96 or newer is a handy criteria, it is nice to know you will pass emissions before you go to take the test.
Any small stick shift hatchback or wagon with fuel injection will do for me, assuming it comes out of my bank account. If someone else is buying it for me then I'd like a TDI stick, maybe jetta wagon. Or a hand-me down prius with an extra battery and plugin
Or any already been converted geo to saturn sized EV with NIMH or better and a solid 60 mile range @ 50mph would fill the bill very nicely.