Or in other words, yet another 'What Car?' thread 
. I'll try not to be too long winded here, but I'm not always very good at the whole brevity thing, so fair warning.
My current daily is a 96 XJ Cherokee. It's loud (M/T tires and no carpet), slow, wanders all over the road, hot/cold depending on season, leaks like a sieve when it rains, and is constantly in need of some little thing, many of which I have been deferring repair on recently which is also gonna catch up with me sooner or later. I bought the XJ as a winter beater/backup DD back when I had my 4th gen Camaro as a primary daily and it was great in that role. Since being forced into full time DD duties after the Crammit was wrecked last year, I've kinda grown to hate it for my current use. Time to make a change.
My thinking up until recently has been to replace the XJ with some kind of bigger truck or SUV that could also handle tow pig duties, but I've recently changed my tune on that. If all my towing needs amount to for now are pulling the RX7 to a couple track days a year or dragging home a project every once in a while, it's kinda silly to daily a pig when I can borrow a truck from my parents and rent a trailer when the need arises. I've also come to the revelation that what bothers me more than anything about the Jeep is that I just don't enjoy driving it at all anymore, there's just no fun in the routine trips to the store and I actively dread longer highway jaunts.
So here's what I'm looking for:
-Newish - say <60k mi give or take, depending on the vehicle, or maybe even brand new (gasp!)
-Cheapish - $10-20K range seems to be the sweet spot, could stretch that to ~$25k if buying new. Looking at a car payment either way, so just a question of whether I go 36, 48, or 60 months on the loan term.
-Fun enough that I look forward to even the mundane driving chores again and keeps my attention engaged for at least a few years.
-Reliable - don't want to have to wrench on the DD too much
-Practical enough that I can live with it every day and not have the car wear on me over time.
-Room for the dog. I've got an ~80 pound lab/australian shepherd mix that gets dropped off with my mom every day while I'm at work and he needs a place to ride that won't get messed up too easily. Cloth interior would be a big plus for durability too.
No immediate plans to track or auto x this car, aside from maybe just filling in for the RX7 in a pinch, so I'm not overly concerned with things like classing or how track ready it is out of the box. Some bolt on mods might be in the cards, so decent aftermarket and the ability to make a little extra power without going too crazy would be nice. RWD or AWD is definitely a preference, but FWD will be considered as well because that would rule out too many good options. This will be a four season car, and I've got a few hills on my 30 mile commute that get nasty in the snow, so winter driving is a consideration, but nothing a good set of snow tires shouldn't be able to handle. Absolutely must be manual, no exceptions.
Here's what's on my short list so far:
-FoST - Test drove one on Saturday and liked it. Base model without the Recaros, sunroof, or fancy infotainment system, which is a plus in my book. Plenty quick, fun to fling around, steering/shifter/clutch all felt decent to me. Useable back seats are nice and it's got plenty of cargo room with the seats folded flat. Hatchback/wagon is a definite plus in my book. Ford has some really good deals on leftover '17s now too, dealer wants just a hair over $21k for the car I drove. Doesn't seem to have any major reliability issues that I've heard of yet and I gather there's a fair bit more power that is easily unlocked.
-FiST - Consensus seems to be the little brother is the more entertaining of the Ford hatches, but I wonder if the Focus wouldn't maybe suit me better. FiST might be a touch too small (think I saw cargo space with the rear seats folded is equivalent to the Focus with the seats up, which is a bit shocking).
-Mazdaspeed 3 - Never driven a Speed3, but I've driven a few regular 3s of both the first and second generation and liked them a lot. Mechanical LSD is a big plus over the FoST, but seems to have less room to grow in terms of power, plus a little older and more crude. Seems to have reliability concerns and due to being out of production I'd be looking at used with a high likelihood of having been abused.
-WRX - Wanted one ever since they first came to the States, before I even had my license. Turbo + AWD is a huge plus. New ones are pushing the budget and lack the hatchback option, while used examples carry a premium and likelihood of abuse by PO, though I like the '11-14 hatches with the wide body a lot. EJ25 has definite reliability concerns, though GRM seems to carry a stronger anti-Subaru bias than I've witnessed elsewhere.
-FRS/BRZ/86 - Had my eye on these ever since they came out and they tick a lot of boxes in the fun column for me. Lacks people/cargo/dog space vs the above, though. Used examples are getting pretty reasonable and seem easier to find in clean, un-modded condition vs the boost buggies.
-GTI - Just kinda throwing this one out there. I've got pretty strong anti-VW bias and the thought of buying used and out of warranty scares me, a lot.
-Civic Si - Latest gen seems a little lukewarm to me, TBH. And they're ass ugly.
Leaning against the following:
-Pony cars - BTDT with the Camaro, just feeling something different right now, I think.
-Mini - Reliability concerns
-Answer - Just not enough space
Very much open to suggestions as well, looking to drive a good sampling of options before making my decision. I'd love to hear ownership experiences for any and all of the above, especially from those of you that may have owned multiple of these cars - how was the reliability, what did you love about them, what wore on you over time, ect.
Thanks all!
