 I absolutely love the 2007 Kia Spectra LX. I bought it as my first car, and was absolutely amazed. It has a good amount of pep, and handles extremely well. Drives well at high speeds, accelerates pretty quickly, and is fun to drive. I am 5'8" and when i sat in it I felt like a hand in a glove, perfect fit. Great gas mileage, and very reliable. I had the car for two years, from 88,000 to 107,000 miles. I replaced the timing belt when I bought it, but other than that all I had to do was oil changes. I would have loved to keep the car forever, but the LX version does not have air conditioning, and I am soon moving to a hotter climate. Mine was manual, and I did have some problems down shifting into second, as it would grind, and I don't know if that was standard among this model or not. I had to slow down a lot more than normal standards in order to shift into second gear smoothly. Overall this car was amazing and after buying, I was extremely impressed with Kia, and this Spectra. From some other Kia's that I have been in and this one, I see that Kia does a great job at making comfortable vehicles. Very reliable, comfortable, cost efficient, and just an overall great car!