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By Eileen Falkenberg-Hull
Senior Editor, Autos, Travel and Lifestyle
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Often overlooked for flashier headlines featuring sexier cars, the budget-friendly trucks, SUVs and sedans that sit atop U.S. sales charts are some of the best vehicles sold in the country.
In 2025, the list of the top-selling new vehicles in the U.S. includes many that start around $30,000: Chevrolet Equinox, Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, Toyota Camry, Honda Accord and Toyota Tacoma. But, it’s the models that start at slightly less that are the true sweet spot for many new vehicle buyers.
The North American-built Honda Civic, Kia K4, and Nissan Sentra offer buyers a lot of car for their buck. Each have a starting price close to $20,000 and are packaged to maximize their appeal to younger, tech-savvy audiences. Plus, they have just as much safety technology as their pricier peers.
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“Affordability is more pressing than ever in today’s market as average transaction prices for a new vehicle climb north of $50,000,” Robby DeGraff, manager of product and consumer insights at AutoPacific, told Newsweek.
“Going forward, it’s imperative that automakers remain committed to offering budget-conscious shoppers desirable options. Just because a consumer may be bit constrained financially doesn’t mean they should be penalized with a vehicle that fails to deliver true bang-for-buck value. Thankfully there are a select few automakers that continue to do an excellent job with their entry-level products.”
Honda has manufactured the Civic since 1972 and has been sold under 11 different brand names since then. Today, the model is offered as a compact sedan or liftback model called the Civic Hatchback. The sedan is built in Canada and the Hatchback in Indiana.
For the 2026 model year, the Civic comes in four grades (LX, Sport, Sport Hybrid and Sport Touring Hybrid) and starts at $24,595. The Civic Sport Hybrid gets up to 50 mpg as rated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Its long list of standard and available safety features includes lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, automatic high-beam headlights and traffic sign recognition technology.
Kia’s K4, the renamed Optima, is less pricey than the Civic, starting at $22,190. It comes in five grades, none of them featuring a hybrid engine (LX, LXS, EX, GT-Line and GT-Line Turbo). Its EPA-estimated 39 mpg isn’t shabby nor is its list of features, which includes as standard a 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, four UBS-C ports and automatic high-beam headlights. It is built in Mexico.
Starting at $22,600, the Mexico-built Nissan Sentra has been around only a decade less than the Honda Civic. It’s sold in S, SV, SR and SL grades, and generally considered to be one of the most stylish vehicles in its segment. Nissan equips every Sentra sold with forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking that can detect vehicles and pedestrians, automatic high-beam headlights, lane departure warning and accident prevention technology and adaptive cruise control.
“Hopefully in the coming model years, we’ll see more automakers prioritize affordable vehicles, whether that be with new models or de-contented lower priced trims of their current ones. An entry-level shopper should never feel as if they’re being punished. I can’t stress how important this is,” DeGraff said.
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