BTW, not to confuse you any further, but have you checked out the Mazdas or new Saturns? Now that you have a firm figure from the bank, you have the freedom to go anywhere to find a new car.
I kind of worry about reliability for both of those...and their base models are also pricier than the models I’ve been looking at. Granted, the bank would loan me enough to cover those, but I’d rather *not* use anything too close to the full amount they’ve pre-approved me for. It’s kind of a silly number, IMO.
I think at this point I’m looking at the Hyundai Elantra, the Honda Fit (still quite possibly my top choice, if I dare drive to Bellevue), *maybe* the Yaris (though I’m not thrilled by it), will probably keep an eye out for any big close-outs or such like for Corollas or Matrices ;-), and might look at Ford. Margaret *loves* their Focus...but as I said, it’s had some pretty scary failures lately. Granted, it’s oldish now, and it’s dealt with a lot of not-very-careful young drivers, but even so...