Best New Cars and SUVs for Under $30,000
These top performers cost less than the average new car
It feels like forever but after three years, automakers and their dealers have finally returned to “normal” levels of inventories. According to Kelley Blue Book, the average car dealership has a 56-day supply of vehicles. That means you have a very good chance of going to a car dealer and driving home that day in a car, minivan, SUV, or truck of your choice. But that doesn’t mean they’re all affordable models, because automakers continue to build more expensive (i.e., profitable) vehicles at the expense of cheaper ones, and some dealerships continue to tack a “price adjustment” onto the more popular models. The result is that the average price of a new vehicle was more than $48,275 in April 2023, according to Kelley Blue Book, which is $14 below March’s average.
Still, even with increased MSRPs (the manufacturer’s suggested retail price), there are many excellent vehicles that sell for far less than that. To assist bargain hunters, we’ve assembled a list of the best new cars and SUVs under $30,000 based on their Overall Score, factoring in road-test performance, owner satisfaction, predicted reliability, and safety.