Best 2024 Cars for the Money to Buy or Lease

What are the best 2024 cars, SUVs and crossovers on the market ? Best electric and hybrid? Best small car? Best minivan?

Every year, US News & World Report releases a survey recommending the best cars for the money awards in the most popular automotive categories including SUV, EV, hybrid and Minivan.  New this year is the plugin-hybrid (PHEV) SUV category.

Each Best Car for the Money award winner is the category leader for quality and value, including safety.  Value is measured by evaluating purchase or lease price and projected five-year ownership costs.

This year, Honda and Kia dominate, with four awards each.  Do the math.  That means just three awards were won by anybody else – and those three were won by Hyundai.

No US Brand Gets a Best Car for the Money Award

Not one American brand was on 2024 Best Cars for the Money awards list.  Not one.

Not any Ford model, including Lincoln.

Not anything from GM (Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac).

And no Jeep, Chrysler or Dodge model – which are still considered Detroit brands even though they are now owned by Italy’s Stellantis.

Honda and Kia each won four Best Car for the Money awards across multiple categories.

The Honda Civic, Honda Odyssey and Kia Soul – each previous winner in their respective categories for multiple years – have showcased commitment to low ownership costs, top safety ratings and great driving dynamics.

Hyundai earned three awards, with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 claiming its first win in the Electric SUV class thanks in part to its cutting-edge technology features, spacious interior and competitive estimated five-year ownership costs.

Full Disclosure –

ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter was a contributing writer

to US News & World Report for several years.

Here’s the link to some of my articles.

Read more about the awards methodology here.

For more information, visit Best Cars for the Money

About U.S. News Best Cars

Since 2007, U.S. News Best Cars, the automotive channel of U.S. News & World Report, has published rankings of the majority of new vehicles sold in America. Each year, U.S. News also publishes the Best Cars Awards, including Best Vehicle Brands, Best Cars for the Money and Best Cars for Families. U.S. News Best Cars supports car shoppers throughout the entire car buying journey, offering advice for researching cars and finding cars for sale. U.S. News Best Cars helped more than 61 million visitors over the past year, with over 65% of consumers actively shopping for a car.

ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter is a journalist with 20+ years of experience as a newspaper and magazine writer, radio & TV news producer & reporter, and author of guidebooks and smartphone apps – all focusing on travel, automotive, the environment and your rights as a consumer.

ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter currently serves as President of the International Motor Press Assn. (IMPA), a former Board Member of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) and a current member of the North American Travel Journalists Assn. (NATJA) and the North American Snowsports Journalists Assn. (NASJA).

Contact me at evelyn@ecoxplorer.com.

Copyright (C) Evelyn Kanter