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

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

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.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

More by Bertel Schmitt

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 75 comments
  • CelticPete CelticPete on Nov 11, 2012

    Cool cars need to look decent and I don't like the looks of the Focus ST or the Toyota. Okay to drive but look pretty awful.. OTOH the Mustang looks pretty good and is amusing to drive. Same with the Wrangler. Camaro would normally win this but the lowgrade interior and the lack of the ability for humans to see out of it bring it down. So those two win this contest IMHO.

  • Fabriflash Fabriflash on Dec 06, 2012

    Wow, all those here in Perú are well over 30k. No Dart, no Camaro, no Mustang, and the base focus is about 22k

  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉
  • Dave Holzman A design award for the Prius?!!! Yes, the Prius is a great looking car, but the visibility is terrible from what I've read, notably Consumer Reports. Bad visibility is a dangerous, and very annoying design flaw.
  • Wjtinfwb I've owned multiple Mustang's, none perfect, all an absolute riot. My '85 GT with a big Holley 4 barrel and factory tube header manifolds was a screaming deal in its day and loved to rev. I replaced it with an '88 5.0 Convertible and added a Supercharger. Speed for days, handling... present. Brakes, ummm. But I couldn't kill it and it embarrassed a lot of much more expensive machinery. A '13 Boss 302 in Gotta Have It Green was a subtle as a sledgehammer, open up the exhaust cut outs and every day was Days of Thunder. I miss them all. They've gotten too expensive and too plush, I think, wish they'd go back to a LX version, ditch all the digital crap, cloth interior and just the Handling package as an add on. Keep it under 40k and give todays kids an alternative to a Civic or WRX.
Next