Best Compact Cars for the Money for 2024
The best compact cars for the money are ranked based on an analysis of their price and average lifespan, with the top-ranked models offering the longest life at the lowest price.
The best compact car for the money is the Toyota Corolla which has the lowest iSeeCars Annual Lifespan Cost. We rank vehicles by how much a vehicle costs to purchase relative to how long the car lasts which we believe is a good determiner of value - the lower the cost, the better the value. The Toyota Corolla has an average new car list price of $25,016 and an average lifespan of 158,453.2 miles or about 11.7 years, resulting in an annual purchase cost of $2,133. Using this method, the second best compact car for the money is Honda Civic with an Annual Lifespan Cost of $2,237. In third place is Nissan Sentra which has an iSeeCars Annual Lifespan Cost of $2,314.
The best compact car for the money is the Toyota Corolla which has the lowest iSeeCars Annual Lifespan Cost. We rank vehicles by how much a vehicle costs to purchase relative to how long the car lasts which we believe is a good determiner of value - the lower the cost, the better the value. The Toyota Corolla has an average new car list price of $25,016 and an average lifespan of 158,453.2 miles or about 11.7 years, resulting in an annual purchase cost of $2,133. Using this method, the second best compact car for the money is Honda Civic with an Annual Lifespan Cost of $2,237. In third place is Nissan Sentra which has an iSeeCars Annual Lifespan Cost of $2,314.
- Annual Lifespan Cost $2,132.65
- Avg Lifespan: 158.5K Miles (11.7 Years)
- Starting MSRP: $22,050
iSeeCars Best Car Rankings are calculated based on an analysis of data from over 12 million cars that assesses how long each vehicle lasts and how well it retains its value over time, along with safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association
See how we rank these cars- Reliability 8.5 / 10
- Value Retention 8.9 / 10
- Safety 10 / 10
- Annual Lifespan Cost $2,237.39
- Avg Lifespan: 158K Miles (12.3 Years)
- Starting MSRP: $24,250
iSeeCars Best Car Rankings are calculated based on an analysis of data from over 12 million cars that assesses how long each vehicle lasts and how well it retains its value over time, along with safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association
See how we rank these cars- Reliability 8.8 / 10
- Value Retention 9.0 / 10
- Safety 9.0 / 10
- Annual Lifespan Cost $2,313.92
- Avg Lifespan: 141K Miles (10.4 Years)
- Starting MSRP: $21,590
iSeeCars Best Car Rankings are calculated based on an analysis of data from over 12 million cars that assesses how long each vehicle lasts and how well it retains its value over time, along with safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association
See how we rank these cars- Reliability 7.9 / 10
- Value Retention 8.1 / 10
- Safety 9.1 / 10
- Annual Lifespan Cost $2,505.32
- Avg Lifespan: 140.1K Miles (10.3 Years)
- Starting MSRP: $21,435
iSeeCars Best Car Rankings are calculated based on an analysis of data from over 12 million cars that assesses how long each vehicle lasts and how well it retains its value over time, along with safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association
See how we rank these cars- Reliability 8.1 / 10
- Value Retention 8.3 / 10
- Safety 10 / 10
- Annual Lifespan Cost $2,526.27
- Avg Lifespan: 138.6K Miles (10 Years)
- Starting MSRP: $21,625
iSeeCars Best Car Rankings are calculated based on an analysis of data from over 12 million cars that assesses how long each vehicle lasts and how well it retains its value over time, along with safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association
See how we rank these cars- Reliability 7.8 / 10
- Value Retention 8.4 / 10
- Safety 8.6 / 10
- Annual Lifespan Cost $2,781.91
- Avg Lifespan: 134.7K Miles (11.3 Years)
- Starting MSRP: $24,950
iSeeCars Best Car Rankings are calculated based on an analysis of data from over 12 million cars that assesses how long each vehicle lasts and how well it retains its value over time, along with safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association
See how we rank these cars- Reliability 8.2 / 10
- Value Retention 8.3 / 10
- Safety 10 / 10
- Annual Lifespan Cost $2,828.99
- Avg Lifespan: 136.2K Miles (10 Years)
- Starting MSRP: $23,950
iSeeCars Best Car Rankings are calculated based on an analysis of data from over 12 million cars that assesses how long each vehicle lasts and how well it retains its value over time, along with safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association
See how we rank these cars- Reliability 8.2 / 10
- Value Retention 8.4 / 10
- Safety 10 / 10
- Annual Lifespan Cost Not Available
- Starting MSRP: $19,795
iSeeCars Best Car Rankings are calculated based on an analysis of data from over 12 million cars that assesses how long each vehicle lasts and how well it retains its value over time, along with safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association
See how we rank these cars- Reliability 8.0 / 10
- Value Retention 8.7 / 10
- Safety 10 / 10
- Annual Lifespan Cost Not Available
- Starting MSRP: $31,965
iSeeCars Best Car Rankings are calculated based on an analysis of data from over 12 million cars that assesses how long each vehicle lasts and how well it retains its value over time, along with safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association
See how we rank these cars- Reliability 7.3 / 10
- Value Retention 8.3 / 10
- Safety 10 / 10
- Annual Lifespan Cost Not Available
- Starting MSRP: $32,735
iSeeCars Best Car Rankings are calculated based on an analysis of data from over 12 million cars that assesses how long each vehicle lasts and how well it retains its value over time, along with safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association
See how we rank these cars- Reliability 7.0 / 10
- Value Retention 8.6 / 10
- Safety 10 / 10
- Annual Lifespan Cost Not Available
- Starting MSRP: $45,665
iSeeCars Best Car Rankings are calculated based on an analysis of data from over 12 million cars that assesses how long each vehicle lasts and how well it retains its value over time, along with safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association
See how we rank these cars- Reliability Coming soon
- Value Retention 8.4 / 10
- Safety 10 / 10
- Annual Lifespan Cost Not Available
- Starting MSRP: $28,085
iSeeCars Best Car Rankings are calculated based on an analysis of data from over 12 million cars that assesses how long each vehicle lasts and how well it retains its value over time, along with safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association
See how we rank these cars- Reliability Coming soon
- Value Retention 8.3 / 10
- Safety 10 / 10
- Annual Lifespan Cost Not Available
- Starting MSRP: $45,595
iSeeCars Best Car Rankings are calculated based on an analysis of data from over 12 million cars that assesses how long each vehicle lasts and how well it retains its value over time, along with safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association
See how we rank these cars- Reliability 8.4 / 10
- Value Retention 9.0 / 10
- Safety 9.0 / 10
- Annual Lifespan Cost Not Available
- Starting MSRP: $23,630
iSeeCars Best Car Rankings are calculated based on an analysis of data from over 12 million cars that assesses how long each vehicle lasts and how well it retains its value over time, along with safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association
See how we rank these cars- Reliability Coming soon
- Value Retention 8.8 / 10
- Safety 9.0 / 10
- Annual Lifespan Cost Not Available
- Starting MSRP: $19,990
iSeeCars Best Car Rankings are calculated based on an analysis of data from over 12 million cars that assesses how long each vehicle lasts and how well it retains its value over time, along with safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association
See how we rank these cars- Reliability 7.6 / 10
- Value Retention 8.5 / 10
- Safety 8.0 / 10
- Annual Lifespan Cost Not Available
- Starting MSRP: $17,795
iSeeCars Best Car Rankings are calculated based on an analysis of data from over 12 million cars that assesses how long each vehicle lasts and how well it retains its value over time, along with safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association
See how we rank these cars- Reliability 7.1 / 10
- Value Retention 8.1 / 10
- Safety Not Available
- Annual Lifespan Cost Not Available
- Starting MSRP: $36,500
iSeeCars Best Car Rankings are calculated based on an analysis of data from over 12 million cars that assesses how long each vehicle lasts and how well it retains its value over time, along with safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association
See how we rank these cars- Reliability Coming soon
- Value Retention 8.7 / 10
- Safety Not Available
- Annual Lifespan Cost Not Available
- Starting MSRP: $33,700
iSeeCars Best Car Rankings are calculated based on an analysis of data from over 12 million cars that assesses how long each vehicle lasts and how well it retains its value over time, along with safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association
See how we rank these cars- Reliability Coming soon
- Value Retention 8.4 / 10
- Safety Not Available
Related Rankings
How We Rank These Cars
The Best Cars for the Money list ranks cars by their annual cost, which compares the purchase price of the car against how long the car lasts. We believe this is a good determiner of value--the lower the annual cost, the better the value.
iSeeCars analyzed millions of cars to determine how long each car can last. Then we calculated the annual cost over the lifespan for each vehicle. In the event two or more vehicles have the same annual cost, we use iSeeCars proprietary rating of the overall quality of the car (iSeeCars Score) to break the tie.
The overall iSeeCars Score is an analysis of three factors: reliability, resale value and safety. It is calculated based on the latest research and analysis by our data science team. The data analysis comes from over 12 million new and used vehicles in our Longest-Lasting Cars and 5-Year Depreciation Studies, combined with NHTSA and IIHS Safety Ratings.
Vehicles are scored in three categories:
Reliability
The reliability score represents an analysis of iSeeCars' proprietary research on the longest-lasting vehicles.
Value Retention
The value retention score is based on our data science team's statistical analysis and prediction of 5-year depreciation from MSRP to determine which cars hold their value best, using US Bureau of Labor Statistics data to adjust for inflation.
Safety
The safety score is calculated based on the last five years of crash test ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and incorporates the latest Top Safety Pick information from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).