i did love the cooper and still it hink it was the most fun to drive. drawbacks are looks, though i do love the looks at the same time, i wouldn't love it every single day, it'd get old. The cooper is also expensive and insurance was expensive as well. The big thing though is price and they aren't seeming to negotiate very much at all, they are so sought after they simply don't have to come off the price.

I just went through the list your looking at back in July, I drove everything you've listed plus used Boxsters, AMG's in a couple flavors, used z360.

The scion is a nice in that you can get so many different options but to me its all about selling to the first time male car buyer who wants his little slice of the fast and the furious. It does get good mpg and since its a toyota you dont expect alot of issues.

The VW's offer fantastic MPG and are alot of fun to drive but be prepared to get bitch slapped every time you have to take it in for even minor service.

The Crossfire was an interesting choice and again fun to drive but to me I had worries on service and the mpg for a daily driver while ok did not blow me away.

The Mini was right at the top of my list as it was fun to drive, not everyone had one, but again the service history on them is not so hot and the aforementioned electrical issues scared me away. My Uncle though like it so much he ordered one with everything except the rag top. Its not in from the factory yet he still has about 6 more weeks of wait time.

So that leaves the Mazda, and I can not say enough about how well I liked the 6 it had the Zoom Zoom, it was fun to drive, stops on dime, is friendly on the wallet when it comes to mpg, you dont see your car 40 times on the way to work. I had one little problem when I test drove the Mazda 6 though. I saw the MX-5 on the lot and thought what the hell I might as well test drive it while I am here.

The MX-5, mazda is dropping the Miata from the name of the car, blew me away, Its small but at 6'2" I can get in and out and obviously with the top down its even easier. MPG is right at 30 as an average, City 26 Hwy 33 though this does depend on things like top down or up, and which transmission. What drew me to the mx-5 was the PRHT or power retractible hard top. It is slower that the manual top to put up and take down, 13 second is all it takes to drop or raise the top and it does offer alot more protection from knife wielding thieves then a rag top does. If you want fun to drive your going to be hard pressed to find better. Paddle shifter, bembo brakes, bilstein shocks 50/50 weight distribution, it corners better then anything else I drove, stops on a dime and give you 9 cents change. Its a head turner too, with the new body style people just dont know its a mazda.

Oh yea I did buy the Mx-5 and its my daily driver and starting next week after two months of research its going to be getting a new stereo which is one drawback with the Miata/MX-5. We liked the Mazda 6 so well we got a coup version of that too.

You also might be able to save a bit of money on the Mazda products, Mazda is owned by Ford and they have a friends and family program as well as a program with other people they do business with home depot for example. This lets you get a set price based off Fords price list, You will need a Pin number but if you know someone that works for ford or one of their partners its a great way to save some bucks. Belive its called the S plan or X plan one of the two is for ford the other for mazda. If you cant find anyone thats a part of the program PM me and I will see if my connection can give anyone else the plan this year.

i did love the cooper and still it hink it was the most fun to drive. drawbacks are looks, though i do love the looks at the same time, i wouldn't love it every single day, it'd get old. The cooper is also expensive and insurance was expensive as well. The big thing though is price and they aren't seeming to negotiate very much at all, they are so sought after they simply don't have to come off the price.

yeah, they don't wiggle much on price. though i disagree about the looks. if set up right, like ours, it's actually a mean looking little gocart. i enjoy looking at it, not too mention the looks i get getting out of it, lol. but from your standpoint, price is a bit too much to overcome. our insurance only went up $108 a year compared to the silverado that was traded in on it.

if you like the mazda 6, why not look at the mazda 5? i like the hatch/wagon version. maybe a 2-4 year old wrx??

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I hate the WRX. Ugly on the outside, shitty on the inside and they ride like hell. The Europeans think the Americans don't know what a suspension is for, but if this is the case the Japanese just flat out forgot to install one in that thing. It rides terrible.

i would personally go for the gli hands down. it has a huge trunk, and it is a perfect balance of a classy/sporty car. and best of all it has a turbo so if ever you feel the need to have more power you can "chip" the car (reflash the ecu) and squueze 300hp out of that engine for about 500$ at your local speed shop. i believe you can even buy a little computer that you plug into your ecu and you can switch back and forth between stock hp and modded hp in a mtter of minutes, seeing as how your worried about mileage and want performance at the same time.

edit: im totally biased towards german cars btw.

I've thought about this as well, i love the balance between sporty/classy and it doesn't look like a kid's car like the altima or the GTI

The only thing is i would love to hear from some owners and get some more reliability reports.

my brother in law got his new and brought it to 350 000km (around 200 000 miles) all while being chipped and it had no problems other than routine maintenance and body work because he got in a couple fender benders...

as for the mini, i have nothing but good things to say about that car(my folks had one for a while. the looks are certainly not for everyone, but you would be surprised to how sporty it can look just by painting the plastic fenders to match the car color (costs around 300$).

I hate the WRX. Ugly on the outside, shitty on the inside and they ride like hell. The Europeans think the Americans don't know what a suspension is for, but if this is the case the Japanese just flat out forgot to install one in that thing. It rides terrible.

lol, true, except i love the looks of the older wrxs. the brand new ones are getting soft.

mini with painted flares?? like this....

i agree, it makes a world of difference!

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I hate the WRX. Ugly on the outside, chitty on the inside and they ride like hell. The Europeans think the Americans don't know what a suspension is for, but if this is the case the Japanese just flat out forgot to install one in that thing. It rides terrible.

lol, true, except i love the looks of the older wrxs. the brand new ones are getting soft.

mini with painted flares?? like this....

i agree, it makes a world of difference!

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

yup!