With the average new car price reaching record highs, it can be hard to find one that doesn’t seriously hurt your budget. Also, to get a cheap vehicle, you may have to sacrifice quality, resulting in lower reliability. However, there are some exceptions. After its annual automotive reliability survey, it recommends only two new cars under $20,000: the 2023 compact car and the 2023 Kia Soul subcompact SUV.
2023 Subaru Impreza and 2023 Kia Soul are the only new cars under $20,000 recommended by Consumer Reports
Affordability is a key factor in an automotive purchasing decision. It is also ideal to get an affordable car that is reliable. However, higher quality typically results in a more expensive vehicle. However, for the 2023 Impreza ($19,795 MSRP) and 2023 Soul ($19,890 MSRP), you can benefit from both affordability and reliability. They are the only new cars under $20,000 recommended by Consumer Reports.
carry a great weight. The organization has decades of experience analyzing cars, and many people make buying choices based on the recommendations. Also, the fact that Consumer Reports doesn’t recommend many vehicles in the bottom rung out of affordability makes the recommendations for the Impreza and Soul particularly strong.
Affordable Subaru Impreza and Kia Soul recommendations based on Auto Reliability Survey
While it looks at multiple aspects of the vehicles in determining recommendations, it places a strong emphasis on reliability. A car may be good in other areas, such as performance and interior comfort, but if it’s not reliable, CR typically doesn’t recommend it.
And Consumer Reports bases car reliability and resulting recommendations on the annual Automotive Reliability Survey. For the Auto Reliability Survey, CR analyzed 17 potential problem areas during the previous year, from owner surveys submitted for more than 300,000 vehicles. Some examples of problem areas include paint, leaks, engines, noises, brakes and electrical systems.
The 2023 Impreza and 2023 Kia Soul had minimal issues in problem areas, so both earned a Consumer Reports recommendation in 2023. The Impreza was also recommended for the 2022 model year, while the Soul is a new model recommended.
The cheapest vehicles in the list of CR
The affordable 2023 Subaru Impreza and 2023 Soul are the only new cars under $20,000 recommended by Consumer Reports. However, there are a few new models in the $20,000 to $25,000 price range that made the list.
Here are Consumer Reports’ top 10 cheapest new cars:
- 2023 Subaru: $19,795 MSRP
- 2023 Kia Soul: $19,890 MSRP
- 2023 Nissan Kicks: $20,290 MSRP
- 2023 Volkswagen Jetta: $20,655 MSRP
- 2023 Toyota Corolla: $21,550 MSRP
- 2023 Ford Maverick: MSRP of $22,195
- 2023 Mazda3: $22,550 MSRP
- 2023 Toyota Corolla Cross: $23,060 MSRP
- 2023 Kia Seltos: $23,340 MSRP
- 2023 Subaru Crosstrek: $23,645 MSRP
You don’t have to destroy your bank account to get a reliable car. This is evidenced by the Impreza, and other affordable new cars that have earned a spot on CR’s recommendation list.
