Recent college grads with new job in hand may have a problem on their hands. Unless they can take mass transit to work, virtually everyone will need to have access to a car. Your college ride may have been sufficient, but after four years of slogging back and forth to campus, your hand me down from Grandma is about through. Besides, you no doubt realize that a 1999 Buick LeSabre just won’t impress anyone…perhaps it is time for you to shop for a new car?

Equipped, Not Stripped

There is plenty of good news for today’s car shopper, particularly the recent college grad who can’t afford a BMW, but can find a well equipped car for under $20,000, with several models retailing for thousands less, but still offering air-conditioning, an automatic transmission and even a navigation system. Cars are today are better equipped than when you first set off for college and they’ve got many of the safety amenities you want including traction control, side curtain airbags and anti-lock brakes.

The following is our list of some of today’s current affordable favorites, cars that offer maximum value for a minimum price:

Hyundai Elantra — All new for 2011, the Elantra has raised the bar in the compact car segment by offering class leading fuel economy of 29 mpg city, 40 mpg highway, across all model lines. Whether you choose an Elantra equipped with a 6-speed manual or 6-speed automatic transmission, you’ll get the same gas mileage. Moreover, the Elantra is stylish, offers many amenities and optional equipment such as rear heated seats not found in any other cars in this segment. Priced from about $15,000, you can drive a well equipped Elantra for under $19,000. New this fall is the Hyundai Accent, a subcompact that will lead that segment in price.

Chevrolet Cruze — Who would have thunk that Chevrolet would ever have a player in the ultra-competitive compact car segment? After years of Cavalier and Cobalt sales, good as they were for some years, the Cruze demonstrates that GM can build a car that competes well and offers plenty of sedan for the money. A large cabin, excellent fuel economy and five trim levels allows the buyer to choose a car ranging in price from about $16,000 to just over $23,000. Even base trim models are nicely equipped. Choose the optional 1.4-liter turbocharged four paired with a manual transmission and you’ll get 42 mpg highway. New this fall is the Chevy Sonic, a high mileage, low-price subcompact model and successor to the Aveo.

Ford Focus — One of the better styled small cars is the 2012 Focus, a European designed small car that is big on looks, but small on price. This Focus makes the previous generation model look absolutely drab inside and out, a vehicle offering seating for five passengers, 40 mpg highway fuel economy and several technology features including SYNC. Fully equipped, you’ll pay under $20,000 for the Focus.

Ford Fiesta — The Focus occupies the compact car slot, with the Ford Fiesta positioned as a subcompact. Powered by the same 1.6-liter four cylinder engine found in the Focus, the Fiesta is budget pleaser, with a base sticker price of under $15,000. You get 10 airbags, 40 mpg highway and your choice of hatchback or sedan. Most well equipped Fiestas can be had for under $18,000, offering one of the best bargains on the market.

Honda Civic — All new for 2012, the Honda Civic is one of the higher priced compact cars in its class, but base models can still be had for under $20,000. Rock solid Civic quality brings buyers back year after year and, with an HF model now available, the Civic gets 41 mpg on the highway. Alternatively, consider the subcompact Honda Fit, which is priced thousands of dollars less and competes against the likes of the Ford Fiesta and Hyundai Accent.

Other Models

Several other models are worth considering although some aren’t new. The Toyota Corolla is the perennial sales leader and the Nissan Altima is also a strong seller. The Mazda3 competes well with the Ford Focus as does the Mazda2 with the Ford Fiesta. The Volkswagen Golf offers German engineering and value, providing a competitive option for people who want to drive something different. Scion’s line presents a reasonably priced alternative to Toyota.

Lastly, most manufacturers offer a “recent college graduate” rebate on top of whatever other deals they have going. Rebates generally range from $400 to as much as $1,000 on select Scion models. Speak up too — your sales associate may not know that you recently finished college.

Resources

SayLending: Auto Loan Tools

Auto Trends Magazine: 2011 Hyundai Elantra Specs & Overview

CNET; 2011 Ford Fiesta Review; Wayne Cunningham; July 28, 2010

AutoWeek; 2012 Ford Focus SE 5-Door, an AW Drivers Log Car Review; May 12, 2011

Car and Driver; 2012 Honda Civic Sedan and Coupe – First Drive Review; Tony
Quiroga; April 2011

The Auto Writer; First Drive: 2011 Chevrolet Cruze; July 31, 2010

Available in other colors besides blue, the Hyundai Elantra Blue offers just the right blend of value and fuel economy in a compact sedan.

Compact cars are usually the model of choice for first time car buyers, vehicles which seat four or five people, come equipped with a fair number of standard features, are priced around $15K and get very good gas mileage. For any automaker who has a winning entry level car available, that could spell the difference between losing a customer or gaining one for life.

Base Elantra

Hyundai’s entry in the compact car segment is the Elantra, a car that goes head to head with the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Chevy Cobalt, Ford Focus and numerous other vehicles. Hyundai’s presence in this all-important segment has been growing over the years thanks to newly revamped models which are priced hundreds of dollars less than what competitors are offering. Moreover, the typical Hyundai model is better equipped than what competitors offer, perhaps offering the best bang for the buck of any manufacturer out there. And, add in its 10 year/100,000 mile warranty and the Hyundai buying advantage certainly becomes quite apparent.

Not one to rest on its laurels, Hyundai has rolled out the Elantra Blue for 2010, its most fuel efficient Elantra yet. Delivering 35 mpg highway, the Elantra Blue matches up well against all competitors delivering the best dollar per mile cost of any car on the market, edging the Chevy Cobalt XFE for best value. Though the Cobalt gets 37 mpg on the highway, the Blue is priced $845 less resulting in an overall pricing edge for the Hyundai.

Higher MPG

To squeeze out an additional eight percent improvement in fuel economy, which raised highway mpg by two, Hyundai engineers added lower friction engine components, revised transmission gearing ratios, included a “smart” alternator management system, and placed a shift indicator with the manual gearbox. Even GLS and SE models equipped with a manual transmission benefited from these improvements, seeing their highway mileage figures increase from 33 mpg to 34 mpg from 2009 to 2010.

When it comes to standard equipment, the Hyundai Elantra Blue offers much including six airbags, anti-lock brake system, four wheel disc brakes, active head restraints (front) and power door locks/windows, keyless entry and power heated windows among other features. A/C is extra, part of a $1700 comfort package which also includes a high end audio system and iPod/USB auxiliary inputs.

What Buyers Want

Will the Hyundai Elantra Blue be exactly what cost conscious buyers want? Perhaps. Likely, some will still opt for the higher end GLS and and SE models which add several thousand dollars to the price, but deliver excellent fuel economy around town as well as on the highway.

Source: Hyundai Motors

Adv. — For more information about new cars, visit Autos Express. Check out Auto Purchase Loans for details on how to finance your new car purchase.

Yes, the ultimate in nannyware is on its way as the technology will allow your parents to look over your shoulder even when you’re hundreds of miles away from home, at least figuratively. Specifically, MyKey will allow parents to limit your speed to 80 mph and control the volume on the car’s audio system in addition to providing other constraints that parents will love.

In addition, warnings to remind you to buckle up your seatbelt and to check your gas gauge are some of the other features planned for MyKey.  Yes, all of the little reminders you heard from your parents when they rode around with you while you learned to drive and more!

“Ford not only offers industry-leading crash protection and crash avoidance systems, we also are committed to developing new technologies such as MyKey that encourage safer driving behavior,” said Susan Cischke, Ford group vice president of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering. “MyKey can help promote safer driving, particularly among teens, by encouraging seat belt use, limiting speed and reducing distractions.”

Ford developed MyKey as a response to surveys from parents who were asked about which feature they would like to see implemented with the system. A full three-quarters of parents liked the speed limiting feature, while 72% like the safety belt reminder which emits chimes for six seconds every minute for the first five minutes of driving. Of course, when young drivers were surveyed, Ford learned that 67% of them don’t like the feature, but that number drops to 36% if it also means that leads to greater driving privileges from parents.

“We’ve upgraded an existing, proven technology – the SecuriLock passive anti-theft system – with some simple software upgrades to develop a new unique feature that we believe will resonate with customers,” said Jim Buczkowski, director, Electrical and Electronic Systems Engineering – the same team that developed SYNC in partnership with Microsoft.  ”We also developed MyKey’s functions in such a way to quickly spread it across multiple vehicle lines, giving us the ability to go mass market in the spirit of other Ford innovations such as safety belts, stability control and SYNC.”

Lest you think that your car won’t be effected by this technology, Ford promises to quickly expand MyKey across its entire line of Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles. And, where technology is embraced by one automaker and accepted by the driving public, you can expect that similar technology will be sold by other automakers soon thereafter.

MyKey may take some of the joy out of driving, but if it keeps young drivers safe and parents at peace, then you can expect that your parents will opt for this feature as well.

(Source: Ford Motor Company)

One of Chevrolet's best selling cars is its subcompact Cobalt. The Cobalt XFE model offers best in class fuel savings.

For students needing a car while on campus, your choices abound. From a well used family vehicle to a late model used car, the used-car market for buyers remains strong. However, thanks to the demand for smaller cars, the compact market is overpriced. Clearly, paying $5000 for a seven year old Dodge Neon is a bit much, especially one with more than 80,000 miles on the odometer.

On the other hand, the new car market is in tatters due to the tough economy and the almost overnight shift in consumer tastes from V8 powered vehicles to almost anything with four cylinders. While the demand for smaller cars is up sharply, prices are generally not, making the purchase of a new set of wheels an excellent option for some college students.

The 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt XFE

When shopping for a new car, many students look at entry level models, knowing that these are the types of cars which they can afford and are usually the most fuel efficient. The under $15K price tag of various Scion, Ford, Honda, Toyota, Kia, Hyundai, and Chevy models makes this segment interesting, one filled with a variety of cars — some rather stripped, others fairly well equipped.

Leading the way in fuel economy in this category is the Smart Fortwo, a two seater mini minicar that gets 40 mpg on the highway. Unfortunately, the $11,750 Smart can barely hold enough gear to transport students with all of their stuff from home to college and back again. Slightly larger, and seating at least four passengers are the Hyundai Elantra, Ford Focus, Nissan Sentra, and the Chevy Cobalt to name a few. Speaking about the latter, the Cobalt XFE retails at $15,070 before incentives are included and for 2009 the model will get 26 mpg city and an excellent 37 mpg on the highway.

Your Fuel Efficient Cobalt

The Cobalt’s fuel efficiency is its strong point, thanks to low resistance tires, special gearing, and computer tweaking which, together, helps to squeeze out an extra 3 mpg highway miles for the XFE (Xtra Fuel Economy). With a cloth interior, standard air conditioning and AM/FM radio with CD player and MP3, and with a 2.2L I4 powered engine, the Cobalt comes with many of the features drivers crave. Mated to a five-speed manual transmission, the best fuel numbers are achieved with this combination.

All Cobalts meet required safety conditions including dual frontal airbags and a “good” rating for front impact. Side airbags, antilock brakes, and stability control are also available on select models. Quality for the Cobalt is average, bettered by more established models such as the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. GM says that they sell 200,000 Cobalts annually, making it the second most popular car in the entire GM fleet.

Shop For Incentives

Buyers looking for a good deal on a Cobalt may want to consider end of the model year specials for the 2008 Cobalt. Achieving 36 mpg on the highway, the 2008 Cobalt XFE could offer the best value when incentives are taken. Consider taking the rebate and finding your own automotive financing in order to save money.

Some colleges forbid or actively discourage students from having cars on campus, while others are tolerant and understand the needs of their future alumni. Check with your insurer before buying any car to learn what costs you’ll have to pay to keep your car at school.

Not that any of this should matter much, because most buyers who are looking for something new and cheaply priced aren’t too concerned where their car was built. Indeed, several models from Kia, Hyundai, Toyota, Nissan, and Smart are priced lower. The advantage of the Ford, however, is that most of the parts are local meaning your maintenance costs should be lower.

With these important points I digress.

Now back to the Focus: this car isn’t the leader in its category, but it is worthy for consideration. First introduced for the 2000 model year, the 2008 model keeps the original platform but it has been reskinned, new suspension added, and the interior has been modernized.

Competitive Fuel Mileage

Best of all, the Focus gets 35 mpg on the highway (24 city), comparing favorably with other vehicles in its class. Other than the hybrid Honda Civic, the Focus’ fuel economy matches or exceeds the Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit, Nissan Versa, Hyundai Accent, even the MINI Cooper. With gas prices above $3 per gallon, good fuel economy is a must. Only one engine choice is available: a 2.0L I4 which can be paired with a 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic transmission.

Two or Four Door, the Choice Is Yours

Available as a two door coupe or four door sedan, the Focus seats five passengers. Back seat riders will find legroom to be fair, but noticeably missing are headrests which have become standard in even the most economical cars. The split 60/40 rear seats makes carrying larger items a snap.

Front seat room is sufficient for the average sized adult and the dash is simply laid out with ample chrome and blue back lighting which improves the look over earlier models. Overall, the interior is anything but extravagant; then again this is Ford’s entry-level wheels.

Getting In SYNC

You may have seen the commercials for the Ford Focus which focuses more on its SYNC technology and fuel mileage above all else. SYNC is a popular hands-free communication system developed by Microsoft. Allowing the driver to call out the name of a song, SYNC quickly finds and plays it. With Bluetooth accessibility, SYNC wirelessly accesses your cell phone allowing you to make hands-free calls with simple voice commands in English, Spanish, or French. Although an extra-cost option, SYNC is proving to be popular with young drivers who crave its functionality. A standard CD/MP3 player with six-month complimentary SIRIUS satellite radio comes with every model.

Safety First

The Focus performed well in front crash testing, scoring a 5 out of 5 for both the driver and front seat passenger. All Focus models come with six standard air bags including dual-stage front airbags and two sets of side airbags protecting front and rear passengers. Anti-lock brakes with traction control is available on all models and a tire pressure monitoring system is standard.

Fully Loaded: 17 Grand

As of this writing, Ford is advertising that fully loaded Focuses are retailing for just under $17,000. However, if you take delivery of a Focus from dealer stock before March ends, Ford will knock $1500 off of the price of the car. For additional savings of $500, finance your purchase (or lease) through Ford and you can save more.

So, with a base MSRP of $14,300, you could drive a Focus off of the dealer lot for as low as $12,300 plus taxes, tags and registration. With SYNC as an option, my thinking is that you’ll opt for a slightly better equipped Focus than the strip model.

Additional Resources

The Power of Negotiation

Auto Purchase Loan (Calculator)

Should Your Lease Instead?

Photos courtesy/copyright the Ford Motor Company.