Cheapest New Car of 2012

Cheapest New Car of 2012 - Hyundai Accent GL, $10,705

 Cheapest New Car of 2012 - Regardless of a reserved price increase and its third name change in as many years (first it was the Accent GS Base, then the Accent Blue, and now it's the Accent GL) , the little Hyundai hatchback is once again the least luxurious car in America. As you can imagine, the Accent GL is pretty well stripped down; air training is a $1,000 option, but if you want anything else -- power windows, an automatic transmission, or even a radio -- you'll have to step up to the $13,415 Accent GS -- and for that price, there are better cars.

Not that the Accent GL is a bad car; it comes with power direction-finding and an eager 110 horsepower engine, and it's good fun to drive in a back-to-basics sort of way. Still, limited safety equipment and mediocre crash scores make it difficult to justify.