Well, we’ve made it to the end of another week, which means it’s time for a Friday runoff. This week’s cars were all $5,000 or less, all 2010 or newer, and all manual transmissions. Our four finalists are not at all what I expected when I started this whole thing on Monday, but that’s what keeps this job interesting.
Yesterday’s strangely-styled choices brought out a lot of first-hand experience comments, and not all of them were complimentary. The Hyundai Veloster is not a favorite among you, it seems, at least not one in that condition. The Nissan Juke’s bizarre styling drew some negative remarks, but it emerged victorious anyway.
I agree. It’s weird, it’s small, and it’s a stickshift – in short, the Juke is my kind of car. I could get behind the idea of a Veloster too, but not that Veloster. Even if it runs as well as the seller claims, that car has seen some things. The Nissan looks a lot less abused.
Right, so, we have our four finalists. They all seem like practical, reasonably efficient vehicles, and thanks to the manual transmissions, none of them should be a complete snooze-fest to drive. As usual, we’ll go over the pros and cons of each one, and then you can make your choice.
2010 Volkswagen Golf – $4,800
This Golf won by the narrowest of margins over a Honda Civic Si. I kept checking back over the week to see if its victory would hold, and while the vote count climbed, the margin remained just a handful of votes in the VW’s favor. I think it’s the hatchback that did it. The Civic is a neat car, but its usefulness is limited since it’s a two-door coupe with a tiny trunk opening. The Golf is, and always has been, just about the most usefully-shaped small car on the road.
That said, this is not the simple, DIY-friendly Rabbit you remember from the ’70s. This Golf features a turbocharged direct-injection engine that requires some special care and feeding, and Volkswagen electrical systems have become the stuff of nightmares to troubleshoot. This one is claimed to be in fine shape, but that condition likely isn’t permanent. Still, forewarned is forearmed, and if you know what you’re getting into, it could be a great little companion.
2012 Volkswagen Tiguan S – $4,495
This Tiguan had a much easier time against its competitor, a Jeep Renegade. Personally, I preferred the Renegade, but my vote isn’t what counts, and the little Jeep-in-name-only went down in flames. And really, this does seem like a nice car. It has been well cared for, and apart from a couple dings and some curb rash on the wheels, it looks good too.
My problem with it is that it’s a more complicated, less fun version of the Golf. The existence of that Golf completely knocks this out of the running, in my opinion. I guess if you need four doors or a little more cargo space, this might make sense. And it is a little cheaper. But personally, I’d rather have the Golf.
2013 Hyundai Elantra GT – $4,000
I’m willing to bet that, for any car you can possibly name, there’s an owner out there who fastidiously maintains one, keeps up on repairs, and takes great pains to keep it on the road. And that makes it interesting, even if, maybe especially if, it’s an otherwise unremarkable car. Like, say, a white Hyundai Elantra. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with an Elantra, but it’s a strange choice for a car upon which to lavish as much attention as this one has had.
It’s not perfect; there is some paint peeling, and it has a nasty dent in one rocker panel as if someone drove over a big rock with it, but it’s not bad at all for a $4,000 used car. The question, as it still is with Hyundai despite the improvements over the years, is longevity. This car has almost 200,000 miles on it, and has already had a lot of things replaced. How much more does it have to give?
2011 Nissan Juke SV – $2,950
On paper, the Nissan Juke sounds pretty good. A compact hatchbacky/crossovery thing with a small turbo engine and a six-speed stick? Sign me up! But then you get a look at the thing, and… yeesh. On the other hand, it doesn’t look like every other vehicle on the road. There will be no mistake which car in the parking lot is yours, if you drive a Juke. Unless you join an owner’s club and go to an event or something.
If you can get past the goofy looks, there really isn’t much reason not to choose this car. Despite Nissan’s reputation as the king of the buy-here-pay-here lots, the cars are actually pretty good. A car doesn’t survive the treatment that most Altimas and Versas see without being well-built. The Juke should be similarly tough.
Any of these would be great as a third or fourth car, a beater to keep around when you need it or feel like driving a stickshift for a change. They’d be great for teaching someone to drive a manual, too. For me, it’s between two, but I want to know what you all think. What’s the best deal here?
I have a friend with a Juke Nismo and it’s actually fun to drive, so that has my vote.
Heh, Jismo.
It is between the Elantra and Juke for me. I’m a never VW guy now
The Elantra is remarkable cared for but is in a rust belt state. Also has 30K more miles which is 2 years worth of driving and costs $1,000 more
Juke it is. Mostly be cause it is a Oregon salt free cars and a torch should never be required to remove a nut.
Two VW’s and a Nissan leads me to Hyundai.
Though, Golf is the right answer, if I’m really being honest.
There are no right answers here.
I was strongly drawn to the condition of the Elantra, but after reading some reviews, the steering isn’t great, and that is important to me these days. Boring on the outside, I think the Golf will be most interesting to drive.
The Golf is a car, has the strongest engine compared to the other car and it is from a time Volkswagen cared about the driving.
So Golf.
I’ll take the cheapest, most reliable car of this bunch. Juke it is.
In case anyone else is confused the Golf is a 2015, not a 2010 (typo). I would go with the Golf out of these choices. It will be finicky but should also have the best driving experience. Sometimes you have to sacrifice ease of ownership to get something that will make you happier. The Juke takes 2nd place because it’s weird and cheap.
The Elantra is by far the best vehicle in this bunch.
Too bad the Juke is a turbo, so I had to vote for the Elantra
Condition is everything in this price range. The Elantra is in the best condition. This is easy.
It’s the spiritual successor to the 1999 Elantra wagon I had, also with a stick. So nostalgia may be a factor too.
I’d like to see mileages repeated on these shootouts. It’s a big deciding factor. Especially when VW products are in the field.
Still, it’s Juke for me.
Agreed, I went back to the previous days to check.
I’m going Juke. It’s a quirky little critter and with a manual it might be a little entertaining to drive.
Second choice would be the Golf. I’ve always liked the idea of a Golf more than actually buying one, though..
I drive a Vehicross as a daily, I went with the Juke so I could drive something a little more normal with better gas mileage
Juke is too ugly, and I have VAG-PTSD. Voted Elantra.
Autopian keeps insisting the Juke has a six speed while CL says otherwise and I pointed this out yesterday. Still not corrected! An outrage!
Except I looked it up and yep, the 2011s had 6-speeds.
CL strikes again I guess.
2-door manual hatchback for me.
Although the Juke is probably the better value.
Given a second chance and thinking about the actual value, it’s Juke for me.
The money saved would fund most anything likely to be needed in a year or so of ownership, and I’ve decided it looks kinda cool.
BTW one failed-due-to-sludging VW turbo (2002 Passat longroof) was enough for us. Good luck with that Golf. I suspect you’ll need it.
Going with the Juke again. Weird is good….not aesthetically good, but unique at least. I dig that. And it’s cheap. Between these and the outlander sport (not the hacked up one from this week), the non-CVT offerings from Nissan and Mitsu are really solid in general. Pick em up cheap as the CVT problems drove the entire model market value down.
Selected the Golf in a toss up. The Juke is not an option, people will think I am priest as they go “Oh dear God”.
I predict everyone is choosing a round of Golf today.
This is a first for me, I voted against the grain every day this week.
Guess I’ll take the Elantra, and drive it until it leaves me stranded and desperate.
Juke still does it for me. I’ve always liked the looks, and the stick seals the deal.
I wish it was a better color, though, but for only $2500, black is fine.
I’m with you on this one. As a current modern Tiguan owner, both VWs are out of the running for me. So between the Hyundai and the Nissan, the Nissan is the clear choice.
It’s been a while since Torch has written about another expensive breakdown of his wife’s Tiguan so now I wonder if they still have it.
I think Torch (and wife) do still have theirs. But everything about my current ownership has validated the horror stories I’ve heard about VWs, going back to the Mk3-Mk4 days.
Ours was built (and purchased) during COVID, so it’s possible that our problems are a result of that fact alone. But starting with the glue for the rear seatback carpets deciding to fail after I had the temerity to attach the First Aid Kit to the seatback and free up a tiny bit of space in the trunk, to the fact that the engine regularly belches a good amount of burnt oil on the first startup of the day. To the posts on VWVortex talking about an eventual need to clean buildup from the intakes due to the engine using direct injection.
The wife (and I) are happy that we were able to get this car, when things were going completely bonkers due to the shutdown of global shipping. And the Tiguan does have its good points, like the nice automatic transmission and the resultant good gas mileage we get from it and how it has enough room for all of our stuff during family trips. And how much more comfortable it is during extended stints on the highway, in direct opposition to what my Subaru Impreza hatch was like.
But all that said, this is likely to be our one and only VW.
The Golf could be a fun beater, the usual “rallycross!” answer, and even usable carrying space in the back.
The Juke would never grace my driveway. Unless I could flip it for 2X.
If you get a few friends to help, you could probably flip it twice.
The Juke is the right answer for rallycross because crashing into a tree might actually improve the way it looks. You certainly won’t be sad to see it on the back of a flatbed heading to the great rally stage in the sky.
The Juke is the least appealing to me, but it is also the cheapest and least like anything I already own. Juke it is, I guess.
For once, practicality wins, and it’s the heavily refreshed Hyundai that does it. If the Honda had beaten the Golf, it’d be a completely different story. The Juke gets second just for being funky, the Golf third, and the whatsitcalled…Tigtorch or whatever, last for being a CUV and forgettable.
(And yes, I did have to scroll up to find the Tiguan’s name.)
I’ll take the Golf today. That one may not be as much fun as my Golf R was, but it’s not too bad.