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10 Cars Only Frugal People Own

December 25, 2023

2 min Read

Written by Vance Cariaga

Edited by Nicholas Morine

Kia / Kia

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If there’s a misconception about frugal people, it’s that they’re forced to be that way because of economic circumstances. But being frugal doesn’t mean being poor or being cheap — it just means you’re careful with money and don’t want to spend it frivolously. In many cases, rich people are very frugal when it comes to money, especially with cars.

As a recent blog on the New Trader U site pointed out, uber-wealthy people often drive uber-modest cars. The late Walmart founder, Sam Walton, drove a 1979 Ford F-150 Custom pickup truck even as head of a multi-billion dollar retail empire. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos continued to drive a Honda Accord long after he became a billionaire. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett drives a 2014 Cadillac XTS and prefers used cars over new ones.

People from all walks of life can be frugal, just as people from all walks of life can be spendthrifts. The one thing all frugal people have in common is that they have learned how to get by with less. With cars, that means spending the least amount of money.

The 10 Cheapest New Cars For 2023

Cars.com recently posted a list of the 10 cheapest new cars for 2023. That doesn’t necessarily mean they all meet the frugal test — buying new is often the least frugal way to go. But low prices are a good first step, and listing new car prices is the best way to get an apples-to-apples comparison. What’s more, many of the cars on the list get good gas mileage, something frugal people will like.

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The cars are ranked by base price from least to most expensive, as of October 2023. All prices include the destination charge, but not any cash incentives or taxes and fees. Prices also include an automatic transmission.

And just to put the prices below in context: The average American new car buyer paid $47,936 in October, according to data from Kelley Blue Book.

Here’s a look at the 10 cheapest new cars that only frugal people might own, according to Cars.com.