Car Challenge ranks the best compact cars

OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- For new-car shoppers, 30 is the new 20, as in $30,000.

The average car on the road is more than 11 years old — from a time when $20,000 bought a lot of car. Folks who look to trade that car are in for sticker shock: The average paid for new vehicles now is about $31,000.

But the big surprise from the Cars.com-USA TODAY-MotorWeek $20,000 Compact Car Challenge, our latest head-to-head comparison: You still can get a lot of car for $20,000.

It'll be a compact, not a midsize car, but today's compacts are roomier than ever — more leg and knee room, in fact, than some midsizers.

And you can have some goodies. Navigation, a backup camera, sophisticated infotainment, even all-wheel drive were on one or more cars in the Challenge.

And the fuel economy can be high, tickling — sometimes exceeding — 40 miles per gallon on the highway.

The Challenge aimed to find the best low-price, fuel-efficient compact car a budget-conscious buyer could get for no more than $20,000 and a federal city-highway fuel economy rating of at least 28 mpg.

CHALLENGE RESULTS: Top pick, ranking of the rest, capsule review, photo gallery of all the cars

The seven contenders who met that bar: Toyota Corolla. Kia Forte, Hyundai Elantra, Nissan Sentra, Honda Civic, Ford Focus, Subaru Impreza.

A key lesson: Picking the perfect-for-you $20,000 compact sedan is a wrestling match of choices and priorities. No one car at that price has it all.

For instance, the Ford Focus tested had the sweetest-handling chassis, the judges agreed, and it was cheapest, at $18,200. But they also found it noisy and with an interior that was tight on space and downscale compared with the others. So have a ball on curving roads, but you'll have to roll up the rear windows by hand, and forget about pairing your phone because it lacked Bluetooth.

Or take the Subaru Impreza. It was pricier, at $19,737, but was the only one with all-wheel drive, and would be a no-brainer pick for w! intry climes. Back doors yawned wide for easy in/out — perfect if you use the rear seat a lot. But some considered it noisy, and using the Bluetooth was maddening.

Or The Nissan Sentra was the most expensive, at $19,945, but was the only one with a navigation system. The interior felt upscale, the air-conditioning was exceptional, it had a backup camera and was smooth and quiet. But the ride got choppy on bumpy roads, and it leaned and didn't want to follow the steering in hard corners.

Overall, however, you wouldn't feel deprived in most of our test cars.

What about moving up to a roomier, but less-festooned midsize? Probably can't do it. Most tend to start about $22,000 or $23,000.

And it might be smarter financially to stay with the compact. Not only will it cost a bit less, it will hold its value a bit better over time, according to a projection by TrueCar.com's ALG, specialists in forecasting future value of cars.