Well, that question cannot be answered simply. It all depends on what you are looking for. Cheap, fast, reliable. Pick 2 and only 2.

Personally, steer away from anything that is American (a few exceptions), the build quality is way down at the moment. If you want expensive but nice go with European (normally come with high maintenance cost and expensive replacement costs). Some stray from this rule, VW and volvo are pretty reliable and not to expensive. I personally would say go for japanese, they have it down well if you want a relatively cheap and reliable car.

In my humble opinion, I will shamelessly plug Subaru, I have been a Subaru fan all my life and have owned 3, all of which I love. Reliable, cheap to fix and maintain, all wheel drive, looks pretty nice, great build quality, can be found for cheap, and if you want to spend some money, they can be very fast.

Again, there are great cars from every company and your question is a bit hard to answer due to lack of information but there you go.

the best car is a used car that u can buy from a reliable person that you know. a car you can feel like its your old friend where u dont feel constantly worried about it every scratching or being unclean.

Best fuel economy for the buck…

What to buy when you need to make every dollar count:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/new-cars/cr-recommended/best-fuel-economy-for-the-buck/overview/best-fuel-economy-for-the-buck-ov.htm

the first post, Ben was totally right.

for me the maths of cheep / reliable / fast + Japanese build quality + environmentally OK = Nissan Micra.

economical to run, fast enough for motorways (with a run up), nippy in town and can take my kit for a week. But it’s NOT great for a FAMILY – its rather small in the back and boot.