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Identifying the First-Gen Ford MustangBest Cars Under $30,000
A budget of $30,000 can still get you a pretty good deal on a sedan. We look at ten great options from top automakers like Ford, Kia, Toyota, and more.
Let’s paint the scene for you. You waltz into a car dealership with an auto loan for $30,000 burning a hole in your pocket. Not knowing how inflated new car prices are these days and assuming it’s still 2005, you walk over to the salesperson and ask for the nicest new sedan you can buy for 30 large. To which they simply look at you like you have 20 heads and haphazardly point in the direction of the pre-owned department. Well, now what? Go home and cry about it? Not even close. These are the best-used sedans under $30,000.
2019-2024 Chevrolet Malibu: The Sedan That Won’t Die
You might laugh at this choice. Compared to the endless sea of Accords, Camrys, and Altimas, which you can buy for roughly the same amount of money, why bother with an ostensibly less-refined American option? Well, particular emphasis is placed on “roughly” the same price. While most of the low-mileage Camrys and Accords remain priced as their badges entitle them, you can buy an equivalent Malibu for a substantial discount. If a low-mileage Camry begins at $20,000 and changes for a nice one, finding an equivalent Malibu for close to $3,500 less and sometimes even cheaper is possible without much hassle.
Granted, there’s no way a Malibu will ever be as reliable as an Accord or Camry, and you’ll be changing engine oil and transmission fluid religiously to avoid a host of issues related to drivetrain failure just to keep the thing on the road. However, families who maintain maintenance and ensure their car was serviced under any recalls should find a 2019 and up Malibu to be a decent family grocery-getter. Not an exciting or innovative one, but serviceable just the same.
2015-2024 Alfa Romeo Giulia: Here for a Good Time
Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, you don’t care too much about reliability. So long as the car doesn’t leave you stranded every five minutes, you’re willing to put up with a bit more maintenance to enjoy a more engaging and stylish sports sedan driving experience. In that case, the Alfa Romeo Giulia might serve you well, assuming you understand the pitfalls. With a peppy four-cylinder engine and paddle shift transmission, there’s plenty of grunt to go along with impressive suspension hardware, even below the range-topping Quadrifoglio models.
That said, early editions of the Giulia, especially those from the mid-to-late 2010s, tend to have glaring reliability issues, particularly concerning the drivetrain and various electrical components. So if you’re dead set on forking out between $21,000 and about $28,000 for a Giulia, please buy one with a complete service history, learn how to do your own maintenance, and be ready to sell it before, at, or just after 75,000 miles. If you can, you’ll have netted one of the most underrated and well-sorted European sports sedans you can buy in North America. But don’t say we didn’t warn you; do your research first or get burned.
2021-2024 Kia K5: Solid Balance of Work and Play
Admittedly, most people can’t just shun reliability in favor of raw thrills in this market segment and this price point. So why not opt for something so new it’s not mature enough yet to run into real problems? Dubious nature of powertrain longevity aside, you can do a lot worse than a Kia K5 right now. Known as the Optima until this, the fifth generation in North America, both the 1.6-liter turbo four-banger and the 2.5-liter, naturally aspirated four-pot available in a K5 are zippy enough to satisfy most folks, plus with tasteful styling and interior features to match.
Used K5s with low-to-medium miles on the odometer tend to fetch anywhere from $30,000, even for a used 2024 model, down to as low as $13,000 for a well-used 2021 example with nearly 90,000 miles on the clock. If you’re willing to take a chance on Kia’s powertrains being more reliable than normal, there’s a chance a K5 could be an excellent choice if a balance between fun and practicality is what’s required.
2017-2020 Ford Fusion: Ford’s Last Sedan
The second-generation Ford Fusion lasted from 2013 all the way to 2020. But for the sake of simplicity, it’s safe to say a used Fusion, from its 2019 facelift and upwards, would be the best fit for used car buyers looking for reliability above all else. Fusions from these years were fairly reliable and relatively lively owing to its selection of four and six-cylinder EcoBoost turbocharged engines. The available hybrid, and especially the plug-in hybrid, was also fairly innovative and forward-thinking in those days.
Nowadays, fairly pristine, low mileage Fusion Hybrids are low $20,000 vehicles every day of the week. In a market so saturated with endless Camrys and Accords, it’s no wonder the lowly Fusion depreciated far more aggressively. There have been a few recalls for Fusion models recently, with one pertaining to the battery energy control module (BECM) in the plug-in Hybrid overvolting and the bushing that attaches the shifter cable in the standard ICE car, just to name two. You’re also assured you will not get quite as many miles out of a Fusion as, say, a Honda Accord. But these can still be solid daily commuters, assuming dealer patches take care of the problems.
2019-2023 Chrysler 300: The Car Everyone Loves to Hate
But should we? What is it about a simple, honest, big American Sedan that people around the world can’t stop making fun of? Then again, it’s hard not to scoff at a platform that chases its roots back to 2004 for crying out loud. Still, if you stick to later model years and buy from a reputable dealership, A Chrysler 300 can be a great family car. Rife with leg room, passenger space, and cargo space, a suite of six and eight-cylinder HEMI engines made for a platform with remarkable variety for what it is.
More refined and subtle than its Dodge Charger cousin while not sacrificing affordability much, a low-mileage Chrysler 300 V6 hovers around the mid $20,000s up to $30,000 even. You might even be able to score a V8 for not much more than that if you’re lucky, barring any special limited editions commemorating the 300’s end of production that sell for considerably more. Will it beat a Camry in terms of reliability? Probably not. But it’s hard to argue a model in production as long as this one won’t have a backlog of OEM spare parts as high as a small mountain. Something to consider for sure.
2020-2024 Subaru Legacy: Bowing Out at a Great Value
Per an internal memo intercepted from Subaru of North America, 2025 will be the swansong year for the much-beloved seventh-generation Subaru Legacy. But before the the tears start flowing, there’s still time for the last of the breed to serve as a great every-day family hauler. Across five trim packages and with a 260-hp boxer engine in its up-trimmed packages, the Legacy is might have one of the most blemish-free reputation for safety of any North American sedan left in production.
Legacy sedans built in the 2020s can fetch anywhere from $21,000 and change just under $30,000 depending on mileage and accident history. Compared to similarly-priced BMW 330is and five-year-old C-Class Mercs priced similarly, a Legacy is bound to stay out of the shop far more often than its up-market German counterparts in the sedan segment. Modern automotive tech is what it is, and the level of features between a Legacy and a big German sedan from half a decade ago is a lot smaller than you might think. We couldn’t in good confidence recommend a used 3 Series or a C-Class and sleep well at night, but we can with this Legacy.
2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 SE: An EV to Change Things Up
Entry-level SE trim packages from 2023 are hitting the certified pre-owned segment for as low as $26,995 in our research, and we even found one mid-level SEL for as low as $28,945 with only around 15,500 miles on the odometer. Higher-trimmed Limited models will, of course, breach the $30,000 barrier. But that should only be the case for a little while longer. Bar any catastrophic recalls, the Ioniq 6 will only become a better and better value over time. Whether we can say the same about the current crop of 2023 Model 3s remains to be seen.
It can’t be understated just how impactful the Hyundai Ioniq line of EVs is to the history of the North American EV sector. As a legit competitor to the monolithic Tesla Model 3, the Ioniq 6 has nearly all the capabilities of the Tesla with at least a subjectively more appealing appearance to boot. With a couple of years in production behind it, the Ioniq 6 is taking on new life as a steal on the used market.
2017-2022 Honda Accord: Obvious but Well-Deserved
Especially in turbocharged VTEC four-banger configuration, a tenth-generation Accord is far more sporty to drive than a family sedan practically needs to be. But that’s why, time after time, Toyota can’t seem to pull a substantial lead in public opinion with their rival Camry over the Accord, no matter how many tens of thousands more vehicles they might sell over Honda. With features and performance galore, perhaps only the Camry itself has better resale value in the used sedan space.
Forgive the lack of originality, but it’s hard to go wrong with the tried and true Honda Accord. Millions of gen-VII Accords were sold in North America between 2017 and 2022. These days, many of these archetypal Japanese sedans have already been driven into the ground as Uber and taxi vehicles. But a fair few are still around with sub-20,000 and sometimes sub-10,000-mile odometers for between $25,000 and $30,000, and substantially less if you’re willing to put up with a little bit more.
2018-2023 Lexus ES 350 F-Sport: A Sporty Sedan for 30K
Seventy thousand miles on a Toyota product is historically like reaching half that in sedans from other brands. Of course, no Lexus is truly indestructible. But if a betting person put 100 large on more ES 350s on the road in ten years than its rivals from Cadillac, Audi, and BMW, that’d be a safe one. Better still, there are more than a few out there hovering at, just above, or just below $30,000 right now. Get them while they’re hot, folks.
There was the temptation to put the Cadillac CT4 in this section. Think of this as an attempt at a shoutout without actually placing it here. There’s just no way one could justifiably recommend a GM luxury product over one from Toyota at this juncture. That’s why the Lexus ES 350 F Sport is here instead. With a 302-horsepower V6 under the hood and technology plus refinement for days, snatching up a middle-mileage ES 350 F Sport is no big thing with Toyota’s rock-solid reputation for reliability behind it.
XV70-series Toyota Camry: Of Course it’s a Great Deal
With the XV70’s sunsetting process now complete, you could practically walk outside to get the mail in the morning and have a sub 30,000 fully-loaded Camry fall from the heavens into your driveway with their abundance. They might not be as sporty or nice to drive as a Chrysler 300 HEMI or a VTEC Honda Accord, but Camrys will still be on the road long after the last Chrysler 300 bites the dust. Sometimes, a reputation is well-deserved, and we’d be wrong to recommend something else instead.
Is it just a Lexus ES without the extra pomp and circumstance? There’s a good argument for this. But ultimately, who cares? Because the Camry is an even better value nowadays than when the model was forging its ironclad reputation for reliability 40 years ago. Built from 2017 until April of 2024, the Camry’s impressive selection of four and six-cylinder engines plus hybrid options brought unprecedented media connectivity and driver assist features to arguably Toyota’s most famous US moniker.
