I currently own a 2006 Pontiac Grand Prix which I bought in late 2007 through an auction buyer that was a pretty good deal, $14,000 at the time. It's been paid off for a while now and I still really like the car, but I'm feeling it's time for a change.

One thing I don't like about my car is the fuel efficiency. Being a 6 cylinder it loves it's gas. I only get about 17mpg city and 20mpg hwy despite it being  at 19 city 23 hwy. I drive every day but everything I drive to is close by. In 5 years I've put 17,000 miles on my car making it a 7 year old car with 35,000 miles. I've started to experience some age related failures including a broken window mechanism that was not cheap to fix, interior armrests showing wear and some other things. Also I've been putting off my 30k maintenance which will cost about $1000.

When I bought it I lived in an apartment and it was hit three times in the parking lot within a month of buying it. The damage is fairly minor but repairs were quoted at $1500 at the body shop so I decided against fixing it. I've since moved into a house and its been garage kept. It's been a bit since I looked it up but I think the blue book on the car is around $9500 in great condition. Discounting for the exterior cosmetic damage I could probably get $8500 or so selling it myself or a bit less on a trade in.

I've been interested for a while in these very compact cars like the Honda CR-Z, Fiat 500, VW GTI, and the like, most of which get 35mpg or better plus are small but well made cars. If you guys have suggestions is love to hear them. I haven't even remotely narrowed the choice yet, these are just examples of what I think I want.

The main question I'd like input on is leasing vs buying new. Leasing gets hammered on most of the searches I've done and quite frankly a lot of it comes across with more religious zeal than a fire and brimstone service so I can't really tell if its as bad as they say or if I should trust the pages that say leasing can be good as long as you know you are paying a slight premium to always be driving something new.

The other hitch to leasing with my situation is the mileage. Most leases are 12-15k per year and I drive about 1/3 of that. I've seen some luxury cars advertise 5000 mile leases but is that low of a mileage negotiable on a normal car? On a 3 year lease I doubt I'd have more that 12-15k on the car so the depreciation would be significantly less than a normal person who has put 36-45k on the car.

Or should I forget leasing and go through the hassle of buying? If so I would be 50/50 on new vs 1-2 years old.

Another thing I should mention is I prefer comprehensive insurance even when I fully own so that won't make any difference between buying and leasing perpetually.

Or should I just shut up and keep what I have? LOL

BTW public transportation is nonexistent here so a car is a must unfortunately despite the small mileage.