Ford Fusion vs. Honda Accord

The Ford Fusion and Honda Accord are two great sedans for people who care about safety but don’t want a giant vehicle. You can fit five passengers or stow everything you need for a weekend getaway. It can be hard to choose which car is best for you, but this breakdown may make it a bit easier.

Price

No one wants to overpay for their next car, so price is often one of the most important aspects of choosing a vehicle. In this case, the 2018 Ford Fusion S is the cheaper option with a starting MSRP of $22,215. The 2018 Honda Accord LX has a starting MSRP of $23,570. The vehicles have a $1,355 price difference, which isn’t chump change but probably won’t make a huge difference on a monthly payment.

Fuel Economy

Most people also want a car that gets great gas mileage. We don’t want to spend too much time (or money) at the pump! Better fuel economy means you’ll spend less money in the long run, and the Honda Accord certainly has better mileage per gallon.

The 2018 Ford Fusion has an estimated fuel economy of 21 mpg in the city and 32 mpg on the highway. However, the Honda is equipped with a base four-cylinder engine and CVT, which gives it strong performance and great mileage. The 2018 Honda Accord can get an estimated 30 mpg in the city and 38 mpg on the highway. This can be remarkable for anyone to spends most of their time driving around town and makes the Accord the clear winner.

Safety

Safety is critical, and you may be willing to pay extra for a vehicle that will keep the driver safe at all times. The Ford Fusion comes standard with anti-lock disc brakes, traction and stability control, front-seat side airbags, front knee airbags and side curtain airbags. The Ford Sync system also includes an emergency crash-notification feature that auto-dials 911 when paired with a compatible cell phone.  There aren’t a ton of cutting-edge safety features that come standard, but the government has still awarded the Fusion five out of five stars for overall crash protection.

The Accord comes with anti-lock disc brakes, stability and traction control, active front head restraints, front-seat side airbags and side curtain airbags. In addition to these safety features, the Accord also comes with a standard rearview camera. You can upgrade to the Honda Sensing package at an extra cost to get more safety features like lane departure warnings and adaptive cruise control. Overall, government crash tests gave the 2018 Honda Accord five out of five stars.

Where the two vehicles differ is the frontal crash and rollover crash ratings. The Honda maintains 5-star ratings across all tests. The Ford drops down to 4 stars out of 5 for the specific frontal and rollover tests.

Reliability

No one wants to purchase a vehicle every few years because their new one had engine or transmission issues. Overall, the Honda Accord stands out overall with a 4.5 out of 5 rating from J.D. Power for initial quality. It did, however, receive a low score of 2 for powertrain quality. The Ford Fusion on the other hand only received a 3 out of 5 overall initial quality rating. It does have a higher powertrain quality rating of 3, however.