I am generally not a fan of Alfas but I'm in Italy and am pretty fond of the 159 after seeing them on the road. I'm not sure if I'd fit but it's one good looking car.
The Mazda6 Wagon that's sold over here is pretty cool too....
We rented a Peugeot 300 8 and I can see why people hate SMG. The transmission was like riding along with someone who learned to drive a manual about 10 minutes ago. It did get good mileage though, better than the Mercedes A170 my brother rented. With a manual transmission it would be a good vehicle.