Now You Pick The Coolest Car For Under $25,000

In September, click-hungry Kelley Blue Book celebrated its “10 coolest cars under $12,000” (With click-triggering gallery!) Two months later, rampant inflation sets in. Now, it’s the “10 coolest cars under $25,000.” Necessarily, the September choices were a bit low rent. Let’s see what you get when you double your budget. All 10 of them. With pictures. And then, we’ll take revenge on Kelley and crown our own super cool car.

10th Place: 2013 Dodge Dart

The car sitting on the tried & true Alfa Romeo Giulietta platform can be made even cooler with a 160-horsepower MultiAir turbocharged engine. In SXT trim, the car was test driven and reviewed by Michael Karesh.

9th Place: 2012 Prius c

For people who think gas stations are not cool, Toyota’s hybrid gives city fuel economy of 53 mpg, for (not much) less than $20,000. The Prius c was fussed over by Bertel even before the car was born, it was driven through Tokyo, and reviewed by Alex Dykes.

8th Place: 2013 Miata MX-5

Topic of a lot of smack talk, and heated debates. Cool, especially when red. The car made first place in TTAC’s Boomerang Basement Bolides triple crown.

7th Place: 2013 Chevrolet Camaro

The $25K budget barely is enough to buy the base version. We have not reviewed the 2013 Camaro yet, but here is Michael Karesh’s take on the 2010 model, along with leafy pictures of repossessed mansions.

6th Place: 2013 Ford Mustang

Maybe not in mint green, but half of the adolescent to semi-retired population will call this the epitome of cool, whereas the other half has to read on. Car TTAC track tested.

5th Place: 2013 Volkswagen GTI

In America, they dropped the Golf name and they only call it GTI. We have a review of the 2010 model. 2013, not yet.

4th Place: 2013 Jeep Wrangler

Come to the cool outdoors (especially in that one)! Alex Dykes took to the woods in the 2012 model.

3rd Place: 2013 MINI Cooper Coupe

Now we are getting to the creme de la cool. Two seater. No inlaws in the back. Aerodynamic roof! 6-speed GETRAG transmission! Tested for you by Alex Dykes.

2nd Place: 2013 Ford Focus ST

Finally, here in America, one of those high-powered hot hatches we saw on websites written in strange languages. Michael Karesh tested the 252-horsepower Ford Focus ST for TTAC.

1st Place: 2013 Scion FR-S

Kelley thinks what we call the hachi-roku is über-cool, or totemo cool, for that matter. We have followed the car long before it was produced. Tests? Each person on TTAC’s masthead must have tested the hachi-roku, at least twice. Here, Murilee Martin’s rendition. And what the heck, I am in Tokyo, it’s Indian Summer in Japan, maybe we’ll take the hachi-roku into the mountains over the weekend. For my signature (ouch) “from the back seat” review.

Vote your own!

Who are we to let allegedly expert Kelley Blue Book editors tell us what’s cool? Cool is what we decide. Please do vote. This time, it’s fun. No lines, no regrets.