test drove some new cars today

I would also recommend taking a look at the Altima. The 4 cyl versions price around what your looking at (comparing to Elantra & Impreza).

I used to sell Hyundai's back in 1999 - 2000. This was when Hyundai first offered the 10 yr/100,000 mile powertrain warranties. Hyundai was the first to do this. It was a bold gamble, but Hyundai Upper Management was confident that they had a competitive product in terms of longevity. So it made sense to offer such a warranty to help sell cars. We also carried Nissans at the same dealership. Hyundai sales absolutely crushed Nissans at that dealership. I remember people would come into the dealership asking about "HUNDAY". Most thought they were Hondas. I was working at a dealership in the middle of nowhere where the demographics consisted of buyers with little education. Anyways, it didn't take much but to tell these customers about a 10 yr/100k mi warranty and that Hyundai (at the time) was where Honda was during the 80's. Fast forward 5 years later and Hyundai makes JD Power & Associates Best Buy list along with Consumer Reports, etc. Long story short, Hyundai has become quite an impressive car maker and a key reason why Ford, GM and Chrysler have had difficulties competing in the small car market for the past 10 years. The Elantra is a good choice for a college student or recent grad. It's cheap, economical, reliable...and has a good warranty.

As for KIA: Hyundai bought out KIA around that 2000 timeframe. It wasn't until about a couple of years ago that Hyundai started to rebadge Hyundais as KIAs. Which is why you see more KIA's in the junkyards than Hyundais.

Subaru has taken an interesting engineering stance within the last couple of years. Whereas all the car manufacturers are building up their economy engines for more power, Subaru is detuning their base engines to increase MPG. The Impreza is a great buy as well. Plus, it's AWD.