What's the best new car I can buy for $25,000 or less?

A Mini Cooper. Those things are neato, and you can really customize them and still keep it under 25k.

The scions are very good cars that you can get for quite a bit less that 25k. They are built with toyota quality which is next to none in their price range. They come with good warranties, and are a worth while investment. Another suggestion I have would be a vw tdi diesel. You can pick up a 06 passat for 23k and they are very very nice and get around 50 mpg. VW has come a very long way in the last couple of years, those diesels are built to last 500k miles when maintained. They have spent a great deal of time engineering everything on these cars, and if a passat is a little big for you, look at a golf or a beetle. Dont let the diesel scare ya, its quiet and starts the same as a gas engine in the cold, and its hard to beat 50 mpg!!

The Ford Five-Hundred, Buick LaCrosse, and Dodge Magnum are all very good cars.

my daughter just bought a Malibu a few months back its a very nice roomy car for a smaller car good on gas also

Subaru WRX.