I would go for a VW Jetta TDI or a VW Golf TDI. Turbodiesels give you decent performance AND are incredibly efficient. VW cars also tend to have above average gearboxes - I own a GTI and the shifting is relatively smooth compared to most American makes.

Do you have any type of a budget?

My budget is pretty open. I'm not looking to spend like $700 in car payments every month, but I have a lot of breathing room to do whatever.

idk what kind of car you have but 125k mi isnt a lot. what is wrong with your current car? is it expensive to fix? depending on what kind of car you have you might consider fixing it is better than buying a new car. if you dont want to do so and really want to buy a car i would say go for a honda civic 96-02. it isnt hard to find one with a manual transmission and they are relatively economical. i have an 02 civic manual transmission and drive about 40ish mi per day and fill up my tank once a week with around $40 in cali. a civic will last you up to 300k mi if you perform all the necessary maintenance when you are supposed to. i had a 96 civic and now my 02, i have never had any issues to this day with either one.

are you trying to have it get you laid

tesla, car cool lane is a go.

2003 Ford Taurus. The struts are pretty fucked and other things related are getting pretty beat too. Took it to two different places and was told it would be around $1000 to fix. I'm apprehensive that it's getting to the point where everything is gonna start falling apart at once in the coming months, and I would prefer to have something new and reliable. It would be cheaper to just get it fixed, but again, I don't mind paying more for reliability over saving a little money.

For pure value, i would recommend a Toyota Corolla.

Boring car to drive but never breaks.

Also it dosent consume much fuel.

I would go for a 2008-2009 model, which is not gonna cost that much.

just had to buy a new car myself, and had almost the exact specs that you sound like you're looking for; went through consumer reports to find one. the new VW's aren't rated very highly as far as reliability goes, although they do get fine gas mileage.

i decided to go with a 2013 honda fit sport, these are stats and shit that i went with and why
-$15,000 - cheap as fuck, and you can probably get it down to 14,000 if you haggle. they're trying to get rid of them because they have 2014 models coming in soon

-manual transmission - about $2000 cheaper than the automatic model, and will give you 33ish to 32ish mpg average. about 1 or 2 mpg more on average than the automatic.
-rims - not for aesthetic purposes but resale value instead, although they do look nice
-doesn't look as dumb and shitty as the basic model

My parents own a 2010 GTI and I've driven it quite a bit, very fun car and the gear switching is smooth as hell. Like radium said, VW are very efficient cars and will last you a long ass time.

Are you thinking car, truck, SUV, crossover SUV, etc? I would start there first. Also, while manual trannys are cheaper, there is two main issues with buying them. 1) Harder to resell, less people know how to drive them so less demand. 2) Since the first point is true, dealerships do not order them. So often you have to get it shipped from another dealer or special order. For example, I worked a month at a huge Nissan dealership (worst job I have ever had) and the only manuals that we had were on the 350Z lines.

Give a budget. It's not like you don't have one and it's pretty hard to help given no budget.

Just a regular car. Anything more would be unnecessary. I do know that reselling would be more difficult, but that doesn't really bother me. Good point, though.

civic recommendation

it's about as car as it gets

I just got a 2014 Mazda6 and love it. Mine's auto but they make them in stick. Gets great mileage and strikes the balance between sporty and comfortable, and I think they look really sharp. If you're into compact cars, the Mazda3 is basically the same car, though it also has a hatchback option.

Not really looking for anything more than $25,000.

If you want mediocre gas mileage, but solid maintenance, buy a caddy. I know it sounds silly, but an olderish Cadillac can be gotten pretty cheaply, you'll own it outright, insurance will be cheaper, no payments if you lose your job, etc. You'll also have a Cadillac. I've had mine for 4 years now and I have only had to take it in to fix anything once - and it was for faulty wiring in the gas pump which cost me 30$ lol oh and it's a 96' lol. Also it drives like it's floating on air. The only flaw with the 96' is that it doesn't have a heated steering wheel (which would be handy). When this one finally dies, I will amend that situation. I got mine for 3.3k in cash.

I approached the older gentleman who owned it (he had a fancy new black one), I showed him 3.3k in cash (he was asking more). I said I wanted the title right now no negotiations - and that was that lol.

I think I just figured out the GXL prize.

rofl

2013 dodge dart 29 mgp city
2013 mini cooper 29 mpg
2013 scion fr-s 25 mpg
2014 ford focus 29 mpg
2013 ford fusion 25 mpg
2014 ford fiesta 29 mpg
2013 kia rio 29 mpg
2013 kia optima hybrid 35 mpg

You could look at a 2013 Honda Accord. Most seem to be asking around $28k so you could bring them down to $25k.

If you want a car that is a ton of fun to drive but doesn't get stellar gas mileage I'd recommend a newer VW GTI, slightly used Audi A3, a Ford Focus ST if you can afford it, or a Mazdaspeed 3. All of these are pretty fun cars that insurance and payments won't slaughter you over.

If you are looking for a little more economy I'd go for a TDI vehicle from the VW group or really any of the non-sport versions of the cars above.

If you decide to get an Audi or VW with the 2.0T you should be aware the cam follower (fixed on 2009 and later models) and PCV issues as they are easily fixed but are worthy of some attention.

E: Please ignore the butchery my phone makes of posts, I'll edit when I get to my computer.

I really appreciate the help from everyone. I'm eyeing up the VW Jetta TDI but I'm not completely decided yet.

+1 to the new mazda 3s. They really did a great job with the deign of both the hatch and the sedan. Pretty reasonable pricing as well.

919.452.6418

call up my boy, let him give you a recommendation, this guy is the best of the best.

tesela would be bad ass. But I dont think you could get payments less than 700/mo (probably WAY more lol). MSRP for those range from $69,900 - $94,900. But radium's suggestions are a bit more reasonable like you stated above - VW Jetta TDI or a VW Golf TDI.

I am not calling CB, hahah.

That's a really solid choice. I can vouch for them getting 40+mpg in highway use as well as being comfortable to drive. If you can't get a manual don't be entirely discouraged, the VW group's DSG is a very very good semi-automatic gearbox.

ok so I'm probably not the first person to tell you this but do yourself a favor and do not buy a new car. Look for something coming off a short lease from someone who kept their garage receipts if you can find it.

Not much feels better than buying a brand new car. That's how they get you. But down the road when that first attraction has worn off, you'll look at how much you actually paid for the car in payments and how much value the car has lost in as little as 2 years it will blow your mind.