The Least Expensive Car of 2019

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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The Least Expensive Car of 2019

© Courtesy of General Motors

There is some debate about what the least expensive car in America is. Some experts include destination charges. Others pick some accessories which cost small amounts of money. These things make the decision to decide the winner difficult. However, most analysts pick the 2019 Chevrolet Spark.

The price used to pick the Spark also varies. Some analysts put the price as low as $12,995. Most lists put its base price at $14,095. All agree the lowest price is the hatchback version. The higher of the two prices includes some very modest additions to the base price. Chevy’s official price disagrees with both numbers and puts the figure at $13,220. Chevy adds, however, that this price excludes destination freight charge, tax, title, license, dealer fees, and optional equipment.

The Spark has a tiny engine, which, at 1.4 liters, the inline 4 cylinder puts out 98 horsepower. The car has front-wheel drive, which is unusual. And it has a 5-speed manual transmission, which is also rare. Almost all cars sold today have automatic transmissions. Many people have never learned how to use a manual, at least not those born after 1970. The transmission and engine size together allow Chevy to get extremely low gas consumption for the Spark–31 MPG in the city, and 39 MPG on the road.

The Spark has some up-scale features for which Chevy charges nothing. These include a 7-inch infotainment screen, Apple CarPlay, and ten airbags. The car is so small and light that in a crash the airbags might be a lifesaver. Spark only weighs 2,246 lbs.

Like most car manufacturers, GM pushes the price of the Chevy Spark up for virtually every major feature. A continuous variable transmission pushes the price to $15,195. At $18,$595, the car comes with leather, extra chrome, and a system that helps keep track of the area behind the Spark.

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The Spark gets mostly mediocre review. The back seat is too small. The car does not much cargo room. It accelerates slowly. Most reviews, however, say that the Spark is a good car for the money. It has a lot of features for which Chevy does not charge, these experts say, and it gets good gas mileage. This is not much of a selling point when gas prices are as low as they are now. Finally, the Spark, unexpectedly, is not among the 25 cheapest cars to insure.

Not everyone wants a fast car with leather seats, room for four people, and a lot of space for luggage. The Spark appeals to this group well.

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Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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