OUT WITH THE OLD

WHICH OF THESE HYBRID SEDANS MAKES YOU WANT TO SKIP AN SUV MORE?

- ALEXANDER STOKLOSA

It might be weird to consider for anyone who grew up after the 2008 financial crisis, but there was a time when midsize sedans were numbingly boring and known as “family cars.” Yes, low-slung, four-door sedans whose butts terminate with trunklids, not tailgates, were hugely popular. Sales figures resembled those of pickups, and every manufacturer had skin in the game, from Ford to Mitsubishi. And within the segment, the Toyota Camry and its rival, the Honda Accord, dominated the space. The Accord’s sales topped 400,000 units in the early 2000s; the Camry nearly kissed the half-million mark in 2007.

Toyota’s bestseller today is the RAV4. Honda’s? The CR-V. Practicality these days is spelled “S-U-V,” and to many, the family sedan category doesn’t fit that description anymore, given how many Americans now demand any vehicle with “family” in its descriptor has three rows of seats and a hiked-up suspension.

But the Accord and Camry are still here and selling strong, even as—or perhaps because—so many competitors have abandoned the sedan space. The gravitational forces pulling the masses toward trucks and SUVs have left an opportune vacuum: Shorn of any pretense of industry-leading practicality and swept up in a nihilist doom loop, these midsize sedans have let their hair down and grown more stylish and sporty in a bid to stand out at their own apocalypse party.