Having flown a 1M miles in the last 15 years I have had my share of rental car fleet experiences. I will say that over the last 3 years the domestic cars are seriously catching up. Last month I had a rental '12 Ford focus for a week. I came away impressed. It had 20k+ miles and not a rattle or shimmy. Solid 37 mpg combined and easily as nice to drive as my Audi TT.
We're actively shopping for a 'new' (used under 30K miles) daily driver for my wife. Started out thinking MB E350 or BMW 5 series but frankly we came away cold. Surprisingly the wife is currently leaning to the smaller Lexus IS 250. The Infinity G35 is also in the running but nothing is solid until we actually drive some examples.
This thread has thrown a wrench into the works. Wife just walked in and I said "What do you think when you hear the word Buick". "Dad's old car" was her response. Look at this -
Not our color but worth a look and drive. We are heading out for a look tomorrow.