Reply #11: After a whole lot of research we bought a (used rental) 2004 Hyundai

[WePurrsevere]

We "emotionally" would have preferred to buy a Ford but logically there was no simply comparison. The Hyundai had the most bang for the buck. It's extremely well made, has a fantastic warranty of 10 years/100k, has more safety features included as well as more options included, has more cargo and passenger space, has enough umph to haul a trailer, gets decent gas milaege compared to others it's size, it has a very comfortable ride and it was priced a bit lower then a comparable Ford/Jeep (and we've since found out it holds it's value better too). The most important selling feature for us though was the warranty. Since the only reason we could afford to get a newer car was because my husband had to accept a comp settlement we can't afford to trade-in or buy a new car every few years we needed a car that would only need the basic maintence covered by us.