Best August Deals

In a rehearsal for our post-recession future, the car market has seemed to take off like a jet-fueled dragster in recent days -- thanks to the federal government’s “cash for clunkers” program. Automakers could barely keep up with the demand for some models once the program began incentivizing the sale of new fuel-efficient vehicles. The good news is that automakers are sticking with roughly the same rebates and incentives they had on their products earlier this summer.

> In Pictures: 21 Great August Deals

You can even find rebates of $2,000 or more on some compacts. The bad news is that, after all the production cutbacks this year, some models are in short supply. That ought to be a reminder that the current buyers’ market might not last forever. (You will recall that incentives on SUVs shrank earlier this year as supplies became tighter.) The sales environment is changing in other ways, too. With U.S. automakers still struggling, Volkswagen sees an opportunity to make inroads in the American market and is promoting low-rate financing more aggressively than in the past. It’s easy to find low-interest deals worth a thousand dollars or more on the Passat sedan, the Routan minivan, and the New Beetle.

> In Pictures: 21 Great August Deals

Editor's Pick: 2009 Ford Mustang

Any time a rebate shaves a car’s price by about one-sixth, you have to give the deal a second look. This is especially true when the car is the Mustang. At the depth of the recession, it’s the perfect vehicle to remind us all that driving was designed to be fun even in the earliest days of motoring. A part of that tradition, the Mustang is the epitome of rear-wheel-drive “cool,” unabashedly offering V-6 and V-8 power in an era of diminished expectations. And now the original pony car is more affordable than ever. The suggested base price of $20,430 works out to be about $17,000 or less with the rebate. You naturally have to pay a bit more at the pump: The Mustang gets a respectable 26 mpg on the highway, but just 17 in the city. That’s nothing like the fuel economy of the minis and subcompacts becoming more common on U.S. roads. Then again, dyed-in-the-wool Mustang fans might reject the idea that a packing-crate-sized vehicle actually qualifies as a car. The 2009 Mustang has earned good reviews for its power (210 hp for its V-6 and 300 for its V-8), handling and style. There are coupe and convertible versions, four trim levels, and your choice of a five-speed manual or automatic transmission.