My wife and I were quite impressed with a couple of 2002 Mazda 626's we tried. The first one we tried had decent acceleration, was quiet, had lots of room. When I stopped and opened the hood, I was totally surprised to see the 4 cyl in there. We tried the second one ($2000 more for the V6 and fewer miles) and thought, well it goes a little quicker up the hills, but not THAT much.
We didn't get either one, but I would consider one of those before a Camry or Accord.

- Jim Our yardbirds: Belvedere, our '96 Jeep Cherokee, 4.0L ATX, 85,000 and going strong Spencer, our '03 Chrysler PT Crusier, 2.4L ATX, 28,000 and just getting started