I'm going to be getting a new car fairly soon if all goes well with my new job and all, so I'm looking at a few different possibilities now. I definitely want a small car or maybe a small suv. Something really good on gas mileage anyways. That's basically the most important thing, besides a unique color. So here are some of the cars I'm thinking about...

1. Ford Fiesta

I love Ford because I think they really make a quality product. This is a super cute car and it comes in lime green, a color I really like. The gas mileage is pretty good, although it's not as good as some of my other options. I'd get A-plan pricing with this car because my dad retired from Ford Motor Company. I've always driven a Ford, so this was really my first thought. But even with the A-plan pricing, it'd still be about $18k, which is more than I was thinking. I think the monthly payment would be around $150 which is the very top of my budget.

2. Kia Soul

I love this car because it's just so different looking from anything else on the road right now. And I can get it in lime green. I like that it sits up higher than a 'regular' car...I guess you'd call it a small suv or crossover. I really like that Kia offers a 100k mile warranty. The gas mileage is pretty good, about the same as the Fiesta and the monthly payment would be about the same as well.

3. Mitsubishi Mirage

This is a newer car that I just found out about really, after seeing one on the road. And holy shit, they come in PURPLE which would make me happy cry a lot. They also seem really affordable at $14k. And the gas mileage is amazing, about 10mpg more than any other car I'm looking at. It's small and cute and everything I want, really. Mitsubishi also offers a 10-year-/100k mile warranty. My only issue is that I don't know anything about this company, except that it's from Japan and made the Zero in WWII and my dad isn't too fond of it (but he only dislikes it because it's not in this country).

4. Honda Fit

I don't know anything about Honda, except I have the notion that they make a 'cheap' product (don't know why I think that though). I could get it in a pretty Tardis blue, but I really wanted lime green or purple. It's a top safety pick. Seems pricer than even the Ford though, at around $18-19k.

So do any of you have any of these cars? Ever driven a friend's? Have any ideas for similar cars I might like? I'm thinking I really like the Mirage right now, if I can just get over my predjudice that it's not an American-made car. That's really the only thing that's holding me back from saying that's my top choice.

[edit] Was going to test-drive the Mitsubishi, but going to see it after never having seen one in person before, I didn't even get in. It was so much smaller than I thought it would be! So now it's down to three.

I don't know a ton about cars, but I've heard good things about the Mitsubishi Mirage. :) It's been recommended to me before.

AVOID KIA! Most end up with issues far sooner than any other car I know of.

Also find out if you have any service shops near by that work on the cars you're considering. Some areas don't have places that can work on some types of cars. I wanted a Cooper at one point, the nearest shop to me was like 3 cities over that worked on them so yeah nope.

Id say get a second hand one as they lose so much value when buying new, it's often not worth it... but you say you have colour preferences, which might be hard to find.

Personally, I'd go with whichever is cheapest and looks nice.

For a lot of modern cars, I don't think brand reputation matters that much unless there are actual known and unfixed problems with a model, or parts are particularly difficult to find/expensive. I drive a Fiat, though lol. Honda actually has very good reputation for reliability, from what I have heard.

I'm actually the complete opposite. I'm not a big fan of American cars though my family does own a Chrysler and considering it's from 1997 or so it's still working remarkably well.

The rest of our cars are Japanese and Korean( my brother owns a Hyundai Tucson). With that bias in mind, I'll say go with the Japanese cars. Both Honda and Mitsubishi are pretty reliable brands and Japanese cars are usually fairly low maintenance as well.

However, if we're going completely by color I'd say go with the Mirage, simply because I've always wanted a purple car and most car companies don't have that color. If you're going with the Korean brands though; my brother is actually pretty happy with the new Tucson he has so I'd definitely recommend Hyundai. They also come with a lot of interior features as well, which Japanese companies sometimes don't have.

Generally, of the two Korean brands available in the US I personally haven't really heard really good reviews about Kia. They make decent hatchback and sports vehicle type cars though. Hyundai has a better safety rating and is considered the more reliable of the two though.

For the record, the car I have is a Toyota Corolla.

My dad works for parts in Lexus, when I was looking for a new car it was actually between the Honda Fit, Kia Soul, and a Toyota Yaris. So I got his opinion since he knew what would be cheaper with upkeep.

Kia Souls hold up pretty good compared to any other cars they make, I'm not a fan of Kia though so I didn't end up going with the Soul.

Honda's have a nice style and the parts are affordable, especially on the Fit. IMO that's what I would go with. I ended up getting a Toyota Yaris, mainly because the Fit I was looking at was a manual, and I got discounts on parts through my dad since Toyota owns Lexus.

Mitsubishi parts a REALLY expensive, and as for Ford I personally don't like American made. I would also suggest looking into Scions.

The only American vehicles I will drive are Chevys or a Ford Mustang(but it has to be a certain year, some newer ones are okay and some older ones, but there are ones that are just complete crud lol!). I had a Ford Fiesta for a rental and I absolutely hated it, but I don't like super compact cars. I have a co-worker who has a Honda Fit and she loves it so far. Maybe try to look up consumer reports on the cars you're looking at? See which ones have less recalls and what not. I know a lot of these newer cars get called in for recalls on parts, heck the co-workers car already got called in for one and she just got it! Maybe even try to test drive them all around before you pick one, see which one is the better fit.

18k with an employee discount seems like a LOT for a Ford Fiesta. I bought a brand new 2014 model Ford Fiesta (fully loaded, 4 miles, the darker red color that you have to pay extra for) in October of 2013. I paid less than 15.5k for that including tax, title, and license. I did not have any special discounts, but I did pay in full with cash, so maybe that made the difference? 18k with a discount still seems like a lot to me for that car. I bought it in Houston, Texas and then a few months later found the exact same car (features, color, miles all the same) for even less at another dealership here in Tennessee.

Before you decide do a lot of research about Ford Fiesta's and their transmissions. In the year and a half that I've owned my car I've had a recall for the passenger side airbag and because apparently transmission issues are common everyone who owned one got an extension on their warranty. I have only put 2,500 miles on my car so far and I can tell that there is most likely an issue with the transmission already. It will randomly attempt to stall while accelerating.. which is really not good if you are trying to get up to speed so you can merge onto the interstate or if you are leaving a stop light and accelerating through an intersection. This seems to be a common complaint that people have with the Fiesta and it doesn't seem like it's only one year model that has the problem. They may have fixed the problem with the newest models though, so definitely do some homework for that issue specifically.

Thanks for all the input, you guys! It's down to three cars now.

I like cars a lot, and for a while I've had the opportunity to work on them professionally.

First off, I would recommend the Ford as a last resort. Most of the American-made cars I've seen are the first to start leaking compared to their foreign counterparts.

Personally, I tend to favor a Honda. Nearly everyone in my family has owned a Honda at some point and we've never really had many mechanical problems. I've had two '98 Accords, one '91 Accord, and I now have a '97 Civic. The '91 Accord was my favorite and I even road tripped around the US in it. Hondas last a while if you take care of them, that's for certain. I've looked into Honda Fits and they're pretty great with gas mileage, so that's a plus.

As for the Kia, there are only a few things I can think to say. First, Kia is about 50% Hyundai, and lately they've kinda been getting ahead of themselves with their electronics (Nothing too disastrous in my opinion, but just a heads up). That being said, It isn't too often that I see Kias with many leaks. Despite my favoritism towards Hondas, the main reason I'd choose the Honda Fit over the Kia Soul would be that the Honda is a bit shorter than the Kia and thus less likely to roll over.

In my opinion, I say go for the Honda but keep the Kia in mind. I hope that this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions! :)