The auto industry has rushed to adopt downsized, turbocharged engines in recent years, but two of the biggest nameplates in the U.S. car market have thus far stayed on the sidelines: the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord. That won’t be the case for much longer, according to a report in Automotive News.
-Both models will be getting turbo four-cylinders in the near future. For its part, the Camry will get the 2.0-liter unit just announced for the 2016 Lexus IS200t and seen first in the Lexus NX200t crossover. While the IS still offers a 3.5-liter V-6, the turbo four is expected to supplant the V-6 in the Camry as the step-up engine from the normally aspirated four. The engine is rated at 235 horsepower and 258 lb-ft for its transverse application in the NX, which is more germane to the Camry than the longitudinal installation in the rear-drive-based IS. While we don’t yet know what the output will be in the Camry, it easily should surpass the standard 2.4-liter’s 178 horsepower—although it may not reach the current V-6’s 268 horsepower.
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At Honda, the turbo headed the Accord’s way is smaller, at 1.5 liters. The engine is making its Honda debut in the redesigned 2016 Civic (previewed by this year’s Civic Coupe Concept), and later will migrate to the Accord as well as the CR-V. In the Civic, the 1.5-liter turbo will be offered as an upgrade over a naturally aspirated 2.0-liter; both are part of a new family of twin-cam VTEC engines. In the Accord, it’s more likely that the 1.5-liter would replace the current 184-hp, 2.4-liter four as the base unit in a play to boost fuel economy.
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The Camry and Accord are among the last mid-size sedans without turbocharged four-cylinder power. The engine configuration is already seen on the Ford Fusion, the Chevrolet Malibu, the Hyundai Sonata, the Kia Optima, and the Volkswagen Passat. Then again, the Camry and the Accord have long been top two bestsellers in the category, so the attitude may have been, “What’s the rush?”
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