I gotta say its pretty tough to find something that meets all your needs and wants. I am the one who wanted a truck...then the wife bought one. We dont need two trucks. Cant justify a compact sporty car but want the fun of torque and manual transmission. I have really been shopping for a good year now.

If I was further south it would be easy. But our local roads go through a lot of freeze thaw cycles and get petty roughed up. The odd two/three foot snowfall is also a factor.