New (used) car suggestions...

[Jake]

Hey everyone. I have an 01 Escape that I'm looking to sell due to fairly awful mileage (17 MPG in town, only about 20 on the highway) for a 'compact' SUV. It's fast-ish for an SUV (200 HP V6) and handles okay - again, for an SUV. It was mom's first, now it's mine, and now I want something more fun that's better on gas.

That's kind of broad, so I'm looking for suggestions. I'd like to get about 30 mpg on the highway, and it's gotta be a stick. A convertible would be nice but a sunroof will do. In a sedan vs. coupe battle, I'd take the coupe. Ideally, this car would be oh, a 98-ish or newer and cost about $10k max.

I've been looking at a lot of different models and have come away very impressed from various BMWs I've driven. I've driven a Z3 2.8, E36 coupe, and E46 coupe. They were all fantastic to drive and I'd be happy with any of them. My big concern is reliability - i.e. I could afford the car, but not the maintenence that goes with it.

I could get a NB Miata (99-05) with everything I want for a decent price. I'm a little worried about the size; granted, to move and stuff I'll need a U-Haul or something anyway.

So... I'm very open to suggestions. Post up what you think could work for me, and I'll try and take a look at things that are interesting over break. Thanks