Best New Car Deals for Memorial Day Weekend

It wouldn’t be Memorial Day without peeking at new cars. Many Americans find themselves on a car lot after they have honored our nation’s fallen heroes, spent a whole weekend with family, and eaten too many hot dogs. Instead of lease deals, we present eight of the best manufacturer finance deals as a combination of cash rebates, low interest, discounts, or all three. Michael Simari|Car and Driver$3000 off with employee pricingFord’s “From America, For America” is a friendly reminder that all but two Blue Oval–branded vehicles are made in the United States. It’s also an ongoing employee pricing deal of between 5 and 8 percent off MSRP on every vehicle save for the Expedition, all Raptors, the Bronco Stroppe, and the Mustang Dark Horse. The $3000 rebate is unique to any Explorer trim and the Escape PHEV. Ford only asks that you own a car, any car, from 1995 onward, and doesn’t ask for a trade-in. Chevrolet0% APR for 60 monthsChevy’s full-size SUVs rarely get discounted because they are among the few Chevy models with high resale value and equally high demand. But some of that demand is waning, as evidenced by leftover 2024 Tahoe (and Suburban) models eligible for zero percent financing for five years. Only the electric Equinox and Blazer models offer the same deal. Just be sure to avert your gaze from any models with the 6.2-liter V-8, which have defective engines and no definitive repair date yet. Dealers have been instructed by GM to halt sales until they’re fixed. But the 5.3-liter V-8 and diesel six should reliably shuttle your big family for a long time.Hyundai$5000 offWe just drove the Ioniq 9 earlier this month as dealers received their first deliveries, and already the discounts are flowing. Hyundai’s 1980s space-age family hauler hasn’t been given a moment to bake on the back lot—the company wants to move these three-row electric SUVs now. The rebate applies to all six trims, while a 1.99 percent APR may or may not also apply (Hyundai says the two offers cannot be combined “except where specified,” so ask your dealer). It makes us wonder if Hyundai shouldn’t have just lowered the MSRP by $5000 before the launch.Kia $10,000 offAn even better deal comes from Hyundai’s first cousin, Kia, on any EV9. This is on top of a $7500 tax credit that goes to you, the purchaser, but with an EV bill about to head to the Senate, that credit could be gone by Monday. What’s interesting is that there are hardly any 2025 models in stock—the couple hundred available are 2024s—so Kia is preempting a potential oversupply of one of its most expensive models. Given the shifting political winds and a pullback in consumer spending, that is a smart move. All that aside, we are enamored with the EV9.Michael Simari|Car and Driver 0% APR for 48 monthsSubaru knows that Subaru people eat up Outbacks, Foresters, Ascents, and Crosstreks like the granola bars they buy in bulk, so those vehicles are financed at 1.9 to 4.9 percent. But the WRX is the opposite spectrum of Subaru buyers, where fewer people actually want a turbo rally car with Recaros and Brembos. This zero-percent deal is on every WRX trim except the tS, including the top-dog TR and the automatic GT, the latter of which is a more mature WRX that any Outback owner could take sideways. For a Subaru sports car with lower monthly payments over a longer term, the BRZ offers 2.9 percent for 72 months.Michael Simari|Car and Driver 1.99% APR for 60 monthsWhile you can pick up a refreshed 2026 Passport—which looks a whole lot tougher and promises more off-road capability—Honda is moving the 2025 Passport to pasture with a trio of financing deals. The sweet spot 1.99 percent rate is for 60 months, but if you need more time, Honda offers 2.99 percent for 72 months. Agree to pay early, and you can snag 0.99 percent for 24 or 36 months. Any Passport model is eligible, including the TrailSport (pictured).Marc Urbano|Car and Driver$3000 to $9500 off or employee pricingLike Ford, every Stellantis brand is offering employee pricing. On Ram trucks, the deal is more generous than Ford at about 8 to 10 percent off MSRP. Separately, buyers can choose cash rebates on every Ram 1500 trim, but who is eligible varies, and the rebates apply only to trucks that have sat on dealer lots the longest. Each dealer has to mark the oldest 20 percent of their inventory for the rebates to apply. Most of the rebates apply only to current Stellantis lessees, in an unusual effort to shift them into financing. Ram’s APR specials (1.9 or 3.9 percent) also don’t appear to apply to these rebates. There is a lot of fine print here, but if you qualify and find the right truck, it could be your lucky weekend. Andi Hedrick|Car and Driver Audi regularly discounts the e-tron GT, a super sedan so beautiful and yet so unwanted, and this time it’s comfortable taking $12,500 off the RS or $7500 off the base trim. The 2025 model gets an even $5000 cut on all models. In the past, Audi has increased the cash rebate to $20,000 and even $30,000. The car’s rarity, street presence, and performance cannot overcome the depreciation of a luxury EV, hence the roughly $60,000 average asking price on used e-tron GTs that are still under warranty compared to $120,000-plus for a new one.Or Try These:Clifford Atiyeh is a reporter and photographer for Car and Driver, specializing in business, government, and litigation news. He is president of the New England Motor Press Association and committed to saving both manuals and old Volvos.
Source: caranddriver.com