with just a slight shift of your gaze down from the road. The shape is clean, the materials are classy, decorations are nonexistent. Every gesture is made to count. There is no clutter. The long, graceful instrument pointers emerge from behind black dots in the centers of the dials. The dots are so perfectly black they disappear, leaving all your attention for the needles and numbers.

The Fusion's dials are similar, except that Ford designers lacked Toyota's confidence in keeping it simple. They outlined each of their dots with a frosty gray ring, thereby drawing your attention to the dots instead of the needles. Hyundai is even less sophisticated. The Sonata's needles each swing from a large overly sculpted blob of pear-shaped plastic, thereby drawing your attention to the wrong ends of the needles.

Although the Camry has superb manners, it also lacks any flair for entertaining. Benchmarks, we think, must do it all.

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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=5 cellPadding=3 width=255 align=right bgColor=#cccccc border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle>Hyundai Sonata LX V-6

</TD></TR><TR><TD>Highs: Spunky acceleration, shortest stops, and, of course, the price.


Lows: Infuriating seatbelt warning chime, overly decorated instrument pointers, driver's seat tries to slide you off the front.

The Verdict: All you can drive for $23,495.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Third Place

Hyundai Sonata LX V-6

The Sonata tops the value rating. Our test car lacked a sunroofso did the Fusionbut otherwise, its equipment list was arguably equivalent to the Camry's, yet the price of $23,495 was about $5000 friendlier.

No surprise so far. Hyundai has been earning its place in the U.S. market with low prices for years. What's new is this: The Sonata has now outscored one of the benchmarks in its class.

This new four-door has frisky moves. In acceleration it leaves the Toyota and Ford far behind, tying the fleet Honda at 6.6 seconds from 0 to 60, then dropping back to finish the quarter-mile at 15.3 seconds at 93 mph. Left in the dust, too, is the previous Sonata, which needed 2.0 more seconds to reach 60 mph and was 8 mph slower in the quarter-mile. Clearly, this is a much improved and invigorated car.

In braking, the Sonata outstopped all the others at 181 feet from 70 mph. In cornering grip it tied the Honda at 0.79 g. The steering is light to the touch and very quick just off-center, maybe a little too quick. The tires report loudly of road imperfections. The automatic, alone in this group, has a manumatic gate off to the side that enables easy one-gear-at-a-time shifts. That's the good news. The bad news is that it can be crippled by a soda pop spilled into the mechanism. It happens!

The suspension lacks the muscular control that gives the Honda such a sporting feel, and it lacks the plush-carpet smoothness that eases the Camry over Michigan's broken roads. Hey, benchmarks are very hard to beat. That said, the Sonata certainly behaves within the envelope of contemporary expectations.

In many respects this Sonata reminds of earlier Honda Accords. The dashboard is well forward, making the cockpit seem spacious. The cowl is low, opening an airy view of the foreground. The cost of that, though, is large eye movements down from the road to check the gauges, which also happen to be less clearly marked than those of the Honda and Toyota. The radio and CD player in the center of the dash are, oddly, much higher and more conveniently positioned than the driving instruments. Mild complaints were heard about the driving position: "I feel I'm sitting on this car instead of in it."

In back, the space is a bit wider than in the others and shoulder room was judged best of the group. However, the outer edges of the seat cushion had noticeably less stuffing and therefore weak support. Tall occupants also complained about the mechanical clutter under the driver's seat; it encroached on their foot space.

Although the Sonata delivers a long list of features for the price, some of the details are rough. The parting lines on molded pieces are often left visible, and the paint on plastic partsinside door handles, for exampleoften lacks uniformity across the surface.

Apart from outscoring one of the most trusted benchmarks in automobiledom, this Sonata poses a question that will be uncomfortable in some quarters: How malignant is globalization, and its associated outsourcing, when it brings factory jobs to Alabama? Like Honda and Toyota before it, Hyundai is doing whatever it takes to win over the American car buyer.


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[mikeyb]

Second Place
Ford Fusion SEL V-6

As an indicator of how competitive this class is, second, third, and fourth places are within six points on a 0-to-250 scale. And when the math was finished, the new Ford had edged out the Hyundai and Toyota for second place.

Ford thinks the Fusion looks best in black, inside and out, and it busied itself to find an example in time for this test. For sure, black contrasts strongly with the massive chrome grille and glittery headlight arrays cut into the front corners of the bodywork.

Inside, the Fusion is no less distinctive. Whereas all the others relied on fake-wood trim, the Fusion has high-gloss black plastic panels contrasting with the exceptionally coarse-grained dash and other interior panels. Heavy oatmeal-colored stitching kept the seats from being all black. After establishing the theme of glittering chrome outside, and carrying it inside to the door handles, shifter, and console trim, we expected to see it continued into the instrument cluster in the form of bright bezels around the dials. Instead, we found frosty gray paint; turns out the chrome goes to the up-priced Mercury Milan.

Ford obviously tried to design the front sheetmetal so it could be assembled with loose tolerances and, therefore, low manufacturing cost. Very sensible, we think, but it should be done in a way that escapes the customer's notice. From certain angles, our test car's hood gap was so wide it looked to be unlatched. All around the car, the Fusion's panel gaps are wider than those of the comparison cars. And like the Hyundai, it's not good at smoothing the parting lines on molded parts. "Fit and finish" is the Fusion's weakest rating category.

Most of the test drivers liked this car's controllability and the way they fit inside. It feels heavy in motion, very stable and deliberate. Road grip topped the others at 0.83 g. There were complaints, however, about the high level of road noise from a variety of sources, and particularly from tire impacts. Ride comfort is midpack, behind that of the Honda and Toyota.

The Fusion was alone in the group in having six speeds in its automatic, although you wouldn't know it from the "D" and "L" choices on the shifter. A few drivers reported some hunting between fifth and sixth gears at freeway speeds. More disturbing was the occasional jerky snatch into first gear at parking-lot speeds.

Inside, the front seats drew favorable reviews for their firmness and good positioning. The Ford, however, was the only one with a power option that moves just the seat position; backrest angle is changed with an ordinary manual lever. We also thought the turn-signal lever was oddly positioned; it angles up toward 10 o'clock. The HVAC controls, down near the tunnel, are very difficult to see, as are the steering-wheel buttons.

In back, the seat cushion is long enough to give good thigh support had it been shaped to do so, but the front edge is too low. With its leather covering, the rear bench feels flat and rather slippery. The head restraints are low and built into the backrests, with no provision for extending them upward where they could be effective. We judged them to be the least protective of the group.

If Ford can clean up the fit-and-finish details we've mentioned, the Fusion should strengthen Ford's line where it has long been weakest, right in the middle.

The Jelly-Bean Benchmark

The last time the Ford Motor Company had to save itself from financial ruin, it went full radical. The result was the 1986 "jelly bean" Taurus, so named for its aerodynamic shape, and it changed what Americans expected of a mid-size sedan. It quickly became the benchmark by which we judged its competitors. Americans agreed, and by the early '90s it was the bestselling car in the country.

How does the new-but-conventional '06 Fusion compare with the benchmark of '86? The good ol' days don't look that good, according to these specs for a Taurus LX reprinted from our road test of April 1986.

1986 FORD TAURUS LX
Vehicle type: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 6-passenger, 4-door sedan
Price as tested: $15,079 (base price: $13,351)
Engine type: pushrod 12-valve V-6, iron block and heads, port fuel injection
Displacement: 182 cu in, 2986cc
Power (SAE net): 140 bhp @ 4800 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 160 lb-ft @ 3000 rpm
Transmission: 4-speed automatic
Wheelbase: 106.0 in
Length/width/height: 188.4/70.4/54.4 in
Curb weight: 3251 lb
Zero to 60 mph: 9.8 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 31.2 sec
Standing 1/4-mile 17.4 sec @ 79 mph
Top speed (drag limited): 114 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: 194 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.76 g
EPA fuel economy, city driving: 20 mpg
C/D-observed fuel economy: 20 mpg

<TABLE class=cdbgtext cellSpacing=10 cellPadding=0 width=560 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2><!-- author --><!-- photo --><!-- issue --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top><TABLE width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top><TABLE cellSpacing=5 cellPadding=3 width=255 align=right bgColor=#cccccc border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle>Honda Accord EX V-6

</TD></TR><TR><TD>Highs: Muscular handling, quick transmission reflexes, serious acceleration, best-dressed interior.


Lows: Suspension muscles tell you about all the bumps, back-seat space tightest of the group.

The Verdict: The nice little Accord grew up to be a muscle car.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>First Place

Honda Accord EX V-6

The tweaked-up Accord for 2006 does what Accords always docharm us with eager responses and superb control on the road. What we didn't expect was the newly developed muscle, as in muscle car.

First, the tweaks. The styling has been freshened with a new grille and bumper in front and a profoundly different look in back as the taillights, instead of spreading onto the decklid, now occupy the upper corners of the rear fenders, much as they do on Accord coupes. The center stoplight is carved most tidily into the top edge of the decklid. When the brakes are on, the Accord's tail glows red with LEDs, the latest fashion in rear lighting. As face lifts go, this one is a resounding success. Daylight running lights are now standard equipment, as is a stability-control system on V-6 models.

Honda claims a mild 4-hp increase in engine output, to 244 at 6250 rpm. We've never thought the Accord was underpowered; Honda apparently thought otherwise. The 2006 Accord ripped through the acceleration test to 60 mph in 6.6 seconds, a tie with the Sonata, then strongly broke to the front to clear the quarter-mile in 15.1 seconds at 95 mph. For the record, the old Accord needed 7.0 seconds to hit 60 and was 3 mph slower in the quarter.

In other categories of athletics, the Accord was always in the top half of the classsecond best in stopping distance, tied for second best with the Hyundai in roadholdingand was the top performer in the emergency-lane-change test.

As a mid-sizer, the Accord is weakest in rear-seat capacity. Space back there is smallest of the group, narrow in the shoulders, low in cushion height, and least hospitable to a center passenger because of the hard backrest in that position.

For the driver, however, the Accord is easily the top choice. The driving position has enough adjustment to allow tailoring for almost anyone. The machine has an eagerness about it, a nimble feel, light and quick, the result of right-now steering response and a transmission that's always ready to drop down a gear or two when you squeeze on the power. Throttle control is so quick the car is almost jumpy, almost too eager, but not quite. The ride is firm, much different in character from that of the smooth Camry, or the noisy Fusion, or the less firmly tethered Sonata. You feel each bump, but only once. There's no bobbing on the springs in memory of a disturbance. So the Accord is always ready for its next move, much more so than the others in this group.

By a small margin over the Toyota, we thought Honda's selection of interior material was most pleasing. Both Honda and Toyota have more legible instruments by far than the others. This Honda transmits plenty of information up from the road, too. Call it road noise and tire noise, or call it part of the Accord's driver-involvement program.

With the introduction of two all-new mid-sizers, much has been accomplished in this class for 2006, but the Honda benchmark is still the standard by which the others must be measured.


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source:http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=15&article_id=10245&page_number=1

 

[Tito1]

Wow that took up a lot of space. You've got a better sedan anyway (legacy GT).

 

[-pixy-]

i actually like the fusion.

 

[altspace]

Design wise, Ford did it right with the Fusion. A far departure from the Taurus