Skiers find mammoth of another era preserved intact in Alpine resort

You and I are on the same page here. I really like the little Volvo, its handling is actually not bad in standard T5 guise, and it's bound to be more reliable than anything from VAG. Also, those seats, when I'm looking at around 15 hours of seat time per week. The focus did have the same interior here (I think of my cell phone in the late 90s), which would make it a hard sell to the wife, an architect.

Thanks man! I agree with the line of thinking, but have concluded that I need a GT, not a sports car, i.e. C30 over the speed3 version of the same chassis. Also, it would be hard to choose a smiley-face era Mazda over one of the new ones just on aesthetic grounds.

Absolutely. I almost bought a Dodge Spirit R/T once. My wife would kill me.

But how is it as a highway cruiser? I want handling, but mostly I need to drive a ton of miles on the open road, about three hours at a time.

They were. Now a nearly new one with about 30k miles is about the price of a stripper econobox, and comes with a cpo warranty up to 100k miles.

Question for you: just got a new job which will mean a lot of solo highway time on top of my already decent amount of country roads and central NYC driving. The fact that the average age of my current cars is 26 leads me to think that a new or newish car is in my future. Also have a wife, 2 dogs, possible kid at some point, but this will never be the primary car for them.

General thoughts: went to test the Mazda3 hatch and Mazda6 with manuals. They're great. Too sensible, and the kind without the hideous fabric seats are too expensive. Tested a cpo VW cc with tiptronic. Garish inside and didn't like the handling. Wife nixes a GTI as a kid car. Considered a small SUV, but what I really need here is a personal GT, not a family hauler.

Candidates:
--Volvo C30 T5. Drove one with a short-throw stick, liked it immensely. I find the connotation of impracticality and design-loving unmanliness appealing. If I found a low mile V50 T5 with a manual for the same price, though, I'd probably buy that.
--2-3 year old Audi A3. All the old reviews say they are better than the C30, but having ridden in one, I doubt it. Also possibly too close to actually being practical. The dogs would appreciate it though. Haven't tested one yet.
--3-4 year old Audi A5. Better as a GT surely? Oddly cheap used. Quattro would be nice where I live. Bit of a budget stretch at maybe $26k for a decent one, when I'm shooting more for under $20k.

What else? Saabaru? Did not love my old Subaru, do like my actual old Saab. Also the Saabaru would mean crap MPG for highway runs. But whatever I buy, it needs to be that weird at least.

If only you had a 2004 ZX3 from an emissions state, you'd have the excellent 2.3 liter Mazda Duratec instead of that Zetec, and pair that with a 5 speed manual and a $250 suspension kit, and you'd basically have an ersatz Focus ST/SVT.

Oh, the work it takes to get a flattie fired up!

Glaserati, anyone?