Is the Cheapest Car in America Any Good?

Cars are too complex. What the hell do I need facial recognition or a 30-inch screen for? I'm not watching Avatar: The Way Of Water in 4K. That's why it was so refreshing to spend time in the Nissan Versa.

The Versa is currently the cheapest car in America. You can get a base S model with a manual transmission for $17,225 with destination (in theory, if you can find one). With so many cheap cars going the way of the dodo, the Versa is a last bastion of affordability… until it too is discontinued.

An argument against cheap cars is that Americans simply don't want them. But it's not true. In the first three months of 2024, Nissan nearly doubled Versa sales over last year. A facelift helps, but even in 2021—a historically bad year for new car sales—Nissan sold more than 60,000 Versas. People still want affordable cars, just look at the numbers.

It's easy to see why people want the Versa. Even though it is inexpensive, it doesn't feel cheap. The base S model has a decent 7.0-inch touchscreen, Nissan's Safety Shield 360 suite standard (which includes automatic emergency braking, a lane-departure warning, and high-beam assist), and the most headroom and legroom of any car in the class. It's comfy.

Even the fully loaded SR model I drove costs less than $23,000. That gets you a bigger 8.0-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay, adaptive cruise control, fancy paint options (like Scarlet Ember), and cloth seats with a faux leather-trimmed dash.

The fully loaded Versa feels about as nice a mid-range Buick, which says a lot. The black-on-black, cloth-and-pleather combo looks bland, but orange stitching helps offset the visual monotony. And the overall interior design looks clean. The center touchscreen is crisp and looks modern, too, and CarPlay is a breeze to use.

The Versa was designed to get you from point A to point B without frills, so it's not a thrill to drive. The 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine delivers a no-nonsense 122 horsepower and 114 pound-feet of torque to the front wheels via a continuously variable transmission. The base model comes with a five-speed manual. There's just enough power to move the Versa out of its own way, but you will have to bury the go-fast pedal