Accord Beats Camry by $1,672 Over Five Years of Ownership

Our calculator puts the five-year cost of a 2021 Honda Accord at $26,109 and the 2021 Toyota Camry at $27,781. That is a $1,672 gap, or $28 a month, in the Accord's favor.

The Accord wins, and fuel is the main reason. The Camry costs $1,247 more to fuel over five years, which is about 75% of the whole gap. The rest is a pile of small losses: more maintenance, more repairs, slightly more insurance. The Camry does not win a single category. Registration is a tie, and depreciation is close to one.

The gap is mostly gas, not reliability

People assume the Camry-versus-Accord question is about reliability. Our numbers say it is about the pump.

Fuel for the Camry runs $9,970 over five years. The Accord runs $8,723. Everything else combined adds up to a gap of only $425: $260 in maintenance, $78 in insurance, $71 in repairs, and $16 in depreciation.

That last number is the one to look at. Depreciation is how much value the car loses while you own it. The Camry loses $3,897 and the Accord loses $3,881. A $16 difference is noise. Toyota's resale reputation is real, but at this age and mileage it does not show up as a meaningful edge in our estimate.

The Camry also starts higher. We assume a purchase price of $16,800 for the Camry against $16,300 for the Accord. So you pay $500 more at the door, then more at the pump, then a bit more at the shop. Nothing in the Camry's column pays that back.

Fuel: $21 a month you never get back

Our calculator puts fuel at $166 a month for the Camry and $145 a month for the Accord, averaged over five years. The Camry costs $21 more every month.

In year one, that is $1,916 against $1,676. By year five it is $2,074 against $1,814. Both climb as our calculator assumes fuel prices creep up, and the gap widens slightly along the way.

Twenty-one dollars does not sound like much. It is a streaming bundle you did not choose, paid for 60 months. If you want the official MPG ratings behind this, check the Toyota Camry on fueleconomy.gov and the Honda Accord on fueleconomy.gov. We stick to dollars because your driving habits matter more than a lab number. Drive more, and the gap grows. Drive less, and it shrinks.

Year by year: no crossover, just a steady gap

Some car comparisons have a plot twist, where one car is cheaper early and the other catches up. This is not one of them.

The Accord is cheaper every single year. Our calculator's yearly totals look like this:

• Year 1: Camry $5,083, Accord $4,833
• Year 2: Camry $5,051, Accord $4,782
• Year 3: Camry $5,367, Accord $5,023
• Year 4: Camry $6,349, Accord $5,927
• Year 5: Camry $5,931, Accord $5,544

The gap is $250 in year one, then $269, then $344, then $422, then $387. It is widest in year four.

Year four is the expensive year for both cars. Maintenance jumps to $1,458 on the Camry and $1,350 on the Accord. That is the point where bigger scheduled jobs tend to land: things like brakes, tires, fluids, and other items that wear out around that mileage. Plan for it. If you buy either car, set aside money for a year when maintenance alone costs more than a month's rent in many cities.

Year five eases off to $880 for the Camry and $815 for the Accord, but repairs keep climbing. Camry repairs go from $265 in year one to $750 in year five. Accord repairs go from $257 to $728. Both cars get more expensive to fix as they age. Neither one gets a pass.

Depreciation goes the other way. The Camry sheds $937 in year one and $679 in year five. The Accord sheds $970 and then $654. The Accord actually loses a little more value early, then less later. That is why the totals are so close.

Repair risk: both are dependable, the Camry is not safer

Repairs are where the Camry's reputation is supposed to pay off. In our calculator it does not. Camry repairs total $2,382 over five years. Accord repairs total $2,311. The Camry is $71 worse.

That does not mean either car is a lemon. RepairPal tracks reliability and repair costs by model, and both of these sedans sit well above average in its ratings. Check each model's page there for current numbers on how often owners visit a shop for unscheduled repairs and how much those visits cost. Our figures are estimates built on that kind of data, not a guarantee for the specific car you are looking at.

So which one is more likely to surprise you with a big bill? Neither, really. The honest answer is that the car's history matters more than its badge. A 2021 with 85,000 miles and skipped oil changes is a worse bet than one with 62,000 miles and a stack of receipts. Get a pre-purchase inspection on either car. It costs far less than the $750 or $728 we expect in year-five repairs.

If you want a nervous-person's tiebreaker, the Accord is slightly cheaper to maintain at $3,250 versus $3,510. That is $260 over five years. Not dramatic. Still a point for the Accord.

Insurance: close, and only an estimate

Insurance is $7,767 for the Camry and $7,689 for the Accord, a $78 gap over five years. These are our estimates based on the car's value and class. They are not quotes. Your age, ZIP code, driving record, and insurer will move your real number a lot more than $78, so get quotes on both cars before you decide. If your quote comes back higher on the Accord, that could erase the small edge here, but it would not touch the fuel gap.

Who should buy which

Buy the Accord if you drive a normal amount, commute daily, or simply want the lowest bill. You save $1,672 over five years, pay $500 less up front by our estimate, and give up nothing in reliability that our numbers can detect. This is the default pick for almost everyone reading this page.

Buy the Camry if you find a specific car that is clearly better than the Accord options near you: lower miles, a full service history, a certified warranty, or a price well under our $16,800 assumption. A $1,672 gap is real but not enormous, and a clean one-owner Camry can beat a rough Accord easily. Also consider it if you have a strong preference for how it drives or fits you. Just go in knowing you are paying about $28 a month for that preference, mostly in gas.

The Camry is not a bad car. It is a slightly more expensive one, and our numbers give you no reason to expect the extra money to come back at resale or in the repair shop. Unless the right Camry shows up at the right price, buy the Accord.