I love my Kia Soul. I find it’s perfect for what I needed - a handy, urban ‘around town’ vehicle for hauling groceries, plants, small pets, and my youngest still-at-home child with the capabilities and comfort to drive cross-country with a week’s worth of corsets, top hats and lightsabers.
Shouting out for Daihatsu Storia (Sirion).
Mine’s already ancient by car standards (98) but it’s zippy and reliable. All Toyota parts nowadays, readily available.
I’m amazed at how many of the same make and model I see around town since I got mine - other people are finding them reliable too.
I’ve got an '05 Ford Focus, and I adore it. One of the best cars I’ve ever owned, maybe the number one best. I’ve had a Toyota and a Subaru in past, and they were very good also.
I love, love, love my Beetle. I had a 98 for 11 years, and got a 2010 a couple of years ago. Lots of room and fun to drive.
I’m currently driving a 2005 Toyota Corolla (well, not right now!), and I have zero complaints. Keep in mind that this car has done many long road trips, it’s been driven in western Canadian winters for eight years, and I still have no complaints. It has plenty of cargo space (with fold-down back seats), good and peppy with a five-speed transmission, good on gas, comfortable and I sit fairly high for a small car, as has been mentioned. I don’t know what went on with Toyotas and the apparent accelerator problems, but I haven’t got a complaint about my Toyota.
Oh, wait, my cd player needs an extra push to get the cd in right - I’m planning to replace that at some point. 
Listen to this poster, OP. At least go find a 1.6l Soul with the 6-speed manual and give it a shot. It’s very much an economy hatchback, but it seems bigger inside than out and most importantly has excellent safety ratings. You won’t find that last part in a Mazda2 or a Fit or a (ugh) Beetle, not that the Mazda2/Beetle are even remotely comparable to the Fit/Soul.
No comment on the corsets, top hats, and lightsabers. :dubious:
Lsura, I agree with the above post. Batteries only lasting two years is way out of line. I am not convinced that the problem is a Ford thing, it may be a mechanic thing.
Since this vehicle has been in Arizona it probably has gotten hot in that dry climet. Now you have moved to a cooler, wetter clime. Perhaps some of the connections (electrical) have gotten some corrosion in them. Think about the expansion and contraction due to the extreem temperatures.
Be sure to tell your mechanic that it used to be an Arizona car. Also be sure to tell them this entire saga. If you have a bad ground connection in the carging system that could cause your Battery / Alternator problems. If he/she is good at their profession they should be able to find the real problem. As a mechanic it would drive me nuts to not find the real underlying problem. I do not treat just the symptoms, I find and fix the real problem(s).
Now if they can fix your ongoing problem, would you still keep the car or would you still trade it off? That is something to think about. I Hope This Helps. IHTH.
I bought a Hyundai Accent hatchback in January. I really like it considering I had been driving a big truck. I’m getting 40mpg so far but I only have 1,500 miles on it. I got a notice for oil change, when I called about it the guy told me I don’t need an oil change for another 3 months. I thought that was honest. I was able to buy cheap seat covers that actually look nice. The few people who have sat in the back seat didn’t have any complaints. I am tall and it fits me. My only complaint is I spin down the back window instead of the driver’s window. Maybe that will change with time. I love the hatchback area. It’s nice and big.
It does not come with a spare tire but does come with 5 years emergency road service 24/7.
Alternators:
Do NOT buy OEM!
Anything, but ESPECIALLY electrical.
Manufacturers buy these things by the million - a $5/pc savings is something they will jump at.
Some things have to be good - pinching pennies on the drivetrain will cost you customers and produce expensive lawsuits.
But electrical windings? No problem. As long as it outlasts the warrantee, it’s cool.
Find a shop which sells real electrical parts - if the dealer’s shop says it needs a new (electrical), thank them and take it to an independent shop.
It might be worth your while to consider that Firestone might be using crappy “remanufactured” alternators and that is why they keep failing instead of blaming the car. Ford has no control over where a third-party shop gets replacement parts.
You might as well replace the alternator yourself. Do you have a driveway and a torque wrench? Go buy a new one from rockauto.com (not a shill. they’ve just got good prices and service) and have a buddy hang out with you while you bolt it in. Odds are it’ll fix the problem.
Our scion tc is fantastic. Easy to find in a manual, fun to drive, can fit 8’ 2x4s in with the rear seats folded down. We get about 32 mpg. We have 80k miles on it with zero problems so far.
The car’s charging system IS the alternator, pretty much. I’m with the other folks in the group that say: Buy a good alternator (NAPA), pay extra for it. Buy a good battery at the same time. A bad alternator will make a battery die a premature death.
I’ve had a car go through SIX (yes, six) Pep Boys Lifetime Alternators, the manager swore up and down that they NEVER had issues with their alternators and there MUST be something DRASTICALLY wrong with my car. I asked if he had another on the shelf (that was #6)…he said ‘yes’…I said ‘test it’.
It failed on the tester. I said 'I must have a helluvan electrical problem to take out that alternator from the parking lot.
Past a certain age (and 2006 might be it) ALL alternators will be remanufactured, even the ones from the dealership. Your best bet is to get a GOOD reman.
So…if you’re fed up with the car, by all means, spin it off to someone else, but don’t otherwise add thousands in debt to your situation because some dipwads can’t get you quality parts.
Well, yes, which is why a replacement, if any, will happen from current mechanic (small independent shop that came highly recommended). There’s not been an alternator blow out since the summer of 2011. There’s still something going on, because I became one of those “everything, from the radio to the heat/air gets turned off every time the car does” people. I never use the dome light anymore - not even the just when the door opens setting - because that was the one I would inevitably forget
It’s not going to happen. I don’t have the skills, the space or the desire to do this.
At this point, it would still be on my radar. There have just been enough issues that I’m always going to be gunshy with this car. It would probably postpone a bit longer, but I have fairly regularly long drives I need to make (aging parents about 2 hours away) and I need to be able to get there and trust that I will get back.
How roomy are we talking? I love their look and peeking around from the outside it does seem to have a ton of passenger space. Is there a lot of room for cargo? I became intersted in these because I am looking for a more economical vehicle, and it got good reviews from other tall people.
I love mine. The trunk is small, but when you fold flat the back seats, there’s a ton of space. Plus, the interior feels so roomy - lots of head room, and good leg space in the back.
I went from a Saturn SL2 to the Kia Soul. The Soul has a smaller footprint, much better turn radius, and feels ginormous inside compared to the Saturn.
That’s the sticking point 
The back seat also has to carry a kid…maybe two. And sometimes a dog.
I keep saying that if it was 18 inches longer in the cargo area, I’d buy one tomorrow. It seems like the next jump up in size bring a corresponding $8,000 jump in price.
The Scion Xb might be what you’re looking for. It’s huge roomy inside. I’ve had 4 adults in it and no one is touching anyone else unless they want to. And there’s still room in the very back for a full set of camping gear or a weeks worth of groceries.
It carries my kayak on top with no problems, too.
Volkswagen GTI. That’s the exact color and trim that mine has.
I love it. My favorite car ever. It doesn’t beat a true muscle car off the line, but few cars can keep up on the curves.
My only gripes have been silly things, like how the heater control is a knob without stops, so you have to look at it to change where the heat goes. Otherwise it’s perfect for me.
I work from home, so I have only put about 33000 miles on it over the past 3-1/2 years.
Tires like that are awesome, but when you hit a nasty pothole you are basically hearing the sound of $200-300 leaving your wallet, if the rims aren’t damaged. And those rims are absolutely unforgiving if you brush against a curb even lightly. I have replaced tires a couple of times because of potholes.
Until recently I had a decade-old Hyundai Accent that was nearly trouble free. I test drove a new one, a 2013 4-door hatch, and it was a solid small car. There are not many manuals available, though, so you might have to search around. The sales guy I test drove with said less than 10% of production have manual transmissions.