The Ford Taurus, Honda Accord, and Toyota Camry are the feudal lords of the automotive world, the shoguns of the sales charts, the WWF wrestlers of the year-end tallies. Every year each scraps tooth-and-nail to finish at the top of the heap-as the number-one best-selling car in America. Typically, it's been the Taurus and Accord in a fierce two-horse race for number one, while the Camry has finished third for four of the last five years. But the times, as they say, are a-changin'.
The introduction of the all-new fourth-generation Camry has set the automotive industry abuzz. Not only is the new car incrementally better than the previous version but, backed by an intensive cost-trimming campaign, Toyota has been able to slash the suggested retail prices. That's the type of story that makes car shoppers sit up and take notice-and perhaps upset the established best-seller hierarchy.
So just how do these three cars now stack up from a driver's perspective? Which offers the most power, the best ride and handling, the most comfortable cabin, or the best value? A face-off was in order. To keep the playing field level, we gathered models equipped with V-6 engines and automatic transmissions. All are front-wheel drive, and each came to us with a healthy stock of standard features, including dual airbags, air conditioning, power locks/mirrors/windows, a tilt steering wheel, and an AM/FM/cassette sound system. Despite their similarities, though, each has its own distinctive personality, strengths, and weaknesses-traits that often only become obvious when driving them back to back.
Roll callWhen the second-generation Taurus debuted last year, it was radically redesigned toward a single goal: repeat the phenomenal success of the original Taurus in setting industry styling trends. Even a year after its introduction, however, the Taurus is still generating controversy. Proponents call it fresh, innovative, and head-turning; detractors claim the overriding preoccupation with styling has compromised functionality. This debate, combined with new-model price hikes, has flattened demand for the Taurus, forcing Ford to prop it up with attractive incentives. Still, as this goes to press, the car is right where it should be-scrapping for number one.
For our comparo, we tested the upline Taurus LX because its equipment level stacks up most evenly with the volume-selling versions of the Accord and Camry, while still maintaining a competitive price stance.
The current Accord was introduced for '94 and subsequently was that year's Motor Trend Import Car of the Year. In '96, it was freshened with a mild exterior redo. The Taurus' less-than-anticipated demand this year has allowed the Accord to edge back into the sales lead for part of 1996. Now, all Accord sedans sold in the U.S. are built in Marysville, Ohio. We chose to compare an LX, Honda's middle trim level and by far the version that's most in demand by buyers.
The development of the '97 Camry was a precedent-setting joint venture between Toyota's Japan-based engineering department, which handled the chassis, suspension, and drivetrain designs, and the Toyota Technical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which was largely responsible for the design and development of the remainder of the vehicle. Most Camrys (about 80 percent) are built in the U.S., at Toyota's Georgetown, Kentucky, plant. Although the Camry's styling isn't nearly as daring as the Taurus', its design imparts a younger, somewhat sportier appeal than its previous generation, and some of our testers found its more masculine lines to be the best looking of our three competitors. For this comparison, we went with the volume seller, the middle-line LE.