May I recomend a Mazda 3 hatch. I have a 2005 and absolutely love it. It has a 2.3l, tons of room for stuff, and in the words of Automobile Magazine "This is the car BMW wishes they could build" I so far have 75k miles on it, and not a single problem. I also added a Cold Air Intake and a K&N racing filter and man does that car go. And it handles like a dream. Go drive one, you will see.
