Cars, cars, everywhere, and not a car to call my own

(Forewarning: this is a long post about cars, nothing about me getting back in shape or anything of the sort)

Since Ivan the Terrible (my former car, the Kia Sorento) went into the shop, never to emerge again, I've been renting cars.  Turns out that by sharing my sister's car for part of the week and renting for a four day weekend, I can always have a car available...and pay about $150 a month less than I was paying on my lease.  Go figure.

Anyhoo, I'm now saving up to buy another car.  I plan to save up for the next six months or so, until I have at least $7,000 on hand for a down payment.  Whatever car I get, I won't finance more than $25,000.  If I find a car that would require more than a $7,000 down payment to get under that $25,000 mark, then I'll either pick another car or keep saving.  I've got several key requirements for the vehicle (in no particular order):

1. It has to be large enough to carry four adults comfortably.  With carpooling to Masters meets, a small car is a no-go.  It also needs to have a decent sized trunk/cargo area.  4 seater convertibles with tiny trunks are out. ;-)
2. With me driving more due to coaching, I'm mandating that I get an all wheel drive car--if I'll potentially be carrying passengers in inclement weather, I feel much more comfortable with all wheel drive.  I carried passengers in my front wheel drive Avalon in inclement weather while in college, and that was not a reassuring feeling at all.
3. It needs to be at least entry level luxury.  I like luxury cars and there are plenty of used ones in my price range, so this shouldn't be hard.
4. The car needs to average at least 20 combined mpg.  Fuel economy isn't as big a deal as it was when I lived in Charleston, since even with all my coaching now, I still drove more back then.  In addition, said coaching job will give me a fairly significant income boost per month, so a higher gas bill per month will be more than covered by the increased income.
5. The car needs to have at least average reliability.  It doesn't necessarily need to be something with rock solid reliability (but hey, I wouldn't complain if it was), but I need a car that isn't in the shop every other week.  That being said, if it's of average reliability or better, I don't really mind too much if it's a more expensive car to repair.  That coaching income will help out quite a bit on that front.
6. The car needs a good sound system.  It doesn't need to be a top of the market sound system, but it needs to sound good.  I always listen to music when I'm in the car, so I won't settle for a substandard sound system.  The better the sound system, the happier I am.
7. The controls need to be relatively straightforward.
8. The car needs to be at least moderately fun to drive.

Let me back track a bit.  My dream car is the Audi Q5 3.0 TDI, which doesn't come out till next fall, I believe.  Ideally, I'd get it no earlier than the second model year, giving Audi time to work out any initial kinks.  That would put me at the fall of 2014 or later.  When I leased the Sorento back in the spring, I got a three year lease with the assumption that when it was up in spring of 2015, I'd go ahead and buy the Q5 at that time.  Now that I don't have a car anymore, I need something to tide me over till 2014/2015.

I made some key mistakes when I got the Sorento.

1. In my drive to get a car with at least a 3 year factory warranty (to cover the length of the lease, anything beyond that was just gravy), I didn't look at any used cars. As a result, I paid a large chunk of change for a new one when I could have gotten more for my money by getting a used vehicle that still had a warranty.
2. Coming from the Toyota Avalon I'd had for four years, I was adamant that I wanted an SUV. I didn't look at a single sedan. After having driven a number of rental sedans over the last month and a half or so, I really don't mind them. I could've gotten a nicer new sedan for less money.
3. I didn't check my credit report scores from all three bureaus before going in to sign the lease. Experian and Transunion showed a peachy keen credit score. However, the dealer pulled my credit score from Equifax. That bureau claimed that I was seriously delinquent on my student loans (which I'm not), so Kia totally bent me over on the lease details.  I was paying a 15 something percent interest rate, and it didn't even cross my mind to challenge them on it.  On a side note, I'm still having problems with Equifax.

I started looking at cars online a couple of weeks ago, but didn't narrow down my search until a few days ago.  I really enjoyed having an SUV, so first I decided to look at SUVs on the market.  There are a number of Q5s on the market in my price range, so that is a very distinct possibility.  My other option is to go for a sedan (trucks and vans are out of the question).  If I go the sedan route, I'm leaning rather strongly towards a relatively late model year luxury sedan.  As far as sedans go, I'd want at least a midsize, if not a full size sedan.  I don't get claustrophobic, per se, but I can't shake the feeling of driving a clown car when I drive a compact or intermediate sedan.  With all that in mind, here are all the SUVs and sedans that started out on my research list (all used, preferably no more than 5 years old, with at least one year of the factory warranty still left):

• Audi Q5
• Audi A6 (sedan or wagon)
• Audi A8
• BMW 5 series (sedan or wagon)
• BMW 7 series
• Infiniti M
• Mercedes E class (sedan or wagon)
• Mercedes S class
• Mercedes GLK
• Lexus GS
• Lexus LS

Since I created that list, I've done research into the various models.

• Lexus is out.  While they are ridiculously comfortable, they are generally just as wallowy as the Avalon  I had.  There are plenty of used GS and LS models in my price range, but it comes down to that wallowy ride.  I test drove a 2009 LS for fun back in 2009 and noted that at the time.  Besides that, I thought the LS was awesome, though.
• The BMW 5 series is out.  I ended up test driving a 2011 5 series sedan this past Saturday and was entirely less than impressed.  The interior was quite nice (besides the seats being vinyl rather than leather), but the controls were quite confusing and it had terrible throttle response--I'd push the gas pedal down, it'd delay for a good second, and then would jerk forward.  On top of that, the shifter and control stalks on the steering wheel column ticked me off.  The driving experience wasn't all that impressive, either.
• The BMW 7 series is probably out.  Looking at the JD Power reliability ratings, some years are better than others, but reliability as a whole is generally pretty shoddy.  Besides, it has the same shifter, controls, and control stalks as the 5 series.  Ixnay on atthay.
• I haven't done much research into the Infiniti M yet.  All I know is that JD Power rates some model years quite poorly.
• The Mercedes E class is probably out.  I haven't test driven one yet, but I'm not a huge fan of Mercedes' control schemes, and don't like that they have the nav display so low down on the dashboard.  Reliability is also a mixed bag.
• Same thing with the GLK.  I did take one for a test drive back in the spring, and thought it wasn't bad, but the interior was rather austere.  Quite luxurious, just austere.
• Same with the Mercedes S class--haven't test driven it, but reliability is a mixed bag and not a huge fan of the controls.  My other concern is that I'm not particularly keen on the exterior of the vehicle.  Whenever I look at one, I just get a sense of general snootiness.
• The Audi Q5 is always an option.  I've test driven a Q5 several times and still have it at the top of my list.  As far as SUVs go, it's definitely the one I'd get.
• I haven't test driven the Audi A6 yet.  I intended to do it last weekend, but that didn't happen.  Hopefully this weekend.  Anyways, on paper it looks quite good, and the 2007 model year has great reliability according to JD Power.  Without having driven it, I see one huge flaw.  There is only one usable cup holder in the front.  There is a second one under the arm rest, but if you use it you can't use  the arm rest, and vice versa.  Really?  When I test drive it, I'll play around with it to see just how bad that is.
• I test drove the Audi A8 this past Saturday and was very impressed.  The one I drove was a 2009 fully loaded regular wheelbase model (sport package, ventilated/massaging front seats, extra leather package, Alcantara package, B&O sound system).  The seats were ridiculously comfortable, the controls were intuitive enough for me, and the test drive was quite satisfying.  The quattro handling is a lot of fun (the salesman had me take the curvy off ramp from the highway without braking, and it felt like it was glued to the road, with no body roll) and the car has plenty of oomph, while delivering a quiet and compliant ride.  The car had the B&O audio option, which is insane.  New, it's a $6,300 option, and I can see why.  By far the best speakers I've heard in any car (the Q5 also has a B&O option, but it is a substantially lower tier model than the one in the A8, but even the Q5's B&O speakers are great).  I haven't seen any long term reliability data, but the A8s in my price range (2007-some 2009 models) all are rated pretty well for initial reliability.  On top of all that, I think it's a dang good looking car.  The BMWs are too flashy, the Mercedes seem too snooty, but the Audis are understated.

So, for now, I'm leaning towards the Q5 if I go the SUV route, and the A8 if I go back to a sedan.  I really, really liked the A8 when I test drove it.  Here's how the Q5 and the A8 rate on my eight criteria on a 1-10 scale:

Criteria	2007-2009 Audi A8	2009-2011 Audi Q5
Ability to carry 4 passengers And their cargo	10 8	8 10
All wheel drive	10	10
Luxury level	10	7
Fuel economy	7	7
Reliability	7	7
Sound system	8 (base) 10 (B&O option)	7 (base) 9 (B&O option)
Controls usability/simplicity	8	8
Fun to drive	8	8
Total	76 (78 with B&O)	72 (75 with B&O)

For now I'm setting my sights on either of these two for the next six months as I save money for a down payment, although I'm leaning just a shade more towards the A8 than the Q5 at the moment.  In the spring, as I start searching in earnest, I'll revisit this list and see if I've changed my opinion of any of the cars.

EDIT: Corrected some typos and updated the grading chart for the two Audis.