WRX STI

Make
Subaru
Segment
Sedan

Automotive brands are very large operations, so it isn't very often that they decide to declare bankruptcy and stop selling cars. Granted, sometimes a manufacturer simply needs to simplify its portfolio, like in the case of General Motors. Other times, companies may pull out of one market, without completely going out of business. All of the cars on this list come from brands that are no longer sold in the US, and all of our choices can be purchased for less than $25,000. These brands are dead, but these cars are still awesome.

The Scion FR-S was an easy choice for this list. Even though the FR-S will technically live on as the Toyota 86 and the Subaru BRZ, the Scion brand was officially discontinued in 2016. Prices for the FR-S haven't dipped that low, but you can easily find a 2013 model for less than $15,000. We suggest finding one with the six-speed manual transmission, but the automatic is not bad at all. The FR-S came with a 2.0-liter flat-four boxer engine with 200 horsepower and RWD. It is the perfect starter sports car for someone who wants something fun.

The Pontiac GTO made our list of 400 horsepower cars for less than $20,000. The GTO was actually built in Australia, and was simply a rebadged version of the Holden Monaro. Early GTO models came with a 5.7-liter V8, but you should look for a 2005 or 2006 model which came with the 6.0-liter LS2 V8. The LS2 produced 400 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque. Make sure that you go for the six-speed manual on this car, because the four-speed automatic doesn't do the engine justice. You can find a GTO for less than $20,000, and we highly recommend one.

Many people seem to forget the Mercury Marauder. Mercury revived the Marauder nameplate back in 2003 as a high performance version of the Grand Marquis. The car used the Panther platform which also underpinned the Ford Crown Victoria and Lincoln Town Car. The Marauder was given brakes and suspension from the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor as well as rack-and-pinion steering. The engine was a 4.6-liter Modular V8 from the Mach 1 Mustang and produced 302 horsepower. We have seen some interesting modifications done to these such as adding the supercharger from a Cobra or swapping in a manual transmission. You can find one for less than $15,000 for a pretty cool car.

We love oddball cars, and it doesn't get much more strange than the Isuzu VehiCROSS. This SUV was built from 1997 to 2001, and only 5,958 were ever produced. It came with a 3.5-liter V6 with 215 hp and 230 lb-ft of torque, which doesn't sound like much, but was plenty back in the 1990s. The VehiCROSS was pretty light, and had an advanced 4WD system produced by BorgWarner. This system could send power to whichever wheel had the most traction at any given time. You can easily find one of these for less than $10,000, and we think it would make a great off-roading toy.

We miss Saab, and actually enjoy looking at some of the models that were being produced when the company went bankrupt. One of the coolest models that people seem to forget about is the 9-4X. You could get a 9-4X with a 3.0-liter V6 with 265 hp, but the top-trim Aero model came with a 2.8-liter turbo V6 with 286 hp. It is reported that only 457 units were ever produced in 2011, with about 60 more in 2012. Saab puts the production number at 814 units, which still makes this car incredibly rare. We think that the 9-4X is a very futuristic SUV that still looks very modern five years later. Unfortunately, we couldn't find an Aero model for less than $20,000, but we still think that it is an interesting SUV.