Cheap pickup trucks aren’t entirely a thing of the past, but the list of trucks for under $30,000 is getting shorter every year. While $30,000 is still well below the average new vehicle price in the US, it’s a much more accurate representation of what the average American can afford, and when you can only own one vehicle that needs to be both your personal transport and a means of earning an income, an affordable truck is something America needs. But in 2024, just three trucks make the cut.
You’ve got the 2024 Chevrolet Colorado, the 2024 Ford Maverick, and the 2024 Hyundai Santa Cruz. There are also a few that are just barely over the line if you want to dig a little deeper into the piggy bank, but we’re down to just three pickups in the US available under the $30,000 mark.
Eligibility for this feature was based on MSRP before destination fees, taxes, options, and dealer accessories. Actual pricing at dealer level may vary based on incentives, markups, vehicle configuration, and more. An average tax rate of 6% has been assumed for more accurate cost-to-customer pricing;
taxes vary by state
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2024 Chevrolet Colorado
Base MSRP: $29,500
Engine
2.7-Liter Turbo 4-Cylinder
Power
237 hp
Torque
260 lb-ft
Destination Fee
$1,595
Base Cost With Destination Fee And 6% Sales Tax
$32,960
On MSRP alone, the Colorado makes the cut, but once you factor in destination fees and tax, it’s not quite as affordable; with the destination fee and 6% sales tax, we’re nearly three grand over the limit. But, we’re looking at sticker price, here, not total cost. In any event, chances are any one of these trucks will break the thirty grand limit once you add in the interest rates on a typical car loan. The Colorado’s base Work Truck (WT) trim level lives up to the name with cloth upholstery, manual seats, single-zone climate control, and… well, that’s about it. Towing capacity starts at 3,500 lbs, and you have to upgrade all the way to the 310-hp 2.7-liter TurboMax engine with the ZR2 Bison to get that number up to 5,500 lbs, and that more than doubles our budget.
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RepairPal estimates an annual maintenance cost of $599. The 2024 edition has been recalled twice. One recall was for 8,622 with improperly secured fuel tank assemblies, and another was for just 56 units that had the wrong tires installed.
2024 Colorado Trims With A Sub-$30k Price
2024 Ford Maverick
Base MSRP: $23,920
Engine
2.0-liter Turbo 4-Cylinder
2.5-liter Hybrid 4-Cylinder
Power
250 hp
191 hp (combined)
Torque
277 lb-ft
155 lb-ft (ICE only)
Destination Fee
$1,595
Base Cost With Destination Fee And 6% Sales Tax
$27,045
$28,540
The Maverick has, thus far, proven to be a fairly dependable pickup, but it’s a relatively new addition to the segment so it’s hard to make any predictions about what you can expect to pay for maintenance year after year. Repairpal estimates an annual repair cost of $776 for the brand overall. You’ve got a little bit of room to play around with outfitting your Maverick before you go over the thirty grand line. The entry-level model packs a 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine for $23,900, but you can go with a 2.5-liter hybrid engine for just $25,420, but, that’s a downgrade to 191 hp, and the hybrid Maverick was hit with some recalls in 2023.
More attractive is the $26,420 XLT trim with the EcoBoost engine, which comes with higher-quality interior trim, a power-locking tailgate, and a wider assortment of optional upgrades, like a larger 6.4-inch instrument cluster. The EcoBoost engine will pull 4,000 lbs, while the hybrid engine will only tow one ton, so there’s another reason to go with the base 2.0-liter engine. The EcoBoost Maverick is the clear winner among these three if you’re looking for something that will put in some serious towing work on the cheap. The hybrid may seem like it’ll save you money in the long run, but between maintenance costs and subpar performance, we’d stick with the EcoBoost.
Freshly updated for 2025, there are new features coming to the Maverick next year, but its incremental price increase means it’ll still maintain a budget-busting sub-$30k price.
Related 2025 Ford Maverick Gives The People Everything They Want
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2024 Maverick Trims With A Sub-$30k Price
Maverick XL – $23,920 Maverick XLT – $26,420
2024 Hyundai Santa Cruz – $26,900
Engine
2.5-Liter 4-Cylinder
Power
191 hp
Torque
181 lb-ft
Destination Fee
$1,335
Base Cost With Destination Fee And 6% Sales Tax
$29,929
The 2024 Hyundai Santa Cruz offers two trims under the $30,000 mark: the SE and the SEL. The SE starts off at a nice low $26,900, while the SEL adds a BlueLink connected car system, a proximity key, and remote start for a price tag of $29,400. The SEL trim also unlocks the $3,660 activity package, which adds LED interior lights, roof side rails, a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, and an integrated tonneau cover, among other features. An attractive deal, but at that point, you’re spending more than you would on a new Tacoma, Ranger, or Frontier. The SEL’s added features aren’t a bad deal for a difference of less than $300, though. The base engine will tow 3,500 lbs. The caveat with the SEL is that it only makes the $30,000 cut-off if you have it with FWD, while the SE can be had with FWD or AWD.
RepairPal rates Hyundai 4th out of 32 car brands, with a typical annual maintenance cost of just $468, so the Santa Cruz is attractive if you want to save money now, and in the long run. The 2022 Santa Cruz was recalled for some pretty serious transmission issues, but the 2024 model’s sole recall is for power steering failure in just 795 units, with many of those being Tucsons.
Like the Maverick, Hyundai has also updated the Santa Cruz for 2025, now with new styling and features. Pricing, however, has not been confirmed.
2024 Santa Cruz Trims With A Sub-$30k Price
SE 2.5L FWD – $26,900 SE 2.5L AWD – $28,400 SEL 2.5 FWD – $29,650
When Did Pickups Get So Expensive?
Bottom line: blame the pandemic. Inflation will happen regardless, but the pandemic put a turbocharger on the usual inflation rates. We’ve covered this extensively in the past. 2020 saw a chip shortage that, when compounded by the same supply-chain hangups affecting every other industry, made it impossible for automakers to meet consumer demand, driving prices through the roof.
Related Why COVID-19 Markups Will Continue To Haunt Buyers For Years
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Even now that the prices have settled down a bit, we’re still riding the momentum of those big price bumps. At the end of 2019, the average light vehicle in the US cost around $38,948. By early 2024, that number was around $47,218.
Pickups Just Over $30,000
2024 Toyota Tacoma – $31,500 – The Tacoma has long been prized as an affordable entry-level pickup, but the 2023 Tacoma was the last one to come in under thirty grand, at a base MSRP of $28,600. At $31,500, the 2024 Toyota Tacoma starts you off with a turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission for 228 hp. The entry-level Tacoma can pull 6,400 lbs with a double cab, or 6,500 with an XtraCab. 2024 Ford Ranger – $32,670 – The entry-level Ford F-150 starts at $36,875 for 2024, so the Maverick is the only Ford pickup under the cut-off. With the entry-level 2024 Ford Ranger XL you’re getting a 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine delivering 270 hp. This is paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission in rear or four-wheel drive, and it can tow up to 7,500 lbs. 2024 Nissan Frontier – $30,030 – At just thirty dollars over the $30,000 mark, we may be splitting hairs here. But more than thirty grand is more than thirty grand. This truck is as close as you’re going to get to buying a V6 pickup for under thirty grand in 2024. The base Frontier packs a 310-hp 3.8-liter engine and a nine-speed automatic transmission in the S model, and towing up to 6,720 lbs. If you’re willing to go a little over thirty grand for a cheap pickup truck, the 2024 Nissan offers the most bang for your buck in terms of both towing capacity and horsepower, outperforming everything else we’ve listed right under, and right over the thirty-grand line.
Buying A Used Truck Is Looking More Attractive These Days
Ram
There’s a lot to love about the Maverick, the Santa Cruz, and the Colorado, but the fact remains that the pickings are getting pretty slim if you’re looking for a basic work truck on a budget. In short, this might be the time to look into the used truck market. A second-gen Tacoma, for instance, can be had for a song and has a good chance of lasting longer than a brand-new Ram 1500.
Related Ram 1200 Is The $25,000 Ford Ranger Rival America Needs – There’s Just One Big Problem
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Put simply: there are still some excellent budget-priced pickups on the market, but we’re in a real “beggars can’t be choosers” situation here. If you want to go shopping for a cheap pickup that’s just right, one that ticks all your boxes, you’re better off buying something a little out of date, whether that means going back to something from the 2010s, or just one or two model years back.
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Publish date : 2024-08-08 06:01:00
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