New cars have become considerably more expensive in recent years. It wasn’t that long ago that the average price crossing $40,000 seemed bonkers, and spending $50,000 on a ride made you fancy; now, the average purchase price for a new car in America has been hovering above $48,000. Toyota’s head of North American sales Jack Hollis believes that price may top $50,000 soon.
The most egregious example may be full-size pickup trucks. An outlay in the mid-$50,000 range once got you a Ford F-150 Raptor. Now, you need to spend that much to get anything beyond a very basic work truck.
Despite the price increases, however, there are still some cool cars out there offering great value. Here are the best cars you can buy for less than $50,000.
Best Small Car: Honda Civic
honda- Powertrain: Turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-four
- Horsepower: 180
- Torque: 177 lb-ft
- Starting MSRP: $23,950
Budget sedans are anything but sexy, and rolling with less than 200 horsepower, a CVT and cloth seats seems about as far from an enthusiast car as one can get. But in a car market gone bonkers, the Honda Civic still offers exceptional value. If you wan’t something sportier, there’s a Civic for that. If you want a really dialed-in sports car, there’s also a Civic for that.
