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I don't know if anybody suggested this but take a test drive in a Mustang V-6, 300 HP but 31 MPG highway. Not as Macho as a Hemi Charger or the Mustang GT but a nice car for a 20 something female.
Consider Mazda6, Hyundai Sonata, and its twin KIA Optima. The Koreans makes very nice vehicles nowadays.
My rule of thumb with the Germans (or Europeans cars in general) is that when the warranty runs out, sell it. The upkeep gets very expensive very quickly. That said, you might want to consider the possibility of leasing a new BMW. Keep it until the free-maintenance period and/or the warranty period runs out. Keep in mind the upkeep cost of other vehicles when you do the comparison. One thing that you may notice with the Germans is the fact that they know how to tune a car chassis. A BMW especially is very satisfying to drive and that fact alone, to some people, is worth the price of admission.
I know you said 30k was your max, but if you stretch you can pick up a Infiniti G25 Journey for just under $31k (at least here in SoCal). The larger engined G sedan scored very high in Consumer Reports road tests and has proven to be very reliable. I've had friends who've neglected maintenance & basically tried to run their G sedans into the ground without success.
Just to give some crap advice you can ignore, lol...
If you were willing to go used, you can find BMW 330i with 2-4 years on their back in that price range with 35-45k miles on them, with the 100k warranty and maintenance package.
Depending on how much you drive, that's basically a trouble free, maintenance free (as far as money goes) car for 4ish years.
As far as new cars go, I'd look at the Mazda 3 hatch (pref GT), unless you really really want a larger sedan.
Just to give some crap advice you can ignore, lol...
If you were willing to go used, you can find BMW 330i with 2-4 years on their back in that price range with 35-45k miles on them, with the 100k warranty and maintenance package.
Depending on how much you drive, that's basically a trouble free, maintenance free (as far as money goes) car for 4ish years.
As far as new cars go, I'd look at the Mazda 3 hatch (pref GT), unless you really really want a larger sedan.
I actually took a quick look at some prices on used BMWs myself when I saw this post. I saw a pretty decent selection of 328i with about 20K miles for around 25K.
Another car to consider is the new Volvo S60. It's fun to drive, bigger and better looking than the previous model, and is about the safest car on the road today. It's starting price is about $30,000 so it might be in the upper limits of what you want.
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