Gadgetory

now you know carmakers never liked their cars to be described as cheap they prefer phrases like inexpensive and built to stay that way or some other wishful thinking the ad agency dreamed up but damn it the cars on my list right now are cheap these are my top five hybrid cars that all start at way under 30 grand now I'm ranking these cars by price delivered with the destination charge and also going to tell you their EP a mileage and estimated annual fuel cost just to make sure the cheapest to buy is also the cheapest to drive let's go number five the 2013 Honda Civic Hybrid 25 150 out-the-door mpg is 44 City 44 highway you know what that means 44 average annual fuel cost estimated at twelve hundred and fifty bucks it's the only car in our list that is not a dedicated hybrid model by the way now Honda recently did a major midstream redo of the civics plasticky interior to wide acclaim they're catching up on cabin tech with a few apps like Pandora and also offering lane departure warning and forward collision warning things you don't normally find and inexpensive sorry cheap cars number four the 2013 Toyota Prius 24 995 delivered 51 City 48 highway 50 average annual fuel cost estimated at eleven hundred parsimonious box this is still the king of the hill when it comes to hybrids folks the classic Prius out sells all the other hybrids often combined based a lot on that magic fifty number it's one of the few cars that owners routinely proclaim as getting better than rated mpg if they drive it gently which you know Prius drivers tend to do the base Prius is not exactly stripped of modern tech but you won't get Toyotas generally excellent in tuned suite of apps or GPS navigation however a USB port streaming Bluetooth and this touch tracer technology on the wheel and - keeps it feeling pretty techie number three the 2013 Honda cr-z six speed twenty thousand seven sixty five out the door thirty-one city 38 highway 34 average annual fuel cost sixteen hundred bucks this is the only car in our list you have to shift yourself if you want the lowest MSRP all the rest of our cars have a CVT automatic now you can option the cr-z with a CVT and it bumps the price up to 21 for 15 that still keeps it at number three the cr-z is also the only car in our list that says it's a sports car now it's $1600 annual fuel cost happens to make it the glutton of our list today but it's still 250 bucks a year less fuel than let's say a Honda Fit which is not exactly a gasket number two the 2013 Toyota Prius C the little Prius 19 875 out the door 53 city 46 highway again 50 average annual fuel cost 1100 bucks this is the baby Prius and it comes pretty bare-bones at this price you've got to step up a trim level or two to get stuff like six speakers fold down rear seat roll-up windows kidding but forget about navigation or in tune at this price it does cover you though with the USB port streaming Bluetooth and automatic temperature control I like this car a lot the number-one cheap hybrid period is the 2013 Honda Insight 19:3 90 delivered get you 41 city 40 for highway 42 average annual fuel cost is kind of min pack in our list at 1300 bucks now Honda's got a weak seller here which just goes to show the value of value over price the insight uses Honda's AMA powertrain that means it's a mild hybrid and therefore doesn't run on pure electric ever it's pretty lean inside as well not even the USB port or bluetooth at the base price hardly makes sense for Honda to step up the content and worry less about low price going forward but for now at least it wins one award cheapest by the way standard hybrid car is no longer a tax credit from the IRS that ended with vehicles purchased on or after January 1 2011 so you've missed it by quite a bit right now only more advanced cars still get that credit if you want to see more top fives like this about all the latest in high-tech cars and modern driving head over to CNET on cars comm i'm brian coulis thanks for watching