2019 Toyota Camry vs 2019 Honda Accord vs 2019 Nissan Altima

Watch the video of this comparison here.

With the arrival of the 2019 Nissan Altima, it’s time to re-evaluate which of the big three family sedans is the best buy. The Camry has not been topped in sales in decades, with the Accord always in second place and the Nissan always in third. However, as my comparisons have proven, more often than not, the Camry isn’t the best vehicle. Oftentimes the Accord or even Sonata have it beat. The Camry and Accord were new for the 2018 model year, and the Altima is brand new, so none of these cars are even half way through their product cycles yet. Should make for a good, particularly fair comparison.

2019 Toyota Camry

            Now, let’s start with our first area of evaluation, which is value. The 2019 Toyota Camry XLE starts at $28,925. Standard features on the exterior of the Camry are LED headlights, taillights, and daytime running lights. Also included are heated outside mirrors, door handles with a touch-sensor lock or unlock feature, and 18-inch wheels. In the interior, the Camry houses dual-zone climate control, wireless smartphone charging, and a seven-inch information display in the gauge cluster. Front passengers live with luxurious leather-trimmed heated seats that are power adjustable eight ways for both chairs. The steering wheel is also leather and has the car’s Bluetooth and cruise control buttons. The XLE has a woodgrain interior, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, and an anti-lockout feature. The smart key system works on the front doors and the trunk and it has push-button start. The main piece of technology in the interior is the eight-inch touchscreen in the dashboard that has Toyota’s infotainment system on-board. It has Apple CarPlay standard as well as a subscription to SiriusXM radio. The Toyota also has a HomeLink transceiver for your garage door and WiFi that’s limited to two gigabytes in the six-month trial (which is, of course, renewable). The 2019 Camry is packed with active safety features to help the driver be as safe as possible, such as lane-departure alert with steering assist, dynamic radar cruise control, a blind spot monitor with rear-cross traffic alert and a pre-collision system with pedestrian detection.

            The 2019 Honda Accord EX-L starts at a slightly more expensive $30,120. Exterior features that are standard on this trim are LED brake lights, fog lights and daytime running lights, heated mirrors with turn signal indicators and smart entry with walk away and auto lock. The Honda also has a power moonroof and 17-inch wheels. Moving to the inside of the car, we see a similar dual-zone climate control system, push-button start, leather steering wheel and shift knob, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror and HomeLink. Leather, heated front seats are 12-way power adjustable for the driver and four-way adjustable for the passenger. The driver seat has two memory programmable functions. In the center console is an eight-inch display with Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, HondaLink, SiriusXM, and a 450-watt audio system with ten speakers and a subwoofer. It’s worth noting that the Camry has a more standard six speakers. Active safety features on the Accord are lane-keeping assist with Honda Sensing, adaptive cruise control with low-speed follow, a traffic sign recognition system, collision mitigation braking, road departure mitigation, forward collision warning, and a blind spot information system with a cross traffic monitor.

2019 Nissan Altima

The Nissan Altima SL is brand new for 2019 and comes with a base price of $29,840. Exterior features include 17-inch wheels, LED headlights and fog lights, heated outside mirrors with turn signal indicators, and a power moonroof. The Nissan comes appointed with dual-zone climate control, remote engine start with intelligent climate control, and HomeLink. The Altima also has a smart key with push-button start. The seats are eight-way power adjustable for the driver and four-way for the passenger. The fronts are heated, and all seats as well as the steering wheel and shift knob are leather-wrapped. Interior trim in this version is wood, similar to the Toyota. The infotainment system touchscreen in the Altima is eight-inches like in the other two, but it also has navigation with voice recognition. SiriusXM, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and Bluetooth round out the standard technology services. The Altima SL has a premium audio system from Bose with nine speakers. Active safety in the Altima comprises of intelligent cruise control, forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, intelligent lane intervention, blind spot warning, and rear cross traffic alert with rear automatic braking. Nissan has developed a few of their own unique safety features called ProPilot and Intelligent Driver Alertness. ProPilot comes in different forms in other manufacturers, but basically it slows down or speeds up the Altima to match the vehicle ahead of you in a form of autopilot. It is especially useful in stop-and-go traffic. The driver alertness system monitors steering wheel inputs from the driver to make sure the driver is staying alert and awake, and if they aren’t it will chime at them to wake them up or pressure them to take a break. Of course, for people that would rather fall asleep and wreck into a tree, the system can be turned off.

Let’s now talk about the passive safety ratings of each vehicle. The 2019 Toyota Camry is a Top Safety Pick Plus from the IIHS, getting good in every category and superior in front crash prevention. The 2019 Honda Accord is a Top Safety Pick, and gets the same ratings as the Camry in every category except headlights, where it got acceptable, preventing it from getting the ‘Plus’ designation. The 2019 Altima has not yet been rated by IIHS at the time of this writing, but the 2018 model received a Top Safety Pick rating and got good ratings everywhere except headlights, where it matched the Honda and child seat anchors, where it got marginal. Typically, newer models don’t perform worse than previous ones, so I’ll give the Nissan the benefit of the doubt and rank it the same as the Honda. If it receives even better rankings than I am predicting, I will edit the comparison and adjust the scores.

Next, let’s look at the powertrain of each vehicle, and its corresponding performance. The Toyota uses the familiar company 2.5-liter four cylinder. It received an update in 2018 and is now rated at 203 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque. The transmission was also updated with the launch of the new Camry and Toyota dropped the antiquated six-speed for a new eight speed slushbox. The Honda has a smaller 1.5-liter inline four cylinder, that compensates for its smaller size with a turbocharger. It’s rated at 192 horsepower and 192 pound-feet of torque. In the interest of fuel economy, the Honda uses a Continuously Variable Transmission, or CVT. These transmissions have no actual gears, and are instead constantly shifting RPM, instead of upshifting or downshifting. The Nissan also uses a CVT, so it’s interesting to see Toyota sticking with a more traditional automatic. Companies have increasingly been switching over to CVTs in the name of fuel economy, so we’ll see later if the engine and transmission combination in the Camry will hamper its performance relative to the Nissan and Honda. Anyway, the CVT in the Altima is connected to a basic 2.5-liter four cylinder like the Camry, but it’s rated at 188 horsepower and 182 pound-feet of torque.

These engines aren’t the most powerful or the most fun, but let’s see how they’ll do in acceleration tests. The 2019 Camry hits 60 miles per hour in 7.6 seconds, while the Accord manages 7.3. The 2019 Altima is expected to be right in the middle of those times at about 7.5 seconds.

More importantly, let’s see how the powertrains line up when it comes to fuel economy, which is an issue deeply ingrained in this segment. The Camry, with its eight-speed automatic gets a very good 28 miles per gallon in the city and 39 on the highway. The Accord tops the Camry in the city by two MPG at 30, but loses one on the highway at 38. The Altima matches the Camry’s ratings exactly. Apparently, Toyota was able to stick with a larger engine and traditional automatic and still remain competitive.

Next, let’s look at our only subjective category, which is styling. It used to be that the Camry was the homeliest of the group, but with the 2018 update, the styling actually got—dare I say it—attractive. The Accord is still my favorite of the group, and the car genuinely looks good—much better than the previous generation. The Altima is also much better looking than the previous generation. I like all three, but I guess I still have to rank the Camry last even though it’s actually good looking. The Altima has a cookie cutter rear end that’s surprisingly striking, but it’s sort of unoriginal. Some Lexus, Kia, and the previous generation Toyota Avalon all have extremely similar rear ends, though I do think Nissan did the design the best. On the interiors, the Altima has the cleanest design, followed by the Accord. The Camry isn’t bad but the weird darked out shape in the center stack doesn’t flow well. I think the steering wheel looks dated, and I don’t think it’s changed much from the 2012 Camry. The Nissan’s small center and svelte shape are much more attractive.

Our final category to evaluate is reliability. I get my ratings from Consumer Reports, which has been testing each vehicle for years and has amassed an extensive database. The Toyota is, unsurprisingly, rated Better than Average, and the Honda gets Average, which also isn’t anything new. The Altima, however, matches the Camry’s rating of Better than Average, which is unusual for most Nissans. Nissans of yore were plagued with reliability issues and were typically related below average. In fact, I have seen countless mid-2000 era Nissans ready for the junk yard much faster than their owners anticipated. However, the new vehicles must be of better quality, for the 2019 Altima fares well in this testing.

Well, that’s all I have for this comparison! Here are the standings ranked for each car on a scale from one to ten. As you can see, there’s a lot to digest here. In all my years of comparing, the 2019 model year has never fared so well for Toyota. Though it didn’t win, it was extremely close, and usually the Toyotas are objectively noncompetitive. Welcome back, Camry. As you can see, the spread that separates the winning Altima from the losing Accord is one point, so all three of these cars are not only extremely close, but also all very good cars that I would have no problem recommending to people. In previous years, the Honda almost always won, and the Nissan has never won a comparison before, so these new models are really bringing some changes about. The Altima offered significantly better features than the other cars for a middling asking price, especially navigation, hence its value score. The Accord wins overall styling, but loses big points in reliability, because I assign two points to every level up or down in Consumer Report’s rankings. The Nissan won by a half point, which can be chalked up to nothing, but it’s a victory for Toyota and Nissan to even be competitive enough to beat the Accord. Tune in next year to see if Honda has a response.

Here are the standings and how I ranked each car. Altima's asterisk is because it's official IIHS ratings haven't been published yet.