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I am in the market for a new car (likely a 3-year lease).  I currently drive a 1990 toyota camry, and its time to get something new.  I am comparing between the 05 Toyota Corolla LE, Sedan, automatic and the 05 Honda Accord LE/EX, Sedan, automatic.  Why?  Because, I prefer the Accord to the Camry, and am still undecided whether to get the compact or the midsize.  I prefer the safety and performance features of the Accord/midsize, but like the price of the Corolla/compact.  The bulk of my commute is on the train each day, so I really don't drive the car much during the week.  Any comments, thoughts, suggestions, experience with these cars would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!  

Hey Car Shopper,

My family has always been loyal to the Honda brand since the early 80's until about 9 years when everyone started trading their Honda's to Toyota's. I truely believe that when Honda started to outsource many of it's parts and assembly work outside of Japan in the late 90's, Honda begun losing it's realiability rating in comparison to Toyota, who for the most part, has been producing quality vehicles that require minimal maintanence and maintaining their parts and service to a minimum. The price for the Toyotas are definitely higher then Honda however you can always try to negotiate with the Toyota dealers closer to the end of the month when their Sales team needs to meet their quotas. Be sure to let them know that you're serious about acquiring a Honda but the only thing stoping you is the price points between the 2 brands. That usually doesn't hurt either.

Good luck!

Say what?  Honda started building cars in Ohio in 1982.  Reliability dropped not one bit.  Every Civic and Accord you've met in your lifetime has probably come from there.

Honda's Canadian plant was building crappy Odysseys when it first opened in the late 90s, but I think they fixed that.
 

Hey Btran,

Thanks for your reply!  Any other posters' input would be welcome!  

Since you arent going to be spending a lot of time in the car commuting and you arent going to be racking up a lot of miles either you might want to consider getting an 2003 used accord or a 2004 used accord or a preowned version of either. You will be buying and not leasing so you might have to commit more money upfront but you will get the larger car at a good price, you wont rack up miles so the resale will still be very high and if you get certified pre owned you still get the warranty and can take to dealer if need be. for low mileage drivers I recommend buying not leasing so you get equity in the car and buying makes that have a strong resale - in this way after three years you will have paid in $10k in payments and if you buy the accord for say $18K it will still be worth more than the $8 that you owe and the equity you get when you sell in 3 yers or continue to hold will be your "rebate" that you paid yourself for owing not leasing
 

First, you should decide on which kind of car you want: the compact or the midsize.  Camrys and Accords don't perform any better than Corollas or Civics in 4-cylinder guise; they're just bigger and have a bit more back seat room, in addition to wasting more gas along the way and costing a few more thousand at the outset.  But if you need a midsize, you might as well get one since a few thousand's just a few thousand.  Once you think about that, the question then becomes either "Civic or Corolla" or "Accord or Camry" -- probably the two most often asked questions in a typical car buyer's lifetime.

Cars have grown over the years, and if you're coming from a 1990 Camry, you'll feel right at home in a new Corolla.  It's got just as much room as your car and 20 extra horsepower.  If you can live with your car's speed and space, you can live with a Corolla.

One good rule of thumb is to never buy a used Honda -- their resale values are insane.  Which is an incentive to buy them new.

Last key note: new Civic coming this fall.  New Camry next spring.