It’s a tough pill to swallow, but the average transaction price for new cars is approaching $50,000. Remember when you could buy a brand-new, well-appointed everyday sedan for less than half of that? Those days may be long gone, but affordability in the new car market isn’t, as there are still plenty of great choices on the market with a price tag below $30,000.
What’s more: These are well-equipped vehicles with an extensive list of standard safety and infotainment features, plus a host of comfort and convenience amenities. Not only that, but despite being low in their respective automakers’ lineups, every single vehicle on this list has air conditioning, power windows, power locks, anti-lock brakes, traction control, and a backup camera as standard equipment. Compared to what was standard in this segment 20 years ago, some of these may one day be considered some of the best cars ever produced.
More than a few cheap cars have been eliminated over the last few years—like the Mitsubishi Mirage—but there are still a good number of solid choices available. They aren’t limited to subcompact and compact cars, either. There’s a good mix of everything on our list of the cheapest new cars.
The Cheapest New Cars of 2025
- Chevrolet Trax
- Ford Maverick
- Hyundai Venue
- Kia Forte
- Kia K4
- Mazda Mazda3
- Nissan Versa
- Subaru Impreza
- Toyota Corolla Hatchback
Chevrolet Trax
Best for: Tech-forward commuters
The Chevrolet Trax returned to Chevy’s lineup for the 2024 model year after a short hiatus, and we’re happy to report that this latest model carries over none of the frumpy looks or overall cheapness from the first generation. It’s longer, lower, and wider, plus it sports more premium materials and features. Fully loaded trims come in well under $30,000, and it’s one of the few offerings from an American brand on this list, too.
The Trax comes well equipped with a standard 8-inch infotainment touchscreen, power windows and door locks, and even active noise control. You also get standard wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but upper-level trims move up to an 11-inch touchscreen and a fully digital instrument cluster.
Standard safety features are generous and plentiful, including automatic emergency braking, front pedestrian braking, lane-keep assist, lane-departure warning, forward collision warning, automatic high beams, and a following distance indicator. Buyers can also opt for adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, and rear park assist. Like most Chevys, the Teen Driver system comes standard and automatically activates certain safety features.
Ford Maverick
Best for: Truck buyers
We’ll cop to the fact that it’s still exceedingly hard to buy a Maverick XL trim at the base price, even if it’s increased by almost $3,000 since this hot little truck was introduced.
The Maverick is not only the least expensive truck in the marketplace by a couple thousand dollars, it’s also the least expensive truck available with a hybrid engine in America. We loved the Maverick for its right-sized utility and EPA-estimated 37 mpg in hybrid configuration. It lived up to all of the expectations we had for it. It’s not quite the electric car or even the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) that some of us hoped for, but it’s getting there.
Hyundai Venue
Best for: Vacation tourers
The Hyundai Venue is one of two crossovers on our cheap cars list, although neither quite meets the qualifications of what most people would call a crossover. It’s solely available with front-wheel drive (FWD)—neither the Hyundai Venue (nor its sibling the Kia Soul) is available with all-wheel drive (AWD).
The Venue gets a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine putting out 121 horsepower, making it one of the least powerful vehicles on our list—sadly, no turbocharged engine option. Hyundai discontinued the manual, so all of these vehicles rock the same powertrain.
Unlike Kia, Hyundai packs a lot of advanced safety equipment in every trim level, which should attract both first-time and older drivers. However, only the SEL and Limited trims get equipment like blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert.
Kia K4
Best for: Techies
The brand-new 2025 model year Kia K4 is is the Korean brand’s replacement of its previous Forte, the latest direct competitor to the Honda Civic. It’s an excellent compact sedan for a couple hundred dollars less than the Soul. It looks great, it’s well-equipped, and it’s fuel-efficient: With the base model LX trim, the EPA estimates you’ll see fuel economy of up to 30 mpg city and 40 mpg on the highway.
If safety technology is appealing to you, every K4 is equipped with Kia ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) as standard, including automatic emergency braking, lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control, and rear occupant alert. That’s a huge advantage over other manufacturers that make this equipment optional, and only on the upper trim levels.
Even the base LX trim is well-equipped, featuring cruise control, a 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen, Bluetooth wireless technology, and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, rare in this segment.
Kia Soul
Best for: Weekend travelers
The Kia Soul is a terrific value for anyone who’d like the size of a compact crossover, but doesn’t necessarily care about all-wheel drive. It’s really no wonder that the Soul is perennially one of Kia’s best-selling models. The Soul is a capable, entertaining, and incredibly useful car that’s only gotten better with time. It’s got all the things we loved about the discontinued Kia Rio, but in a body style that's great for road trips and gear-hauling. Got luggage? No problem. Have dogs? They’ll love the space.
As is the case for some other models in this class, Kia pushes you to the next trim level to get some of the more advanced safety features. The Soul S features them as standard equipment, but it bumps the MSRP to over $22,000. Those interested in the most sporty-looking Soul will want to head to the GT-Line trim, featuring unique appearance accents inside and out, as well as available two-tone paint. A CVT automatic transmission is the standard and only available transmission.
To sum it up, there’s a really good reason why you see so many Souls around.
Mazda Mazda3
Best for: Driving enthusiasts
The Mazda3 has long been a favorite among performance drivers, especially in the more expensive trims. The 2.5 Turbo Premium Plus is a fantastic little car, but it’s hard to call it “affordable” at over $35,000. But the bargain-basement 2.5 S is still enjoyable to drive with 191 hp and 186 lb-ft of torque.
Like other smaller offerings in Mazda’s lineup, it's fun-to-drive and well-equipped across trims—some say it even gives the likes of BMW and Audi a run for their money. Additionally, if AWD is something you need to have, the Mazda3 is one of a few inexpensive sedans to offer it. But it requires stepping up to the 2.5 S Carbon Edition trim, which has a starting price of almost $30,000.
We recommend sticking with the 2.5 S trim level and spending $1,000 on the best winter tires money can buy.
Nissan Versa
Best for: Families just starting out
Despite a small price bump for the 2025 model year, the beloved and basic Nissan Versa is still the most affordable new car in America, undercutting the larger Nissan Sentra by several thousand dollars. For those after a more analogue and slightly spirited driving experience, Nissan still offers it with a five-speed manual transmission, too.
In its sixth year since a major redesign, the Versa still offers a ton of standard safety features at every trim level in Nissan’s Safety Shield 360 suite of driver-assist features. This includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, automatic high beams, lane-departure warning, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, and rear automatic braking.
This is equipment that you wouldn’t have been able to buy in a Mercedes-Benz S-Class a few generations ago. It’s great to see features once exclusive to luxury cars make their way into the most affordable price category.
Subaru Impreza
Best for: Winter warriors
There’s a big jump in price between a vehicle like the Nissan Versa and the Subaru Impreza, but factor in that, with the Impreza, you get standard all-wheel drive (AWD). It’s the only car in this list with such a feature, and one of just two where it’s available at all. Plus, it’s full-time all-wheel drive that’ll bode well for inclement and winter weather.
On top of that, a new Impreza debuted for the 2024 model year, now sold only with the hatchback body style (along with over 100 cubic feet of passenger space). The hatchback is equipped with EyeSight Driver Assist Technology standard. Looking for a little spice in your Impreza? The RS trim features a sport-tuned suspension and a larger 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine.
(2023 Toyota Corolla Hatchback pictured)
Toyota Corolla Hatchback
Best for: College students
Hatchbacks always seem to be on the endangered species list (like the Mirage), but they seem to be making something of a comeback, most notably in the form of the Corolla Hatchback. The idea here is to offer an entertaining little car for not a ton of money. The Corolla Hatchback is equipped with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder with 169 hp and a CVT regardless of the trim level you select. Even if you choose the XSE, your base price is still just a shade over $27k.
And even in base format, this isn’t a stripped-down, bare-bones vehicle. You get an 8-inch multimedia screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, plus three months of SiriusXM for free. Choosing the XSE provides a set of eight JBL premium audio speakers with an amplifier.
Making the bottom line seem even more enticing, Toyota throws in the first two years or 25,000 miles of scheduled maintenance for free.
