The holidays are here, and budgets are tight. I’ve asked you in the past what car you would buy with a $10,000 budget, but what if you had double that amount? The Jalopnik staff often offer our input for your car buying questions with our “What Car Should You Buy” segment, but as car enthusiasts, I know the Jalopnik audience is likely to have some good ideas, too.
I know, $20,000 is not an especially low budget, but it’s about at the intersection of the cheapest new cars on sale today, and some more desirable vehicles on the used market. If you’re on a tighter budget than this and want an enthusiast’s take on what to buy, check out the answers provided when I asked what the Jalopnik audience would buy with a $10,000 budget, but otherwise let us know in the comments section what car you would buy with a $20,000 budget.
I would buy a BMW 230i
I spend a lot of time browsing online for cars around the $20,000 mark, so I have a couple top choices, but I’ve been eyeing BMW 230is for the longest. The only new cars you’ll find in this price range are generally boring, uninspiring vehicles that are meant to be used as a commuting appliance like a Mitsubishi Mirage, not something that will excite or goad you into chasing curvy roads.
A used BMW might not initially seem like a smart choice for someone on a tight budget, and in many cases that’s true, but in recent years, BMW’s reliability reputation has vastly improved, in particular with its four-cylinder and six-cylinder offerings. I currently drive a 2017 Mini Cooper S, which is powered by a B48 BMW four-cylinder engine, and my odometer just ticked over 100,000 miles and I’ve faced very minimal issues with it. I trust the powertrain, and I want to own something fun and rear-wheel-drive, so I’d definitely go with a BMW 230i. There are plenty of clean, relatively low mileage examples listed for sale around that $20,000 price limit, but what would you buy with that budget?
