When it comes to Honda and Toyota cars, the general belief is that Toyota is better than Honda. This generalization springs from the fact that Toyota cars have been known for decades for their good reliability and safety features.
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However, Honda has all of that, too and competes favourably with Toyota. As such, while Toyota is mostly recognized to be higher than Honda, there are a few areas where Honda is better than Toyota. Here are a few reasons why.
Honda Beats Toyota in the Hybrid Car Market
Honda came out with the first-generation Insight way back in 1999, seven months before the first Prius. Of course, Toyota probably didn’t care since the Prius has been one of the best-selling cars in automotive history, but Honda still won the race to market and continues to make strides with the current-generation Insight.
For instance, the 2020 Honda Insight gets almost the same fuel economy as the current Prius, so it’s definitely possible that Honda could dominate the hybrid category in the future. Only time will tell.
Honda Beats Toyota in Performance
Honda offers a heavy dose of performance in many of their current products. For example, the Civic Si offers a healthy turbocharged punch with its 1.5-litre engine that makes 205 horsepower. And the Honda Accord Sport 2.0 delivers better performance than the Camry with the V6.
Honda products typically provide a much more engaging driving feel than those from Toyota.
A case in point is the Toyota Corolla Hybrid. Car and Driver reported that it was “boring to drive”, and it reached 60 mph in 10.7 seconds. That’s really slow. On the other hand, Honda’s Insight went from 0 to 60 in 7.7 seconds, which is much faster.
If Honda can make their hybrid car that much faster than Toyota’s, then they have a performance edge over Toyota. We know that most buyers don’t really care that much about acceleration times, especially when it comes to hybrids, but quicker acceleration can mean quicker freeway and traffic entrances.
Conclusion
In the end, it comes down to personal preference, and Toyota makes really good cars and has done so for a very long time. But Honda has as well, and while both automakers have proven that they can both make reliable, fuel-efficient, and affordable products, it’s easy to pick Honda over Toyota if you’re looking for a more engaging drive and overall better performance.
