By Eric Peters, NMA Member and Syndicated Columnist
In less-than-a-year-from-now, you will never again be able to buy a new mid-sized sedan with a six-cylinder engine.
At least, not for less than $60,000 or so.
Dodge has already stopped making the 2023 Charger — which used to come standard with a V6 (and for $33,200 to start). The 2024 version will come standard with a battery. And it will reportedly cost close to $50,000 to start.
Mazda stopped selling its 6 sedan (which offered a V6) altogether, probably because without a six, the 6 was something less than its own name.
Hyundai’s Sonata offers no more than a four.
The Nissan Maxima — which had a standard V6 — is no more.
And now comes the news that the 2025 Toyota Camry — which will begin replacing the current Camry in about six months from now — will be four-cylinder only, just like its main remaining rivals, the Honda Accord and the Hyundai Sonata.
All of them used to offer V6 engines.
Readers of this column know why they don’t anymore — and why the Camry soon won’t, either. A four-cylinder hybrid Camry is the only way Toyota can get the Camry close to the nearly 50 MPG mandatory minimums decreed by the federal regulatory apparat that go into effect come 2026. This is the regulatory mechanism by which the federal apparat is systematically pushing engines off the market. The mandatory minimums will increase until it becomes impossible for a car with an engine to comply with them.
And we are just about there.
Even with a four-cylinder engine augmented by a hybrid setup that keeps the engine off as often as feasible, the 2025 Camry will only just barely make the cut. It will average around 50 MPG, according to reports. The next round of mandatory MPG minimums — on deck to approach 60 MPG — will assure the engine will be cut, in favor of a battery — thereby turning the Camry into a device, just like all the rest.
This will do wonders for its “stock” car image, no doubt.
Things were dissonant enough when the Camry was still available with a V6, which wasn’t a V8 — which is what all NASCAR “stock” cars are powered by.
But at least it was close.
Soon, it will be very far away, perhaps beyond the event horizon of plausibility. Then again, rumor has it that even NASCAR will be pushed to dump its engines in favor of electric motors, reducing what had been racing to something akin to a life-size version of kids’ toy race sets, which were meant to simulate racing.
Six-cylinder engines are becoming what V12 engines were about a decade ago; i.e., exotic engines available only in high-priced, low-production models that only the affluent few can afford. To get one in a new sedan, you must be able to spend in the vicinity of $60,000 for something like a BMW 5 Series or Mercedes E-Class sedan — equipped with the optionally available six.
These luxury sedans now come standard with fours.
It is a shock to the senses.
Mid-sized luxury sedans such as the BMW 5 and the Mercedes E used to come standard with sixes and every mid-sized, mass-market family sedan used to offer them. It was only a little more than ten years ago that it was possible to buy a full-sized sedan with a standard V8 engine for about $40,000 in today’s depreciated dollars. That was the 2011 Ford Crown Victoria — and it cost about $17,000 less to buy one (adjusted for inflation) back in 2011 than it costs today to buy a four-cylinder-powered, mid-sized BMW 5 Series (MSRP $57,900 to start).
Many seem to believe – dissonantly – that working-class affluences such as the lights always coming on, the refrigerator always being full, and the availability of V6 engines unquestioned is a kind of entitlement that will always be a given.
They are about to have their dissonance dispelled.
Eric Peters lives in Virginia and enjoys driving cars and motorcycles. In the past, Eric worked as a car journalist for many prominent mainstream media outlets. Currently, he focuses his time writing auto history books, reviewing cars, and blogging about cars+ for his website EricPetersAutos.com.
Editor’s Note: The thoughts and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the National Motorists Association.
