Oh, New Car, Where Art Thou?

It's time for a new car. It's not that Ed hasn't served me well, or that she's a bad ride. It's more that I settled for Ed. I needed a ride, she was there, and most importantly, she was the right price. So now it's time to move on, and I'm shopping.

What am I looking at? Well, it was a field of four, quickly whittled down to two with maybe a Dark Horse thrown in for good measure. But the Dark Horse is expensive (and also not available in an automatic, so that could have been an issue), so it's down to two.

Choice #1
VW Rabbit
There are two problems here.
1) If I'm getting the VW, I want it a bit swanky and that means a automatic with the sunroof, which are only available with the 4-door. The problem is that the 4-door starting price is at the high end of my budget, and once I've added what I want, I'm over. (For comparison, I can almost get a PT Cruiser Convertible for the same price).
2) Performance/guzzling. She drives nice. I can hardly feel the road under the wheels, and that's not necessarily a bonus in my book. The options are sweet and are enjoyable and I know I'd be comfortable on along trip- except for my wallet. See the reason I started looking again was because Ed's just not getting the mpg she used to, and the VW (per online reviews) gets about what Ed gets, or even a little less!

Is the pretty worth it?

Choice #2
Scion xA

1) I love the customizability of this car, but I'm not sure what my base quality will be. I've heard that there are some frame/body issues with the entire Scion line. Admittedly these would all be covered under warranty, but is the possibility worth the hassle?

2) Well this isn't a problem, but more of a worry. You get what you pay for. The price can't be beat, even gussied up to my specifications, I'm still within my budget and even if she gets 5-7 mpg less than advertised, she's still under Ed's current average. Is too good to be true really too good to be true?

Also- I have yet to drive the Scion, if the ride is terrible, I won't even bother and we'll go back to square one. (Although what that is, I'm not sure....)