Cars are a symbol of power. Everyone has heard of the celebrities with massive collections of expensive cars, or custom built garages to accommodate their cars in the heart of an expensive city like New York. A better option could be cheap cars for some. It's doesn't have to be a clunker just because it doesn't cost a lot. Less expensive can still be functional, and even fun.

Buy a used car if you want to save some cash. Even luxury models are much less expensive when purchased second hand. These are a much less expensive top model cars, at least when compared to the new versions. A new term has emerged over the last decade, pre-owned ? to denote used cars that are of high quality. Some people who always bought new have crossed over into pre-owned. Think about luxury vehicles. A Mercedes or Lexus is so well built that even 10 year old cars can still be in excellent condition. Many people always buy late model used cars instead of new ones.This was immortalized in Driving Miss Daisy when the driver bought Miss Daisy's old cars.

Some new cars are pretty inexpensive. The Hyundai Elantra is a quality car under $12,000. A car like the Honda Civic weighs in at about $15,000 for one of the best engineered cars in the world. That's a good car that gets great mileage and lasts forever. These cars are also much cheaper to maintain than luxury cars that often require more expensive parts and even premium grades of gas.

Another area to look is cheaper, if not really cheap, luxury cars. Audi makes luxury cars that compete with Mercedes and Lexus, but generally at the lower end of the price spread for like models. Nobody beats Audi as far as engineering. A less expensive luxury sports car is the Audi TT.

Of course some people want cheap, cheaper, cheapest. They turn to the clunker, the hooptie, the ancient model car that was probably old when their parents first bought a car. Teens often buy this style of car. This type of car is good practice for a life of car care, and it gets the job done. But watch out, the age old adage ?You get what you pay for? applies to cheap cars too. It may not seem like such a deal when it won't start on a cold winter morning.