Honda Fit

 

I'd consider a well maintained audi. I've had a couple of them, well, older ones- and they haven't been total dogs.

relaible AWD under 15G and "not a subie" ... gonna be a short list me thinks

 

yeah that is the damn problem.. thinking of an audi actually.. just a bit shy on pulling the trigger due to maintence costs.

 

stay away from audi? why is that? get audi a4 1.8t quattro 98.5+ make sure the timing belt is changed and you're good to go.

 

Honda fit. Paddle shifters ftw.

Or a rav4.

 

i forgot about that.. yea.. volvo's are pretty great.. and they can be sleeper

 

Is she has hostile feelings towards Subarus, why is she a "soon to be wifey"?

 

AWD is the killer at that price point, but in reality just get her a fwd car and it'll be 99% of the same driving safety experience.

Get a Toyota Yaris (aka Vitz) for 12k, and pimp the hell out of it.

 

honda fit/nissan versa

 

My friend test drove the Yaris, and he thought it was a pile of garbage (road & track agrees). Also, the Honda Fit is projected to be almost 16-17k. In the trio of new econo boxes, it went Fit, Versa (the Nissan one), and the Yaris last.

With my limited knowledge of econo cars, the Toyota Matrix seems to be the cheapest AWD car brand new. However, I agree that FWD is similarly as safe as a putting around town car (don't know what else it'll be used for). Most people don't know that if you lose traction with AWD, you keep giving it gas to gain grip, which defeats the purpose of having the extra set of wheels having power.

 

Yeah, the Yaris is a steaming pile of cow dung. Not only that, but I don't know why they have the speedo in the middle of the dash. WTF is that about? I think the XA has the same deal.

Forget the used Audi. FWD should be fine. Go w/ the Fit.

 

older Forester + slammage and wheels = AWD and cheaper than 15G's

 

the man has a good point Dre.......

 

try to wait for the suzuki sx4. looks like it's gonna be sweet, especially since there's NO GM intervention in the development process.

 

I'd ditch the awd requirement at that price point. Is she planning on trips to the snow? If not, I think awd is of minimal benefit in daily driving...even in the rain.
Plus, front drivers get better mileage.

If you're interested in the Toyota Matrix, cross shop for a Pontiac Vibe. They are identical vehicles.