[MRM]

The RSX isn't anything but a rebadged Honda and the Civic is a great car but you pay every cent that it's worth. The Mazda is every bit the car the Civic is but cheaper and I think a little more stylish. Buy a two year old Mazda 3 for closer to $10,000 and use the rest to give her a head start on life. The Maxda will go 200,000 miles without breaking a sweat. My first car was a 1991 Mazda Protege. We kept it for 10 years and only sold it because it was too smal for our now large family. Well over 100,000 miles on it and it looked hardly more than a year or so old. Great car, gutsy, fun to drive. I can't think of ever having it in the shop.