5 Great New Cars for Cheapskates

Second-best car for cheapskates: Mazda2

Five-year cost of ownership: $28,566

Fair purchase price: $16,075

If the Chevy Spark's hipster looks aren't your thing, the Mazda2 offers a more-conservative design -- and costs $22 less over five years to operate.

Based on the Fiesta from Ford, (F) the two-door Mazda2 gets 29 mpg/city and 35 mpg/highway with a manual transmission or 28 mpg/city and 34 mpg/highway with an automatic. That means Mazda2 buyers can expect to pay just $9,514 at the gas pump over the next five years.

KBB also estimates the Mazda2 will depreciate just $9,002 in five years -- the lowest amount for any of the top 2013s for tightwads. Tiny estimated five-year expenses for financing ($1,135), insurance ($3,564), taxes/title ($1,447), maintenance ($1,997) and repairs ($1,907) only add to the car's low operating costs.

"The Mazda2 is made to deliver," Gutierrez says. "It has excellent fuel economy and maintenance and repair costs, and it isn't going to give you many headaches, because it's built on the proven Ford Fiesta platform."

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