Opportunity Cost

[phillipthorpe]

So, yeah, I did state that I'd post again soon, didn't I?
This is, however, something of a pragmatic post.

I'm getting a car, you see.

I need (well, would like) the input of my oh so many car-literate friends to help me settle the question of what to get.
Said vehicle will be:

1. used pre-owned.
2. a sedan
3. including an automatic transmission
4. under 50,000 miles
5. meeting my vague standard of being aesthetically pleasing
6. I think somewhere in the $13,000-$17,000 range. Maybe more, if I can sway my father (the purchaser of said vehicle) toward something particularly shiny, though $13,300 is his goal based upon the Toyota Corolla he purchased for my little sister Friday.

As of right now, these are the cars I'm looking at, arranged very roughly by my current preference and belief in their affordability, including links to the Wikipedia entry of the model I'd prefer and a review of the model year I think I'll try to get:

• Nissan Altima
• Volkswagen Passat
• Volvo S40
• Audi A4
• Mazda MAZDA6
• Volkswagen Jetta
• Mazda MAZDA3
• Honda Accord [EX]
• Infiniti G35
• Jaguar X-Type or Jaguar S-Type
• Nissan Sentra [SL]

Is there anything potentially worrying about any of these choices? Can you think of certain trim options to insist upon, or steadfastly avoid? Are there any cars whose maintenance fees will be vastly higher than those of the other cars on the list? Any other grievous errors I should avoid, or notable vehicles I haven't included?

I rather like the Altima, as it seems to offer a nice balance of performance and handling without being terribly pricey. I also happen to like the styling rather a lot, for some reason. My difficulty with the Altima is that I'd really want one that's a 2007 model year or newer, as I prefer the latest revision much more than the one that came before. This makes my options more limited, and more expensive. As such, and since I'm not exactly a grease monkey, I'm soliciting others' opinions. Any comments should be helpful. :)

Incidentally, I've discovered that there are quite a few car shopping websites out there! I mean, good lord... Some are more useful than others, to be sure, and some have cool unique features, such as MotorTrend's ability to compare the trim lines of a given car's model year.