This is a good review. Honda has better driveability, Toyota is faster. Personally, I've been considering a Civic hybrid, which has a very similar drivetrain. Hard to go wrong either way.
I have some comments, or you can call it "cope" about that review:
1. I didn't see how the MSRP of the two cars compared. The Accord was a lower-level model, and they bashed on its monochromatic interior, lack of rear A/C vents, and poor sound quality - all addressed on higher trims. Some higher trims even have more sound dampening. It's well known that Toyota has a more a la carte approach to options and Honda packages them together more. I am guessing the Camry was a more expensive car.
2. I don't think they really understand how the Honda hybrid system works.
At 26:54:
"And there is a high-speed clutch that will connect the gasoline engine to the regen motor, to the direct-drive motor so they're in a series, or connected - all three - to provide the most horsepower, at 204 horsepower.
And it's less than the Camry and it makes less torque than the Camry..."
If the high-speed clutch is engaged, the car is actually a parallel hybrid; when it's disengaged it's a series hybrid. (This kind of excessively verbose and sloppy language is common in the review - do they write this stuff out ahead of time, or are they ad-libbing?)
The truth is, the clutch engages an overdrive cruising gear. Its purpose is to provide highway cruising economy, not to maximize power. When the clutch is engaged, the engine is turning at about 1000 rpm per 30 mph of road speed - it will not be at an optimum rpm for power. When maximum power is demanded, the clutch will be disengaged, the engine will rev up to drive the generator at peak engine power and the 181-hp traction motor will be propelling the car - using a blend of power drawn mostly from the generator but supplemented by the battery.
"It makes less torque than the Camry" - manufacturers' claimed torque is higher in the Accord. This includes torque from the electric motor, so not sure if it's a fair comparison. But the bigger traction motor does make it feel torquey.
At 37:10 in the video:
"So you can hear those shifts... It's using the high-speed clutch to engage and disengage the engine to allow it to drop down and come back up. So, it really does - because it's a mechanical clutch it does feel like a gearbox shifting."
And they acted in the video like the one-gear, two motor Honda hybrid system is something new, when it has been around since 2014. Yes, it's been revised over the years but the basic layout is the same as 2014.
3. They said the Toyota was faster, but there was no actual testing. Testing shows the Honda is slightly quicker in most acceleration measures (0-60, 50-70, quarter mile) - there's that EV-like torque! That said, the Accord's power drops off at high speeds and the Camry
is about three seconds faster 0-100.
4. Sport mode in the Accord might actually be faster in the kind of driving they were doing, since it keeps the battery more topped off and the cells are able to deliver more power.
5. I actually like the taillights. But then my favorite taillights are flush: 90s 300zx, 6th gen accord coupe, 8th gen civic sedan.
