 After careful consideration against other manufacturers, I chose the Lancer and I must say I'm extrememly pleased. It gets great gas mileage (as long as you dont go crazy), and is very peppy for 120 hp. I bought the manual to fully capitalize on power, good decision. It has excellent performance around corners, and is suprisingly quiet on the highway.  Also, what took me buy suprise was the space in the cabin. I've had six full grown individuals in my car and everyone was comfortable.  I have the convenience package, cruise control, power everything, and its definitely worth the money, I do a lot of highway driving.