Lucky you, car shopper with cash to spend! The top end of your budget is $55,000, and you’d like to grab the most car (or truck, or SUV) you can for that sum. You’re not interested in something average. Perhaps you’re simply looking for more character than you’d get in some appliance-grade luxury product, or performance is more your bag. Whatever you have in mind, it can’t be boring. So, what can you afford for between, say, $45,000 and $55,000 that will bring uncommon joy or a sense of occasion to your commute? Try these, arranged alphabetically and with their base prices called out:
2020 Audi TT | Base Price: $46,495
Forget the debate over whether or not the Audi TT qualifies as a “sports car.” The small coupe and roadster pairing certainly delivers an exciting drive along with pointy, pill-shaped looks you won’t confuse with any other car. Mostly thanks to the TT’s small size, its assembly of modest components from throughout the Volkswagen Group universe combine for an experience beyond the sum of its parts. A 228-hp turbocharged four-cylinder engine is standard, along with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission and Quattro all-wheel drive. The cabin takes “driver-focused” design to a new level with its novel gauge-cluster display (without a central screen—sorry, passenger!) controlled by and facing only the driver. For under $55,000, you can buy a modestly equipped TT coupe ($46,495) or convertible ($49,995), but the spicier TTS and TT RS models start at more than our price cap.
2020 BMW M240i | Base Price: $46,795
This might be a little confusing, but stick with us: There are two 2-series BMWs these days. Two times two does not equal four, although there is a 4-series. Anyway, look, the 2-series to buy, if you’re a fan of BMWs of yore, is the two-door. (BMW recently introduced a new, front-drive-based four-door compact 2-series Gran Coupe variant—but it’s completely different from this one, which sits on a proper rear-drive platform.) For our budget range here, spring for the six-cylinder M240i model—a less-expensive four-cylinder 230i is also offered, and is great for those with slightly lower budgets. Grab the six-speed manual transmission, skip the available xDrive all-wheel drive or the convertible model, and have yourself a fine-driving, tidy BMW performance coupe that evokes the brand’s best days.
2020 BMW Z4 | Base Price: $50,695
Dig the new Toyota Supra but wish it came in convertible form? You’re in luck—the BMW Z4 is, basically, a Supra underneath and is offered only as a convertible. (The Toyota, alternately, is only sold in coupe form.) The goods are the same, but the details are slightly different. For example, the only Z4 that qualifies for our list is the 254-hp four-cylinder sDrive30i, which starts at $50,695. The same turbocharged inline-six you get in the Supra is relegated to the $64,695 Z4 sDriveM40i. Otherwise, the rear-drive chassis and eight-speed automatic transmission are similar, and the BMW has its own rakish, eye-catching styling. BMW and Toyota co-developed the Z4 and Supra, and both are assembled at the same Austrian Magna Steyr plant. Can’t decide between the two? We compared them head-to-head—and if that doesn’t help, well, the Supra also makes this under-$55,000 list but comes standard with the Z4’s available bigger engine option.
2020 Ford F-150 Raptor | Base Price: $55,150
The incredibly bad-ass Ford F-150 Raptor doesn’t so much sneak under our price cap as it sort of straddles it—and we couldn’t resist bending the rules to include it, even though it starts at $55,150 including the mandatory destination charge. Our rationale? That the F-150 Raptor comes pretty decently equipped, in full-size pickup terms, even beyond the standard pile of hard-core off-road hardware, including a 450-hp twin-turbo V-6, four-wheel drive, Fox shocks, burly tires, and sweet wide-stance bodywork. (Almost) nothing else on this list can be jumped, either.
In entry-level form, the F-150 Raptor comes in the F-series’ SuperCab extended-cab body style, with stubby, clamshell rear doors. What this body style gives up in rear-seat room (it still seats five), it more than makes up for with its rad, desert-race-truck appearance. The larger Crew Cab model with four normal-size doors costs more.
2020 Ford Mustang Bullitt | Base Price: $48,900
Break out your tweed blazer, dark-colored turtleneck, and most retro shades. It’s time to role play as Steve McQueen, the captain of cool. You’ll need a ride, and if some vintage motorcycle or some such thing isn’t available, you can walk into your Ford dealership and pick up one of these, the Mustang Bullitt Edition. Modeled after the Highland Green ’68 Mustang fastback driven by McQueen’s hard-edged cop character in the movie Bullitt, the modern Mustang wears black-painted Torq Thrust–style rims, minimal badging, and subtle retro cues such as the cue-ball shift knob and ribbed seat covers. It’s only available in Shadow Black or, our pick, Highland Green. And it features the Mustang GT’s 5.0-liter V-8 enhanced by the GT350’s intake. Output swells to 480 horsepower, and the sound—oh, the sound!—that this ’Stang makes is epic.
2020 Jeep Gladiator Mojave | Base Price: $45,370
Meet the new top-of-the-range Jeep Gladiator, the desert-focused Gladiator Mojave. Perched above the rock-bashing Rubicon trim level, the Mojave receives unique hardware to refashion the Gladiator into a higher-speed off-roader more along the lines of Ford’s F-150 Raptor. (Jeep even considers the Gladiator “Desert-Rated,” instead of the “Trail-Rated” descriptor it uses for its regular off-roaders.) Remote-reservoir shocks and hydraulic bump stops help the Jeep pickup quickly cycle its suspension over washboard surfaces or—get this—jumps without overheating its shocks or shaking its occupants into oblivion. Other equipment includes 33-inch tires, Mojave graphics, a front-end suspension lift, skid plate, and special low-range gearing that can propel the Jeep at up to 50 mph (versus 30 mph on the other Gladiator models).
2020 Land Rover Defender | Base Price: $50,925
Land Rover’s Defender 4×4 is back in the U.S. after a multi-decade hiatus, and it’s all-new. The Defender has traded its old-school, body-on-frame dual-solid-axle setup for a more modern independent suspension and a unibody design. The fabled nameplate lives up to its reputation, as we found on a recent drive in Africa’s wilderness, and better yet, pricing starts at just over 50 grand. While that sum only buys you an entry-level four-door Defender with the base turbocharged four-cylinder engine (instead of the upmarket V-6), if you stick with the absolute base model, you get an awesome set of white-painted wheels. So, there’s that.
2020 Porsche Macan | Base Price: $52,250
Have you always wanted to buy a new Porsche? Guess what? The Macan is the brand’s most affordable model, and the only one that starts under our price cap. The downside? It is a compact luxury crossover. The upside? Porsche builds it, meaning it drives like a hot hatchback, not some top-heavy SUV. For less than $55,000, you can afford the entry-level, four-cylinder Porsche Macan, which has 248 horsepower. The Macan S, which gets a turbocharged V-6, costs just over $60,000, and the spicier GTS and Turbo models are pricier still. But, hey, it’s a Porsche! Just be careful with the Macan’s myriad options—like all Porsches, its list of optional extras could stretch to the moon and back.
2020 Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro | Base Price: $50,985
There are quite a few off-roaders that make this list of nonboring stuff, and the Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro is one with a baked-in legacy of toughness and ruggedness. The TRD Pro trim sits atop the capable 4Runner lineup, bringing sweet matte-black 17-inch TRD (Toyota Racing Development) wheels, a special front skid plate, Fox shocks, TRD front springs, a locking rear differential, a roof basket, and retro-style “TOYOTA” grille lettering in place of a Toyota logo. Four-wheel drive is standard. If there is a hangup, it’s that the general 4Runner package, right down to its ancient 4.0-liter V-6 engine, is old-school and delivers pretty abysmal on-road dynamics. But that just keeps things interesting, and that ponderous pavement behavior translates to goat-like off-road dexterity.
2020 Toyota GR Supra | Base Price: $50,945
The resurrected-for-2020 Toyota Supra is a performance bargain, a thoroughbred sports car that starts at pretty much fifty grand on the dot. It comes with a 335-hp twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six engine that, for 2021, is being boosted to 382 horsepower. (A new 255-hp four-cylinder engine, like that in the entry-level BMW Z4, joins the lineup, too.) The rear-drive Supra is mechanically similar to the BMW Z4—the two share a platform—but comes only as a fixed-roof coupe, while the BMW is strictly a roadster. With voluptuous and unsubtle looks, the Supra looks fast; thanks to its well-tuned hardware, it actually is fast.
The Least Boring Cars, Trucks, and SUVs Under $55,000
- 2020 Audi TT – Base Price: $46,495
- 2020 BMW M240i – Base Price: $46,795
- 2020 BMW Z4 – Base Price: $50,695
- 2020 Ford F-150 Raptor – Base Price: $55,150
- 2020 Ford Mustang Bullitt – Base Price: $48,900
- 2020 Jeep Gladiator Mojave – Base Price: $45,370
- 2020 Land Rover Defender – Base Price: $50,925
- 2020 Porsche Macan – Base Price: $52,250
- 2020 Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro – Base Price: $50,985
- 2020 Toyota GR Supra – Base Price: $50,945
The post The Least Boring Cars, Trucks, and SUVs Under $55,000 appeared first on MotorTrend.
from MotorTrend https://www.motortrend.com/news/cars-trucks-suvs-less-than-55000/
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