Every Rear-Wheel Drive Car You Can Buy Under $50,000

It may seem like rear-wheel drive cars are being phased out in favor of all-wheel-drive and front-wheel drive, but there's no need to panic about the death of RWD just yet. As it turns out, there are over two dozen pure rear-wheel drive cars (read: sedans and coupes) on the market right now for under $50,000, and plenty of them even come with a manual transmission!

So, we thought it would be a good time to take a look and see exactly what they were. There are some genuine surprises on here. Did you know you can still buy a Mercedes-Benz C-Class without all-wheel drive? How about an Infiniti Q50, or an electric Hyundai? All of them have rear-wheel drive options, and that really does bring a tear of joy to my eye.

Sure, a well set up front-wheel drive car is going to provide just as much as, if not more, fun than a rear-wheel drive car, and an all-wheel-drive car will probably be more sure footed, but what the fun in that? Cars should be fun, and what's more fun than getting the tail to rotate? Exactly. Nothing is.

Anyway, let's take a look at every rear-wheel drive car on sale today under $50,000.

The Giulia is one of the best driving sedans on sale today, and that's certainly helped by the fact you can get it in rear-wheel drive guise. Also, just look at it. Damn.

The manual rear-wheel drive BMW will die with the M2. Sure, you can't get an M2 for under $50,000 new, but these cars are still great.

I would love to know how many rear-wheel drive 3-Series BMW actually sells. It cannot be many.

Buy a regular 3-Series. You will be happier.

The CT4-V is such a fun little car. I've unfortunately only driven the AWD model, so I'll have to assume the RWD car is even better.

You're a goober if you buy a BMW 5-Series over this.

You can't get an SS for under $50,000, but Chevy's bargain LT1 can be had well within that budget. It's the one to get.

Long live the 300! You will be my mid-2000s king forever.

I do not care about your facts or figures. Put quite simply, the Challenger (in any guise) is one of the best vehicles on sale today. I love it, and I will sob when it is eventually dead.

The Charger is almost as great as the Challenger. It gets points off for being a little more practical (two extra doors) and lacking a manual transmission.

The new Mustang looks great. I do not care what you say.

If the base model, rear-wheel drive Ioniq 6 is even half as good as the all-wheel-drive one that I drove, it's got to be fantastic.

TIL Infiniti still makes this. Neat! Turns out, its just about 10 years old at this point. Rough stuff.

This car is very pretty, and it deserves more love. Yeah, I know it's not great.

The IS may as well be a coupe, because the rear-wheel drive architecture means it doesn't have much room back there.

The RC is a perfectly imperfect car! You may not be able to afford a V8 for under $50,000, but the V6 and four poppers are still peaches.

Miata is always the answer. I don't need to say anything.

I was thrilled to find out you could still get a C-Class in rear-wheel drive. I cannot imagine very many of these make it into customers' hands. Still, it's neat!

I think the Nissan Z is one of the best looking cars on sale today. Unfortunately, I've seen exactly two since it launched. Bummer.

This would be the answer over the Miata if you could take the roof off.

That's the price today. Who knows what it'll be tomorrow? A rear-wheel drive Model 3 is a great commuter car if you ignore all of the awful shit Elon Musk has done and said (do not ignore all of the awful shit Elon Musk has done and said).

I don't know why, but I've always like the BRZ more. No, it doesn't make sense, and no, I will not change my mind.

You get the looks, but none of the performance or 6-speed manual-ness of the 3.0. It's the price you pay for style, I suppose.