The timing of this article is quite fitting as my parents just leased a car in this segment. They live in a more remote area in Northern NL and for various reasons releated to proximity to dealers, or unproven longterm reliability, or uncompetitive leasing, they narrowed down the list to the 2 top dogs commonly thought of in this segment... Camry and Accord.
It was interesting to hear their perspective on their test drives, given that I would have probably picked the best drivers car of the bunch if I was shopping in this segment. They both preferred the driving dymanics of the Accord but they had 2 major beefs with the car:
1) Seats were too hard. To quote my mother, "The seats were like sitting on a pile of rocks."
2) They found the car to be excessively noisey compared to the Camry. Interesting to see that MT mentions this in the article too.
In the end, they leased a 4 cylinder Camry SE. Probably not the car I would have choosen but I think MT hits the nail on the head with this quote:
Seemingly excels at nothing, yet it really excels at everything. A driving enthusiast might want a more involving and athletic machine, but for 99 percent of buyers shopping in this category, the Camry simply nails the mission profile