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(Enlarge photo)
Competition has gotten so intense in the ordinarily quiet family sedan segment that there are at least half a dozen cars that can meet the needs of the typical buyer — and perhaps awaken passions he didn't know he had.
(Photo by Scott Jacobs)
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Road Test: Comparison Test
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2003-2004 Family Sedan Comparison Test
Introduction
By
Erin Riches, Senior Content Editor , Edmunds.com
Date posted: 12-23-2003
Sport-utility vehicles may be all over the road, but for most people, the midsize sedan remains the most practical and affordable way to drive to work or pick the kids up from school.
In the past, family sedans were easily dismissed as dull, flavorless cars that people bought because they needed them. While today's batch will still be purchased out of necessity, these are no longer the boring cars that you remember. They're fast. They're stylish. They're spacious, comfortable and even luxurious. And a few of them handle like sport sedans. All of this works in the buyer's favor, as you're likely to end up with a car that serves your needs while offering a few bonuses that make the ownership experience enjoyable — or even entertaining.
Although we conducted a four-car Premium Family Sedan Comparison Test two years ago, it had been a long time since we did a full-scale test of this large segment. So we gathered together all the strong candidates from the last two comparison tests, along with all the recently redesigned cars and newcomers — ultimately capping the field at 10 sedans.
This group includes the freshly reworked Chevrolet Malibu, Honda Accord and Mitsubishi Galant, and newcomers like the sporty Mazda 6 (a replacement for the old 626) and the Suzuki Verona. Also on the guest list was our defending champ, the Volkswagen Passat, along with such perennial contenders as the Nissan Altima and Toyota Camry. (The Camry SE V6 was fitted with a bigger engine for 2004 to better enable it to do battle with the V6 versions of the Accord, Altima and Galant.) We then filled in the ranks with value leaders like the Chrysler Sebring and Hyundai Sonata.
As in other comparison tests we conduct, the sedans were evaluated on the basis of a comprehensive 23-point evaluation, feature content, their performance in instrumented testing, price and each editor's personal and recommended rankings (see the Scoring Explanation for further explanation).
With such a large field of highly qualified sedans, the competition in this test was cutthroat — there was a spread of less than seven points between the first-place and fifth-place cars. Although we definitely feel that the winner of the test is the best all-around family sedan, any car that finished in the top half of this test would make a satisfying addition to your household.
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