Best Midsize Sedans – The best vehicles on the road, ranked by our experts:
#1 – Kia K5
Luxury at its finest, it has all the bells and Whistles and then some.. Smooth handling and you can’t beat the gas mileage. This is one beautiful automobile. Kia you have out done yourself. If you can improve on this I like to see it. The door, hood, trunk fitment is poor closing. The headlight fitment to fender is ok on the driver side the passenger side is sad to say the least. The rear internal fender shield will not stand up to snow/ ice build-up, guaranteed. The GT1 has power. The tech for self driving is good, but do not rely on it at on ramps. They cut a lot out from the 2015 optima SXL for a class car they are toting. Had it not been for burning a qt of oil in 500 miles I would have kept the Optima with 89000 miles Oh BTW not into apps to drive a car Please go back to the basics.
#2 – Kia Stinger
I have always wanted a Stinger since it was introduced , the looks and performance are great when the Tribute Edition was announced Ascot green with saddle brown interior I bought one. Only a week with the car and I Love it . The thing I did not expect is all of the people looking at my car , I think its the Ascot green that makes the overall look of the car classy , but make no mistake it is an Animal when you want it to be.
Negative sides: 1. Auto hold problem!!! engine does not turn on and i have to do everything to turn back on for 5 minutes. embarrassing! 2. horsepower is weak 3. no deeming mirror 4. no sidemirror defrost heat 5. not enough storage space in the front seat 6. acceleration response is slow like 2 sec. 6. No engine start button. Using Uvo requires lots of things. take out cellphone, turnon, find Uvo, login, password, find turnon button, and password again. Good thing: Trunk space is good. Don’t buy this !!!!
#3 – Hyundai Sonata
I absolutely love this car, it’s everything I want and love in a luxury car without a break the bank price! I had the exact same car in 2020 that was unfortunately totaled in an accident and I went out and got the exact same car in a 2023. Smooth ride, all the bells and whistles I could ask for in a car, great bumper to bumper warranty and even excellent gas mileage with enough power to fit my needs! I’ve had Hyundais for many years and would never buy anything else. Keep up the Great work with your Sonata Limited! The new Sonata is really exceptional, I like the exterior styling, the driver assistance suites, the sharp infotainment screen, the heated and vented seats, and the 360 camera. Everything is nice except for the seats are really stiff!! I took an 8 hour road trip, and man, my butt HURTS! Also, the seat leather surface feels not as good as some other same level sedans. Really hope Hyundai improve this. But overall, it’s great for the money.
#4 – Honda Accord
I had just gotten off work and left the house and was headed to pick up some food, when I suddenly got a “Power System Problem” – Do not drive alert on my brand new 2023 Honda Accord Hybrid. Immediately my car stalled out and I was left stranded in the middle of the road approaching a busy round-a-bout. (All I could think was, what if this happened on the freeway) Vehicle Electronics worked fine, but I couldn’t even pull over to the side of the road. After getting it towed to dealer, I was told a rock hit my PCU radiator and I’d have to get it replaced. Also, the part is on backorder and is NOT covered by Warranty. This will likely be my first and LAST Honda I’ll ever buy as I’ve been waiting for over a week and a half for news on when the part will arrive. Then I find out, that there is a growing number of others experiencing the same issue, thus this reeks of a potential widespread design issue on Honda’s part. Up until this issue, I was thoroughly enjoying the car, the design and gas mileage. It was conformable and I enjoyed the tech features, but not being able to have a working car for who knows how long has really left a bad taste in my mouth.
I just traded it in for a 2023 Accord sport L in red with black trim. Overall I believe I got a pretty fair deal on this new Accord as I had 18 months left on my 22 lease, and I was going up another few thousand in price with the higher trim level. I love the look of the car. The hybrid system is great, and it’s fun to drive. However, this one lacks fog lights which my sport had. It also has a cheap rear view mirror in it that doesn’t auto dim, it doesn’t have homelink built in, no wireless charge pad, no accent lighting, a really weird panel covering the air vents that you can’t mount anything to at all, and the passenger seat is power, and has a memory position, but you cannot raise or lower the seat. The front seats although leather feel cheaply made, and the backseat passengers get nothing! No air vents, no media outlets, power outlets, nothing! There’s only one 12v outlet and it’s inside the center arm rest. Me personally I still plug in my dashcam/ radar, and air compressor when I need to add air to my tires. Also, there’s no satellite radio, you’d have to stream it from your phone through Apple or android carplay. Lame. I feel like these are little things that a higher trim level should automatically have, but Honda felt like cutting corners to save a few bucks. Having said that, I don’t think they’re the only car manufacturer doing this unfortunately. Having said all of that though, I do like the bigger center touch screen that operates more like the Acura ones. The stereo system seems pretty good seeing as it’s not the touted Bose “premium” system you only get in the touring trim. You can set the steering wheel to normal, Econ or sport feel driving, so that’s nice. I also like how the break hold stays engaged even if the car is parked and turned off til you disengage it from the button, meaning every time you come to a stop it doesn’t move til you press the gas pedal. It has paddle shifters on the wheel which I’ve had in my other vehicles, but I never use them. Also, Apple CarPlay connects immediately upon starting the car which was NOT the case in my 22, which worked maybe 50% of the time. Overall I chose to stay with the Accord hybrid because I like the overall reliability of Honda, I like the way it drives, and the gas mileage is pretty good, not to mention it’s not a plug in, so I’m not paying for electricity. Honestly though, I’m disappointed in Honda for being cheap and cutting corners and it’s showing in their reviews. They’re slipping a bit, but they’re still amongst the best!
#5 – Volkswagen Arteon
I have an SEL R-line and I absolutely love this car. It’s almost everything you could want in a car. Roomy, efficient, economical and exhilarating all in one package. The tech could be better coming from Kia’s easy to use platform. I have over 20k miles on my car and could not be happier. It grips and rips when needed but is very comfortable for long distance drives as well. Sad that this platform will be going into the sunset soon.
The Arteon is nice looking and fun to drive but there are a few quirks that make it inferior to its predecessor, the CC. It’s beautiful inside and out but it loses its luxurious feel every time you hit a bump cause the panel in the trunk does not lock in place so you hear it bouncing up and down. You can remove this but it them it’s louder in the cabin. Another serious problem with this car is the trunk, it doesn’t pop open like a normal trunk. You have to unintuitively lift the trunk about a foot up after unlocking it for the hydraulics to lift it. A real pain when you’ve got your hands full and I see it as a safety issue. VW knows this so they offer the automatic opening/closing feature on the premium model. For the price, I’d expect a better design.
