The 2025 Kia Carnival Hybrid’s clean, class-bending styling, with a comfortable interior and convenient and desirable seating and storage flexibility, is what anyone could hope for from a minivan that isn’t a minivan.
The 2024 Subaru Impreza RS was satisfying to drive and we recommend it as a sharp-looking, fun-to-drive small hatch.
The 2024 Honda Accord Hybrid offers comfort for five, with the large rear seat passenger room making attaching a rear-facing child car seat easy.
The 2024 Buick Envista is a comfortable crossover that gets 30+ mpg, with ample storage, passenger space and a quiet ride.
The 2024 Cadillac XT4, with a quiet and roomy interior, gets acceptable fuel economy if you drive conservatively, and the ride is comfortable and absorbs road imperfections It shines when driven straight over long distances or around town running errands.
The 2024 Honda Civic Hatchback 1.5T Sport Touring 6MT offers spirited driving with more-than-reasonable performance in a well-built compact sedan. The ride is accommodating, the cabin quiet, the fuel economy very respectable, and it is priced competitively. Our test car, which was fully optioned, came in at a respectable under $33,000.
If you want to simplify your college experience, having a reliable and affordable car can help greatly. It can be difficult to find a perfect first car that meets all your criteria.
The 2023 Kia Niro Hybrid wasn’t designed nor intended to be a a sporty car, but one that is hard to beat for fuel economy, convenience features and value.
Where car sharing once resembled a rent-by-the-hour system that was a more decentralized version of the traditional car rental, it has now become a ubiquitous system that includes shared use and even cars that drive themselves.
With a new design and built on a new platform, the 2023 Honda HR-V continues to be a good value with a roomy interior and 30+ mpg.