Budget wideangle

Is there a budget wideangle, say $200 or under, that comprehensively outperforms the kit 18-55 lens. It would mainly be used for holiday snaps of landscapes, buildings and interiors. Alternatively, is the kit lens about as good as it gets at this price level?

Hal55

Moving from the kit to the 18-55 IS is about your only option. The Sigma 24-60 is in this price range, but is not wide enough on a crop.

EDIT: By the way, you're going to get some manual focus options from older lenses, but I'm talking about Canon mount lenses that will retain autofocus.

Zenitar 16mm manual focus. Pentax folks love this lens, I think you can get it for Canon (EOS/FD?). Around $200.
Any wider is MUCH more expensive (unfortunately)

I feel your need...as suggested, I upgraded to the new 18-55 IS and am pleased with the results I get from 18 to 28mm...I have the 35mm/2 and 50/2.5 so for best results at those FLs I would use the primes...

The Canon 20-30 f3.5-4.5 USM is a nice little lens. Decent build quality, ring type USM, all internal focusing and zooming and it'll fit on a film camera. You lose some range over the kit lens, but if you want it for the wide angle and you're on a budget, it's a great little performer!

Errr.... Should that have been 20-35? Can't find a 20-30.

Hal55

The 18-55IS is probably as good as it's gonna get for under $200. The little thing outperforms some of my other much more expensive lenses in terms of sharpness, covers a great range, focuses insanely close, and it even has IS! Unfortunately it's AF is a bit slow and the thing is very plastic (I recently just broke mine, sending it in for repair as we speak) so you'll have to be careful. But in terms of image performance, the thing is a miracle.