What to get for under $16k?

[velobard]

Well the biggest hit we are taking is that our last mortgage company is reporting 4 late payments!! That and the wife getting a bit credit card happy (which I will pay off and take over this month!) is what dropped us 100 points. But the good thing is they are showing dates after we had already closed the loan, so this shouldnt be to hard to fix. But nothing is quick except for bad things.

It sounds like with some proper attention, you should be able to get your rating back in better shape soon enough, even if you don't recover all 100 pts right away. Make sure your utilization is low and challange the baddies you can find.

Once thats done I will check out the Mazda 6, sounds like it may be a good fit. Are there any other good, sport sedans (driver oriented) in the same price range? Everything I can think is more tuned for comfort or "luxury".

Just my view, but I drove a 6 when I was shopping last year. I may well have had different priorities. I thought it was a nice driving car, but from what you've described I still think you ought to take a look at a Chrysler 300M Special edition (produced from '02 to '04). It's a luxury car, but tuned for performance with a respectable amount of power and suspension that's impressive. Yeah, it's a bigger car than the 6 and most of the other stuff mentioned here, but it definitely drives smaller than it looks if you ask me, especially on the curves. It is *not* a geezer luxo-barge by any means. The regular version is nice too, but for the performance you sound like you want it's worth the effort to find a Special with the improved suspension and gearing.

 

[Sherman8r44]

Once thats done I will check out the Mazda 6, sounds like it may be a good fit. Are there any other good, sport sedans (driver oriented) in the same price range? Everything I can think is more tuned for comfort or "luxury".

Nissan Altima....only problem is the V6 version torque steers like a biotch and the I4 is about as smooth as sandpaper.