Kelley Blue Book Names Honda Fit as Top 'Coolest Car Under $18,000'

Kelley Blue Book, an automotive information and research company, released a list of what it considers the 10 “coolest cars” that cost less than $18,000, the Honda Fit stealing most of the attention away.

The announcement is good news for car makers whose models make the cut because companies use small, inexpensive cars to attract young, first-time buyers to their brands. Once they snare such customers the manufacturers hope to cultivate long-term loyalty.
The top-10 list also helps define what a “cheap car” is these days. Six or seven years ago there were still new cars on the market for $10,000 or less. But now it is difficult to find models under $15,000. So Kelley’s roundup of cars acknowledges $18,000 as “the new $15,000” for people shopping for inexpensive cars that can still be considered cool.
“While there are many affordable new cars available today for less than $18,000, the list gets much more narrow and exclusive when you view it through the difficult-to-describe lens of what is cool,” said Jack R. Nerad, executive editorial director and executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book’s kbb.com.
Judging focused on two criteria — that the vehicles are fun-to-drive and fun-to-own. Kelley used its own Fair Purchase Price, or the price consumers typically pay for a particular model, to pinpoint the actual cost of each car. The exception is the Dodge Dart, which topped the list. The car just went on sale so adequate market pricing data are not available.