A new report ranks the 25 best new cars for the money, focusing on value and longevity.
While new car pricing is slowly coming back down to earth, there’s no denying even today’s economy cars ask for a decent chunk of your hard-earned cash. To that end, value is a critical element for most buyers currently in the market, and research firm iSeeCars put together a ranked list of the best new cars for the money.
To create this study, iSeeCars analyzed 8.3 million new car transactions between September and December 2023, as well as odometer readings of 181 million vehicles sold in the time frame between 2012 and 2022. Their methodology compares the average new price of a given model, then compares it against the “average lifespan” from the odometer readings to establish a “price per 10,000 miles” metric. So, we’re not just focusing on value as the cost to buy the car, but also brings in an angle of running costs to determine which cars offer the best bang for your buck.
The full list: Best 25 new cars for the money
Unsurprisingly, compact cars make up the lion’s share of the top 25 best value new cars. The rankings do hinge around relatively low purchase costs, but also factor in reliability, at least in terms of how long the average owner uses the car over its lifetime.
On average, any given vehicle will cost $2,779 every 10,000 miles, have an average new price of $47,885 and run for 172,331 miles (those are the average numbers across all models in the study).
Here’s the full list:
| Rank | Vehicle | Price Per 10,000 Miles | Average New Price | Average Lifespan (Miles) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mitsubishi Mirage | $1,099 | $18,991 | 172,784 |
| 2 | Toyota Corolla | $1,374 | $25,017 | 182,133 |
| 3 | Subaru Impreza | $1,409 | $27,830 | 197,562 |
| 4 | Honda Accord | $1,432 | $30,321 | 211,772 |
| 5 | Honda Civic | $1,531 | $28,594 | 186,824 |
| 6 | Toyota Camry | $1,585 | $31,960 | 201,644 |
| 7 | Nissan Versa | $1,588 | $20,601 | 129,696 |
| 8 | Honda CR-V | $1,617 | $35,490 | 219,509 |
| 9 | Mazda 3 | $1,644 | $30,253 | 184,069 |
| 10 | Toyota Prius | $1,683 | $35,313 | 209,839 |
| 11 | Subaru Legacy | $1,735 | $32,889 | 189,603 |
| 12 | Volkswagen Jetta | $1,737 | $25,778 | 148,410 |
| 13 | Toyota Tacoma | $1,746 | $41,727 | 239,028 |
| 14 | Toyota Camry Hybrid | $1,767 | $35,631 | 201,644 |
| 15 | Nissan Sentra | $1,784 | $23,969 | 134,335 |
| 16 | Honda Ridgeline | $1,817 | $44,225 | 243,431 |
| 17 | Subaru Forester | $1,850 | $36,018 | 194,651 |
| 18 | Chevrolet Malibu | $1,944 | $27,667 | 142,332 |
| 19 | Subaru Outback | $1,970 | $39,809 | 202,033 |
| 20 | Toyota RAV4 | $1,983 | $35,359 | 178,320 |
| 21 | Mazda CX-9 | $2,009 | $43,448 | 216,227 |
| 22 | Hyundai Elantra | $2,021 | $25,634 | 126,863 |
| 23 | Ford Escape | $2,031 | $34,071 | 167,744 |
| 24 | Hyundai Tucson | $2,088 | $34,216 | 163,902 |
| 25 | Toyota 4Runner | $2,163 | $49,955 | 230,922 |
Depending on your car shopping goals, there are a few takeaways from iSeeCars‘ data. While the Mitsubishi Mirage may win out by being cheaper to buy and cheaper to run than its rivals, it may also be worth sinking a bit more money into models that are well known for their durability over a long period, like the Toyota Corolla or Honda Accord. Not only does the latter average over 200,000 miles in its lifespan (as does the Honda CR-V), both models tend to have strong resale value, even with higher mileages.
That said, the Toyota 4Runner is the most expensive car to buy new among the top 25, but folks tend to hold onto them for so long that the average price per 10,000 miles makes it a strong contender. Notably, the Big Three only appears on the list twice: with the Chevy Malibu and the Ford Escape. Again, the buy-in price isn’t terribly high (by modern standards) if you go for the low-to-mid-range models, and folks who buy them tend to run them for hundreds of thousands of miles, making them better value prospects than your average new car.
Even if you’re wearing your sensible shoes, you may not want to go for the ruthlessly inexpensive Mitsubishi Mirage. There are plenty of popular options among the top 25 best new cars for your money, though, so it’s almost certain you’ll land on a good option that suits your needs.