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Midsize Sedan Comparison | Honda Accord vs. Toyota Camry vs. Mazda6

The rumors of the midsize sedan's death have been greatly exaggerated. The 2018 Honda Accord and 2018 Toyota Camry together moved more than 262,000 units through May of this year, which is still a ton of cars. Then again, both are down year-over-year despite being completely, and quite impressively, redesigned for 2018. So yes, the midsize sedan's grip on family transportation is weakening. Ford certainly thinks so, yet this change in consumer preferences comes at a time when the current crop of sedans is sensational. They're bigger and more powerful, yet also more efficient. Safety scores are impeccable. They even look better than ever. So before running out to score one of the bajillion little SUVs flooding the market, why not ponder this trio of midsize sedan all-stars that might actually work better? Over the course of three consecutive weeks we tested the 2018 Camry XSE V6, 2018 Accord Touring 2.0T and the perennial critical-darling 2018 Mazda6 Signature. The latter was thoroughly overhauled and, perhaps as such, bucked the segment trend by actually selling more in June this year. Each was a range-topping trim level with all the bells and whistles, plus the most powerful engine available. Really, you couldn't find cars closer in power, price and feature content. View 57 Photos Performance and fuel economy Toyota bucked the turbocharged trend by sticking with naturally aspirated engines for the 2018 Camry, and when it comes to its 3.5-liter V6, it's sure hard to argue with that decision. For starters, it produces 301 horsepower. Let that sink in for a moment. A 301-hp Toyota Camry. That crushes the others, while its 267 pound-feet of torque is only 6 less than the Accord. This is a strong, smooth engine that only gets better when you realize it matches the 26-mpg combined fuel economy of the others. Honda, meanwhile, followed the masses by switching to a turbocharged four-cylinder for the Accord's engine upgrade (and its base engine, for that matter). Though its 252 hp is considerably down on the Camry and its 271 lb-ft is only a smidgen more, the Accord's torque arrives earlier in the rev range without feeling overtly turbocharged. It also has 143 fewer pounds to contend with. When wrung out, this new 2.0-liter belts out a beautiful, typically Honda song made possible by the smart 10-speed automatic (the base 1.5-liter is paired to a CVT that results in more drone than mechanical music) that thankfully doesn't draw much attention to itself.

2019 Mazda MX-5 Miata First Drive Review | More power is the icing on top

SAN DIEGO — When Mazda announced that the 2019 Mazda MX-5 Miata was getting a serious increase in power, I was both excited and nervous. I was excited because more power is always exciting, and it was no insubstantial increase. At 181 horsepower, it's the most powerful production Miata ever offered, beating out turbocharged Mazdaspeed Miata's 178 horsepower. Plus it has more revs to play with. But what had me worried was whether this power would mess up the friendly, playful character of the Miata. The 155-horsepower 2.0-liter engine is just about perfect, almost universally loved by the Autoblog staff and other reviewers, with good midrange torque and short gearing that always made it feel quick in nearly every rev range. It felt like the right amount of power for the chassis, too. There was just enough to get it loose without working too hard, but it wouldn't spin you around unexpectedly. I could imagine a couple of ways the new engine could affect that sweet balance, too. A bit too much power could risk some of the Miata's accessibility and predictability. It might become more serious and less fun-loving. I also feared that in pursuit of a higher redline and more horsepower, the low-end of the rev range might become painfully slow. Honda owners know this feeling whenever their VTEC-equipped screamers drop out of the aggressive cam profile, and the Toyota 86 and BRZ suffer from an awful lack of torque right in the mid-range that doesn't recover until nearly redline. All of this was on my mind when the assembled reviewers were briefed by Mazda engineers about the car. It started out like most presentations, with a brief rundown of the goals of the car and what Mazda has done with the model so far. Then came a chart showing the power curves of the NC, current ND, and the 2019 model, and my fear of a loss of low-end grunt dissipated. The amount of power and torque over engine speed is nearly identical between the old and new ND Miatas right up to around 4,500 rpm. And then from there, the 2019 continues making more power all the way to its 181-horse peak at 7,000 rpm, 500 rpm higher than the previous model's redline. This was a good sign. Mazda managed to get these gains with no sacrifices through many small upgrades. The throttle body is wider with a slimmer throttle plate, the intake manifold has longer runners and dual paths, and the intake ports are larger.

Mazda rotary engine returning, in an autonomous Toyota delivery vehicle

With the return of the Toyota Supra, the Lotus Esprit and Mazda RX-7 probably share the trophy for hardcore sports cars we'd most like sequels for. The Esprit's too hopeless to consider. Mazda continues to speak in riddles about a new RX-7, but the company has confirmed that the RX-7's heart will return: The company's building a rotary-engined range-extender engine for an autonomous Toyota. At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, Toyota announced its e-Palette autonomous electric delivery vehicle. The e-Palette will come in bus, shuttle, and car versions to service the delivery needs of companies like Amazon, Pizza Hut, and Uber. They'll also be built in custom configurations such as mobile hotel rooms and emergency command centers. Toyota owns 5.25 percent of Mazda, the two automakers recently signed a deal to open a factory in Alabama, and Mazda's known for ace work with small engines. It's not surprising that Toyota chose Mazda for help with the e-Palette, but the rotary aspect is novel. Mazda U.S. president Masahiro Moro said, "This is a very suitable engine to run a generator because it's compact and lightweight, with no noise or vibration, and it has very good fuel economy." There have been rumors of this development previously, as far back as 2016, then again last October in reference to an electric architecture Mazda intended for release in 2019, but Toyota was never mentioned. As to pining for that RX-7 redux, Mazda's head of powertrain said the company's overcome the technical issues of a sports-car-sized rotary engine — the challenge is making a business case for such a sports car. We think the RX-VISION made the case three years ago, and it's already fitted with the Skyactiv-R rotary. Separately, a Toyota spokesman added that the two companies are looking into whether the rotary can be useful beyond the electric car. That's not much to go on when it comes to pining for another RX-7, but hope lives on a scanty diet. Related Video: