I'm not sure that I see the ethics in using New Car reliability statistics to make recommendations on Used cars.

Consumer Reports numbers are based on surveying their own subscriber base. If they say a '96 Fubar is reliable but a '97 Fubar isn't, that means more of their readers with the '97 have had problems.

Of course, Bitt wants to get his wife a shiny new car for the price of a cheap used one. Needless to say, that's not likely to happen. One possible way to gamble would be to get an '01 VW with the '01 1.8T engine. Because of the infamous coilpack problems, the resale value will be lower, yet (in theory) the problem is gone, never to return. Just poking around cars.yahoo.com, the typical price for such cars is $13K-$15K depending on mileage and whatnot. If that was your budget, Consumer Reports would recommend ($12-14K with SUVs and such filtered out):

Acura CL '97 / Integra '98 / TL '96
Chevy Prizm '02
Honda Accord '97-98 / Civic '00
Hyndai Sonata '01
Infiniti I30 '97
Lexus ES300 '95
Mazda 626 '00 / Protege '02
Nissan Altima '00-01 / Maxima '98
Subaru Forester '98 / Impreza '00 / Legacy-or-Outback '97
Toyota Avalon '97 / Camry '98 / Celica '97 / Corolla '02