Chevrolet Trax

Bought my GF a maxed out Chevy Trax last year - “leather” seats, wireless CarPlay, blind spot monitoring, heated steering wheel, for less than $25k with a student discount. So far so good with 11k miles. Crazy value

A Chevy Trax, brand new, is $22k. ... all of those cars above ... have plenty of inventory on lots in the US, you can pick any of those up literally today, and prices are all no-negotiation MSRP prices

The Trax and some other models have been turning my head over the past year or so.

The Trax also went to a traditional 6 speed auto instead of a CVT which I view as a plus. Honestly, I’m more of a Mazda person but if I needed a new car, I’d seriously consider a Trax. The redesign looks really good imo and they have great color options instead of just grey/white/black.

The Trax we got to replace the dead Rogue was not glamorous, but the infotainment was intuitive enough and despite an odd odor or two (it's Vegas), was a perfectly serviceable rental.

the trax actually got a pretty solid redesign a couple years back and the price point makes sense if you're trying to stay under budget.

In all honesty, the newer (2024+) Trax models seem much-improved from their predecessor. They fixed most of the common issues owners suffered and changed the powertrain up.