QOTD: Camry Now Or Accord Later?

By the time the all-new 2018 Honda Accord debuted at a July 14, 2017, launch event, the all-new 2018 Toyota Camry was already on sale.

There are still sedan buyers alive in this world, you see. You might just be among them. Toyota and Honda will sell some 700,000 Camrys and Accords in the United States in 2017, roughly four out of every 10 midsize cars.

So, presented with two new options from the preeminent manufacturers of midsize sedans, what choice do you make? A 2018 Toyota Camry right now, with all the glory of a J-VIN and a 301-horsepower V6? Or do you wait a few weeks for the 2018 Honda Accord, a sports sedan on the cheap with a 2.0T and a six-speed manual?

Accord and Camry. It’s like Frazier and Ali. Celtics and Lakers. Palmer and Nicklaus.

Year after year they duke it out on U.S. dealer forecourts, one claiming long-time overall sales victory; the other retail supremacy. It’s not a battle fought on the spec sheet alone, but there have been major on-paper advances with the 2018 models. The 2018 Camry now offers the most standard horsepower in the segment. The 2018 Accord adds two inches of legroom to an already spacious rear seat.

Regardless, both cars are certainly now more distinguishable than they were in past generations. Love them or hate them — or love one and hate the other — there’s no denying the new Camry and Accord do a much more effective job of standing out from the pack.

But which car stands the better chance of luring you away from a RAV4 or CR-V? Which new midsize car is going to cause you to stand up as a proud member of the sedan fraternity? 2018 Honda Accord, or 2018 Toyota Camry?

[Images: Toyota, Honda]

Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.