 My Celica treated me so well. Handled like a dream, fantastic gas mileage (always around 30 mpg), not a single mechanical issue in the six years I owned it (bought it used in 2004 with 30k). Very smooth manual transmission. Yeah, there's no backseat, but what do you expect? It's not meant to be a family car. With decent tires, it can handle a Kansas winter, which is saying a lot for a 2400 lb car.  I got in a bad front-impact accident and totaled mine, and the crush zones were phenomenal. Everything behind the firewall was completely untouched. For such a small car, I felt very safe in it. Not to mention sexy, because it's a dang good looking car. 