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Every luxury marque has the "cheap" version: The one anyone willing to be locked into a super-sized lease can pick up and drive off the lot at will. The one that appears in slightly less tony locales and is equally at home in both the Safeway and Whole Foods' parking lots.
For some, it's an aspirational purchase. For others, it's the "everyday" car that's a step above what the help uses to drive around the grounds but not quite as nice as the garage-kept vehicles reserved for top-down cruising or quiet evenings out.
In either case, they're selling. Luxury car sales rose by roughly 13% in 2013, according to MotorIntelligence. Among those automakers seeing the biggest bumps are Mercedes-Benz (14%), Audi (13%) and BMW (11%). All have dabbled in vehicles with starting prices flirting with $30,000, and just about all have been rewarded for it. With help from the folks at Kelly Blue Book we found not only a handful of great luxury cars for less than $40,000, but the best vehicles you can buy for that price.
I am not very familiar with these particular vehicles, but i have used slightly higher end vehicles from each of these makers. I find BMW generally overpriced. While they are very fine automobiles, they tend to be a bit pricy for what you get. I find Cadillac to be generally undervalued perhaps because the US car makers are coming out of a hole they created for themselves. My experience with Cadillac is they are extremely fine vehicles for the price, particularly for people who like to drive. Lexus was once my preferred maker, but I have been disappointed with them recently. Infinity and Audi are both very fine makers. I place them in the middle as far as value for the price. Although I am not concerned with resale, I am told Audi and Infiniti both hold value fairly well. In the area where I primarily reside, the Audi A5 tends to incur a disfavorable stereotype. I care not about stereotypes, but some people do and a stereotype can impact the way other drivers react to you.
i drive an A5 but there's no way it's a "luxury" car without Premium Plus or Prestige trims. Base strippers of all the luxury plates don't include Navi, which to me is a true deal-killer. For mid $30k I'd rather take a VW CC or an Impala fully loaded. Or better yet, buy pre-owned and save yourself thousands in instant depreciation. Today even German brands can go 80k, 90k miles without major drivetrain problems.
Audi. From my experience, and in my opinion, they deliver the best all around package right now.
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