Buying a cheap new car got a whole lot more expensive thanks to 2 dead models
Audio By Carbonatix
10 years ago, there was no shortage of cheap new cars below the $17,000 mark. Today, the pool of new vehicles below $20,000 has dried up. That fact is thanks largely to the departure of two sub-$20,000 holdouts: the Nissan Versa and Mitsubishi Mirage. But with the Versa and Mirage playing their swan songs, buying a cheap new car just got considerably more expensive for the 2026 model year.
As the Nissan Versa and Mitsubishi Mirage exit stage left, buying a cheap new car just got pricier by thousands
Last year, I tested a Nissan Versa. At the time, the Versa shared the ever-shrinking segment of new cars with a starting price under $20,000 with the Mitsubishi Mirage. However, unlike the Mirage, I found the Versa to be perhaps the last cheap and cheerful car on the market. Not that affordability was enough to save the only cheap new cars in the US market.
Mitsubishi discontinued the Mirage after the 2024 model year, and the Versa will drive off into the sunset after the 2025 model year. That leaves no new cars on the horizon with a starting price under $20,000.
If you were car shopping from the changing room, the next size up pant that the attendant might hand you would be the Nissan Sentra, which started at $22,730 for 2025. That’s $4,400 and $4,890 more than the Versa and Mirage, respectively. Should nothing slink out of the woodworks, that means a much pricier entry-level market for 2026.
So, is the Nissan Sentra going to be the closest thing to a cheap new car in 2026? It depends. It depends on the Sentra’s new lease on life. The Sentra might grow and refine as part of its 2026 refresh, which could mean a heftier price tag as it attempts to siphon off some of the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic faithful.
It also depends on the Kia Soul. You read that right; the historically hamster-filled experiment in cubist car design could be one of the cheapest cars on the market for 2026. That is, if it sticks around. While a 2026 model is likely, recent scuttlebutt suggests that Kia may send the Soul to the afterlife after 2025. But, considering the 2025 model starts at $21,855, next year’s Soul could be one of the cheapest new cars after the Versa bows out. You can read my review of the outgoing third-generation Nissan Versa here.
