2025 Cars.com Affordability Report: Best Value New Cars

You want your dollar stretched as far as possible, right? A Cars.com survey found 71% of Americans have changed their spending habits in the last year with 76% reported spending less. The goal of Cars.com’s Affordability Report is to identify cars with the best value so you get the most features for the money in a new car while also keeping ownership costs down with low annual fuel costs. We’ve compared hundreds of models and thousands of configurations to find the cars that give you the most bang for the buck in popular vehicle classes including SUVs, pickup trucks, sedans and hatchbacks, and all-electric vehicles.

Related: 2024 Cars.com Affordability Report: Best Value New Cars

When it comes to finding the right car, it’s often difficult to compare one car to another because it’s not often clear which cars and trim levels have similar features when looking at the alphanumeric soup of various trim levels and packages; LX, SEL, Activ, Active with an “e,” ActiveX, etc. (“etc.” as in similar items, not a trim level named “etc.” — this year, at least)

We picked a standard set of features and searched for vehicles in popular classes while finding the least expensive cars that met that criteria.

2025 Best Value Winners

• Subcompact SUV: 2025 Chevrolet Trax
• Compact SUV: 2025 Ford Escape
• Mid-size SUV: 2025 Kia Sorento
• Subcompact car: 2025 Nissan Versa
• Compact car: 2025 Nissan Sentra
• Compact pickup truck: 2025 Ford Maverick
• Mid-size pickup trick: 2025 Nissan Frontier
• Full-size pickup truck: 2025 Ford F-150
• Electric vehicle: 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 6

The Criteria

To get our best value cars, we looked for mainstream-brand mass-market cars that come equipped with or offer the following features:

• Automatic transmission
• Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• Blind spot monitoring
• Forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking and pedestrian detection
• Brake assist
• Lane departure warning
• EVs: 280-plus miles of range

After identifying which trim level or packages are needed to get those features, we then add in the estimated fuel costs for a year. Cars are ranked by the total cost for these standard features combined with the estimated cost of fuel. But we don’t stop there: Eligibility is limited to cars that come in at or under the class average price.

We’ve also noted several factors that may affect the cost of ownership, which ultimately didn’t factor into our rankings but are worth calling out to shoppers. They include manufacturer warranty length, seating capacity for trucks, and gasoline-powered cars must be able to use regular-octane gasoline.

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Will Tariffs Affect Affordability?

That’s the million-dollar question — or rather, the $3,000-$10,000 question considering how much some vehicle prices could increase with the Trump administration’s executive order implementing a 25% tariff on all vehicles assembled outside the U.S.,  in addition to tariffs on some automotive materials.

Read More: Latest Tariff News

That’s why we wanted to identify the vehicle manufacturing location of our best value cars — many of which are made outside the U.S. While there’s an increased risk of those vehicles costing more with a 25% tariff, we also don’t know if automakers will absorb it, pass it on to the consumer on a particular model, or pass it on to the consumer by distributing the price increase across its vehicle lineup. Cars made in the U.S. aren’t exempt (separate tariffs on materials could potentially increase prices), but they are less likely to see a one-lump-sum price increase.

Best Value Cars Made in the U.S.

• 2025 Ford Escape
• 2025 Hyundai Tucson (some versions)
• 2025 Kia Sorento (gas-only versions)
• 2025 Subaru Outback
• 2025 Hyundai Santa Fe
• 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz
• 2025 Nissan Frontier
• 2025 Chevrolet Colorado
• 2025 Ford F-150
• 2025 Ram 1500
• 2025 Chevrolet Silverado
• 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 (excluding Ioniq 5 N)

What Are the Best Value Cars?

Sedans aren’t dead yet! In fact, sedans are the least expensive way to get the features we require. Nissan is leading the way with its Versa and Sentra sedans, grabbing the top spot in our Subcompact and Compact classes. True, there’s only one subcompact sedan left that met our price requirement, but the Versa packs a lot of value, and it’s honestly a good little car to drive. What’s interesting is that if you’re purely looking for the most affordable car on this list, it’s the Nissan Sentra S despite being the larger sibling to the Versa; that’s because it takes an upper-trim Versa to get the required features, while the Sentra comes standard with them.

Subcompact Car

Best Value Subcompact Car: 2025 Nissan Versa SV | Manufacturer image; Cars.com illustration by Erin Williamson

1. 2025 Nissan Versa SV

• Add-ons: None
• Average trim price: $21,891
• Starting price: $21,630
• Fuel economy (city/highway/combined mpg): 32/40/35
• Annual fuel costs: $1,350
• Warranty: 36 months/36,000 miles basic; 60 months/60,000 miles powertrain
• Assembly location: Mexico
• Find a 2025 Nissan Versa for Sale Near You

Compact Car

Best Value Compact Car: 2025 Nissan Sentra S | Manufacturer image; Cars.com illustration by Erin Williamson

1. 2025 Nissan Sentra S

• Add-ons: None
• Average trim price: $21,821
• Starting price: $22,730
• Fuel economy (city/highway/combined mpg): 30/40/34
• Annual fuel costs: $1,400
• Warranty: 36 months/36,000 miles basic; 60 months/60,000 miles powertrain
• Assembly location: Mexico
• Find a 2025 Nissan Sentra for Sale Near You

2. 2025 Kia Soul LX

• Add-ons: LX Technology Package
• Average trim price: $21,687
• Starting price: $22,385
• Fuel economy (city/highway/combined mpg): 27/33/30
• Annual fuel costs: $1,600
• Warranty: 60 months/60,000 miles basic; 120 months/100,000 miles powertrain
• Assembly location: South Korea
• Find a 2025 Kia Soul for Sale Near You

3. 2025 Volkswagen Jetta S

• Add-ons: None
• Average trim price: $22,540
• Starting price: $23,720
• Fuel economy (city/highway/combined mpg): 29/39/33
• Annual fuel costs: $1,450
• Warranty: 48 months/50,000 miles basic and powertrain
• Assembly location: Mexico
• Find a 2025 Volkswagen Jetta for Sale Near You

What Are the Best Value SUVs?

There’s been a shift in the SUV class: More affordable options are available, and we’ve observed declining interest in SUVs priced from $50,000-$69,000. The Chevrolet Trax may not offer all-wheel drive, but it does offer SUV-like utility and a higher seating position versus a small sedan or hatchback. The Trax packs one heck of a value punch as the least expensive SUV on our list. For 2025, we added mid-size SUVs to capture interest in larger, more family-friendly SUVs, including mid-size two- and three-row SUVs. The Kia Sorento grabbed the top spot with its standard three rows of seating. In second place in the mid-size class was perennial Cars.com favorite the Subaru Outback, while the Hyundai Santa Fe, Cars.com’s Best Car of 2025 winner, rounded out the podium.