Don’t overlook Subaru. We rented one by accident in 2011, liked it so well we bought a new one in 2012 and a new one in 2014. Quality is quite high for the money, quite reliable.
Only problem I’ve had is with the dealer, they practically insist that they do oil changes and refuse pictures and log books as proof of the owner doing the work. I had to scream my head off to get the service manager to accept pictures of me rotating the tires, it’s like I took off all four tires, took pictures, never bothered to rotate them, and put them on the same hubs again. Total eff’ing lunacy.
But that’s a crappy dealer. The car is very good.
My #4 daughter works at our local Subaru dealer, lol. I have considered them. They’d be #3 on my list. Fair initial price, great quality and great resale. Need something just a touch bigger for all my fishing stuff which stays in my car 8 months out of the year.
Thanks for the advice.