I'm in the market for a fairly inexpensive car to use as a daily driver. I'm looking at Toyota Corolla, VW diesel New Beetle or Golf, Ford Focus, Chevy Aveo or Cobalt and Dodge Neon. I like the VW diesels best, but the nearest dealers are both about 1.5 hours distant. Pretty much rules out VW. The Toyota dealer is also fairly distant, about 45 minutes. I drive right Chevy, Ford and Chrysler dealers on my route to work, but have to admit not being a big fan of any of the above models from those manufacturers. I test drove the new 2006 Hyundai Sonata (sold by the same dealership that sells Fords so also very convenient), but it is a little larger and more expensive that what I need for a daily driver. and the smaller Hyundais still have that stodgy old Hyundai style that I don't much like. My question here is what experience do people have with the newer Neons? The press on the early models was pretty bad and a neighbor had one of the earlier editions that was very troublesome. I haven't heard much about the later models of the last 1-3 years, other than from CR which still pretty much hates the Neon. Anyone care to offer their experiences? The Neon isn't a bad looking small car and the mileage is pretty decent and the prices are right at the moment. I'm just concerned about the longer term reliability and durability and somewhat concerned about the fairly small back seat. I'm also interested in opinions about the other models I mentioned above, but since they are off-topic here feel free to send email if you have experience with one or more of them. Matt
