I also was pretty much set on a Golf/GTI a while back, but backed away realizing the cost and long term problems that could occur given the brand's history. It's really a shame too cause I had absolutely no complaints about the car itself. It was the size I wanted, had the backseat room I wanted, and, at least with the GTI, the power I wanted. Problem was the $26-27k price tag and VW's history of unfixable electric gremlins and other things.

I really like the new Civic sedan they just unveiled and at least in EX-T trim it will have a 1.5T making 173hp and plenty of torque (lower in the band too) and will be a little smaller than my 1990 Accord which is the right direction for my desires. Since it's a 1.5L it should make the 'several ticks above 40mpg' the Honda guy claimed at the LA unveil. And, with all that said, it should be priced somewhere around $21k (not $27k GTI).

But then I re-thought my plans of buying new and eating the depreciation after coming across a Dave Ramsey video about car buying, in which, of course, he recommends buying an old reliable 'Camcord' and paying yourself the car payment you had in mind before into a mutual fund and growing your retirement. Buying old is not going to happen with me, unless it is a special car. Camcord is not out of the question though. I liked the 2013 Accord Sport I test drove, but it was bigger than I wanted. Prices on low mileage 2013s are coming down to $16k now, which is probably the more sound financial decision as I plan to keep my next car for another 9-10 years as I have both of my previous cars. It's hard to get excited about a car that came out 2-3 years ago, I need a news/video time machine to make them all sound fresh and interesting!

So remember an old car wouldn't happen, well, I've always been fascinated with the first gen Insight (2000-2006) so I've been watching listings for those on cars.com and craigslist. There aren't many (currently 17 country-wide listed on cars.com) as there were only about 17,000 sold and the cars are now at least 10 years old. Most of these are at least 80k miles and on their 2nd or 3rd battery pack, but for as interesting a car as they are, prices range from $2.5k for rough condition to mostly $4k-5k for reasonable condition to $8k for nice condition. I'd only buy one if the battery had been replaced recently or the price was right to account for it. I think it has a legitimate chance to be a collectors car later in life, so it could be something interesting to drive now and maintain as well as clean up and restore to near showroom over time to take to car shows, or perhaps sell for a profit many years later. If I bought one in good shape I'd probably sell my Pontiac, even though the Insight doesn't have rear seats. For family stuff, we'd just take my mother's car everywhere instead.

Or, continue to hang on to the Pontiac, wait for new Civics to drop to $14-15k on the used market and finally buy something. The Pontiac has no problems, so I don't need to get something different, but I'm tired of driving a bland-mobile that isn't modern and has terrible efficiency.

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Remember, this is a saga begun 3 1/2 years ago...

That is a good topic to consider. My current car only has driver/passenger airbags. IIHS rates it Good on moderate front overlap, Marginal on side impact, and Poor on head restraint/seats.

The Insight has similar features (ABS/Front airbags/etc) but seems to have a higher rating due to its' stronger but lighter aluminum body.

The late model Accord is rated Good in every test, and according to the LA reveal, the Civic will be better than any other compact on the market in regards to safety.

Wow, I went through both scenarios you describe, Maxvla. 

On one hand I bought a pre-owned two year old car at 50% off list and about 12k miles.  2008 ford Fusion 6 cylinder.  Nice car, even had bluetooth for my phone was back then. I knew its history because I drove it as a company car.  When I left the company I bought it around the time when they cycled through cars late in Nov.  I can heartily recommend getting an off lease car and maybe have one of the auto broker guys go to the auction and buy it for you.  Well maintained, mileage can be high or low and pretty decent pricing since most big companies lease mainstream sedans.  So I guess you cannot be too picky, but I can see some companies going greener and having some cooler options.

I took that 2008 fusion and traded it after a few more years for my 2013 Accord.  they gave me crazy money on trade for the Fusion, probably cuz consumers had it ranked really high on reliability at the time.  Just a few grand less than I paid for it.  And the competition for a mainstream sedan is healthy so the Accord was discounted nicely.  Pays to do most shopping with the internet reps at dealers and shop all of them.  Now I have a car that depreciates much, much less.  34-35 MPG per tank driving around town, rarely on the freeway and lots leaner than the old fatty Accords. 

Handles nicely but not quite as much fun as my first new car, a 73 Civic CVCC.  Man that car was toss-able and had a fun floor mounted stick. 

Good luck with either direction.

If an F-150 driver is drunk or not paying attention and plows into you in an old Insight, you're probably dead.

That's probably true in almost any car depending on the speed of the F150.