what materials does honda use that toyota doesnt?>>>

Honda uses more hard plastics in the interiors (especially the 7th gen) and Toyotas fit and finish tends to be a step ahead of Honda. Just my personal observation. As for as engineering, I have to say Honda has really come a long way in the last 10 years. Several months back a friend of mine came home with a 1992 Camry XLE, and I was truly impressed with it! Theater style lighting, lighted exterior door locks, fabric headliner, etc. and the car was roomy, smooth and very quiet riding. I still had my 96 Accord back then, and when I got back in it after driving the 92 Camry... I started realizing just how dated the Accord was.

On the flip side...I favored the 7th gen Accord to the current Camry, and am now on my 4th Honda. However, I still believe Lexus is the leader in luxury cars.

Mechanically, I will always favor Honda 4 bangers. IMO, they are the king of the 4-cylinder engine, and no one builds them better or more reliable than Honda.

Toyota does make a fine V8 engine, and I've never heard much in the way of problems with Toyota's automatic transmissions save for a software problem w/ the 02-03 Camry/ES300s which didn't cause any failures (That I'm aware of) only delayed downshifts during full throttle.