I've been searching for a new car I liked since last September. I've driven and seen herds of cars, nothing really jumped out and said "buy me", the closest was the new Saturn Astra XE 5door, and in fact I had intended to pull the trigger on one at lunchtime today. However, it was a bit slack at the office today so I was cruising the 'net, since any new car is intended to be a business use car (I repair copying equipment) I figuerd it was "business related" and followed the links to the local Hyundai emporium. Thursday I had driven an Elantra, and had liked it quite a bit, but wasn't quite sure I wanted to buy one....so I clicked on the Sonata link and discovered that there is a $3000 incentive on them. Not only is there a huge incentive, but they have a combination that I have rarely seen in a mid size sedan-I4 and a 5 speed. After the rebate and the in-house discount, this car is less that $15K. For a brand new mid size, that is worth looking at, so I did. And surprised myself by signing up without any of the usual salesmanship that the salespeople tend to use.

I had my financing alredy set up through State Farm (yes, the insurance guys.) 5.9% interest, a point better than the local credit union, and State Farm financing comes with debt cancellation (GAP insurance) included, no extra cost. That;s usually $750 or so? Not sure, I always decline that. After DMV fees and the lifetime oil change, basically, every 3000 miles as long as I own the car they change the oil free, and since I drive between 30-35K a year, at $30 a change, that will pay for itself after a year or 2-OTD under $16K.
Some comparisons-the Astra, which I really did like, was going to be $15.5 OTD. No A/C, I'm in Alaska so lack of AC isn't the end of the world, but still...no MP3 playback on the base radio in the XE. One poorly placed cupholder. More road noise on the highway. A similar equipped Astra is going to be in the $20K range, fairly close to the Aura, another nice car, but now we're talking $23K. It is not $7K+ nicer.
Pontiac G6. The local GM dealer has a bunch of used ones. I also liked the G6 but just couldn't bring myself to trust the reliablity. Part of that is my present cage, a Pontiac Aztek, which had a transmission go south at 65K followed by the fuel sender unit, AC, and intake manifold gaskets. There was a tick behind the dash with the fan on low, 2 G6's exhibited thenoise, so I figured it was a common problem. Asking price on used G6's with 30-40K miles, $15.5K.
I wasn't going to pay for a Camry, so I considered the Corolla. Used 2007's run $16K, almost what a new one goes for, and not nearly as comfortble as the Sonata.

I went to pick it up this evening and there was another customer there. I had beaten her to the I4/5spd Sonata by about 6 hours. I wonder if I could have sold it to her for a quick $1K over what I'd just paid?

 

Great choice! Congrats and welcome to the forum!