According to the good people over at Kelley Blue Book, the average new car in America cost $48,397 last September. Eye-watering as that may sound, it’s actually half a percentage point lower than a year earlier. Thank goodness for The Drive’s five nominees of the Best Under $40K category, then, for reminding the market at large that extraordinary quality, utility, and style needn’t carry an extraordinary price tag.
Our $40K category is indeed a special one. Most of the other categories group vehicles built to serve a similar purpose, and then our staff of ever-opinionated car journalists naturally debate over which achieves it best. But this one’s a bit more nebulous by nature. 2024’s gauntlet brings us a plush minivan, two hybrid sedans, a youthful crossover, and an old-fashioned rear-wheel-drive sports coupe. The diversity illustrates that even today, you can still choose your own adventure with a value play.
That’s why we love cheap cars. Selling cars is hard, but it gets easier as budgets get bigger. True innovation is born within constraints, taking technology Mercedes first brought to market in an S-Class 10 years ago and making it matter by placing it within reach of the other 99%. These cars, all introduced or significantly reworked for 2024, represent that spirit better than the rest. We’ve driven them all and chosen one standout among the elites.
Runner-Up: Toyota Camry, The Best Midsize Sedan Under $40K
“The Camry is more than competent in everyday driving—it’s genuinely enjoyable. Steering feedback feels good and gives you a great sense of control. Acceleration is perfectly acceptable, and the brakes are brilliantly responsive without being unsettlingly aggressive. Simply put, it feels smooth and clean.
“Like many of you, probably, I was never excited to see or sit in a Camry growing up. They were everywhere, they were all beige, they all had a dent in their bumper below the taillight, and they all smelled kind of funny. It was a car that simply existed. But its reputation for reliability and frugality grew like a snowball rolling down a ski slope, and Toyota kept selling the things.
“2017 was a huge year for the Camry—the step-up in styling was so impressive that the car was suddenly on even more people’s radars. The 2025 Toyota Camry’s updates aren’t as dramatic, but they all seem to have been done in the right direction. The car’s basically just a little bit better across the board, and what more could you ask for in a new gen?” —Andrew P. Collins, Executive Editor
Runner-Up: Kia Carnival, The Best Minivan Under $40K
“The main draw of any minivan, however, is space, and the Kia Carnival indeed has loads of it. Par for the minivan course, both sliding doors and the liftgate can be opened and closed by buttons (there’s a whole module for this above the driver’s head) or merely pulling on handles—by my count, there are five different ways of opening or closing each sliding door, and none of them require much arm strength—the last time I used power-close doors, I was in a Bentley SUV. In other luxuries, all four rear windows had hand-deployable shades and the seat belt buckles can be illuminated and come with felt padding to keep them from annoyingly knocking against other plastic.
“Even without the hybrid powertrain, the 2025 Kia Carnival is one of the most practical, serene, uncomplicated, and blatantly satisfying vehicles I’ve ever lived with. It’s downright relaxing to drive while honestly being quite stylish—like ankle socks, it’s only a matter of time before SUVs and crossovers become a millennial-coded dog whistle of oldness, mark my words. (For the record, crew socks were the only type of socks that ever existed in my mind and wardrobe, despite being born in what the children now refer to as ‘the late 1900s.’)” —Chris Tsui, Reviews Editor
Runner-Up: Nissan Kicks, The Best Small Crossover Under $40K
“There’s no getting around it: the Nissan Kicks experienced a glow-up. It’s not only bigger but more stylish than before. The vehicle went from cute-ute to, “Oh, when did your little brother turn into a stud?” OK, so he’s still on the JV team but, still, gone are the chipmunk cheeks and baby fat.
“The cabin definitely looks and feels premium for the segment. However, although it is bigger inside than before, it’s not so big to make you forget you’re in a small crossover.
“According to Nissan, nearly all of the Kicks’ updates and improvements are based on consumer feedback. No hybrid? Well, that would add complexity and cost, and no one was really asking for it. No Nismo or Rock Creek variant? Again, if it’s something buyers want, then the idea isn’t off the table. What customers did say was the Kicks was great on value, fuel, and safety—all of which Nissan bolstered in the new car.
“The 2025 Nissan Kicks offers so much more than its price point suggests, packed with tech and amenities worthy of larger and higher-priced vehicles. Its engine and straight-line performance will drop you back to reality with a thud, but otherwise, the Nissan Kicks over-delivers and oversteps its competition.” —Beverly Braga, Weekend Editor
Runner-Up: Subaru BRZ tS, The Best Sports Car Under $40K
“You can point the BRZ tS into obnoxiously tight corners at speeds you’d never dream of in anything else and it just points and shoots. No slip, no lack of control—just pure confidence. It’s a shockingly sharp little car and that creates a sense of fun all of its own. It isn’t as silly as the usually-sideways standard BRZ but it has its own flavor, which is a good thing.
“The BRZ tS isn’t for everyone, though. It’s unrefined and immature in a way that its rivals aren’t but that’s because it throws away everything that doesn’t contribute to the driver’s enjoyment. It’s the pure, distilled essence of driving, for better and worse. And, even though I personally don’t think it’s for me at this point in my life, I’m so happy it exists.” —Nico DeMattia, Staff Writer
“The BRZ tS is no revolution, and it’s certainly not the BRZ anyone must buy. What it really is, is one more rung on the ladder for owners who desire the apex of the world’s most well-rounded, affordable compact sports car.” —Adam Ismail, News Editor
[Ed. note: The Subaru BRZ tS also takes home the honor of being our People’s Choice winner. In a series of polls on The Drive‘s Instagram, it was the most popular car of this bunch. Congratulations, Subaru. —CT]
Winner: Honda Civic Hybrid, The Best Car Under $40K
Look, you don’t beat the Toyota Prius at its own game (our overall Best Car winner in 2023, mind) without executing at a high level in a multitude of ways. And that’s exactly what Honda did with the latest Civic Hybrid. It started, naturally, with a really good base. The 11th-generation Civic was already a satisfying daily, both for its confident handling and thoughtfully designed interior. Toss in a punchy 232 lb-ft of torque—the most of any Civic that doesn’t wear a Type R badge—while enhancing efficiency rather than destroying it, and you have a recipe for success.
Sure, it’s a tick below the Prius in overall fuel economy, with a combined rating of 49 mpg versus Toyota’s 52 mpg. But that’s an acceptable tradeoff for the extra refinement and practicality the Civic grants. From the “clean design, intuitive controls, decent materials, and class-leading build quality” of its interior, as Reviews Editor Chris Tsui put it in his review, to the “seamless” integration of the gas engine within Honda’s hybrid system, this sedan is hard to fault anywhere. That’s saying a lot for a car that starts at just $29,845. In this case, “Best Under $40K” sells the accomplishment a bit short—perhaps next year we’ll introduce a new Best Under $30K category in which the Civic would handily win as well.
Chris sums it up: “Practical without being dowdy, stylish without being gaudy, and genuinely enjoyable to drive without being compromisingly rough or flimsy, the electrified Honda Civic is one of the best commuter cars you can get right now.”
And for those reasons, the Civic Hybrid is The Drive‘s Best Car Under $40K in 2024.