Well, being American I'm not sure how familiar any of you will be with these cars (as I know 90% of the cars mentioned in this thread I have no clue about, hehe), here is my current interst list of cars to buy:
MINI Cooper
Toyota Tacoma (truck)
Mazda Protege5
Hyundai Accent or Elantra
MINI is at the top of my list of course, but for the price, it is a very small and less practical car, and I must admit that the problems its had are a bit unsettling. However, the character of the car may be enough to outweigh all those concerns, not to mention I haven't even driven one yet
Toyota Tacomas I really like, are about the same price as a MINI and well, its a truck. The downsides are of course worse fuel mileage and less character than the MINI. However, I have a lot of faith in Toyota quality, and I really do like the way these trucks look. This is a tough call for me, but considering I have an 80 mile a day commute, the better mileage of the MINI may win out...
Mazda Protege5, I'm kind of confused by this one, hehe. I've never really liked wagons, bot for some reason these things are just growing on me...not as much character as a MINI, but they are pretty cool in their own right. They are also about the same price as a MINI, but have much more space, and I've heard good things about the build quality and reliability. Mileage is a bit lower than the MINIs (a lot lower than MINI is supposed to be, but it doesn't seem that MINI fuel economy is up to par of what it should be...) This is slowly working its way up my list, and is almost even with the Tacoma right now....
Hyundai..well, this is my low-cost option. Not a lot of character, pretty bland, nothing special, but dirt cheap. The styling on these is actually pretty decent, from what I've seen and heard the quality is not too bad, and they come with a 10 year/100,000 mile warranty! I hate owing people money, so if that side of me wins out, this will be the option I go for.
Heh, well now that you all know way more than I'm sure you ever cared to about my vehicle purchasing considerations, I'll stop my ramblings
PigLick