I'm looking (with my wife) for a new car too. My wife currently has a '98 Olds. Intrigue with 200k miles on it, and she gets 25-27 mpg in it. Her job involves a 71 mile commute that is 85% highway.
We're trying to find something she'll be comfortable with - not losing too many of the creature comforts she's used to, for under $7-8k, and newer, with reasonable (sub-75k) mileage.
She's probably open for a 5-speed, and she wants a 4-door with plenty of room in the back seat for our car seat.
I want something that is capable of getting 40 mpg at 65mph on the highway with very minimal aero mods, and something that rates ok at
www.safercar.gov - obviously a larger (longer) car would be safer and not take a big aero hit.
Cars we're starting our search with:
Chevrolet Cavalier
Saturn Ion
Subaru ?
audi/vw TDI cars - probably out of our mileage or price range
Honda civic or accord
toyota corolla
nissan sentra
Anything we're missing that you guys can think of?