Have you considered a wagon? I don't know why more Americans don't buy wagons. They are extremely useful and you hardly give up anything compared to the same model sedan. I guess people have an image problem with them. Funny, because I was just in Holland and everyone drives wagons and hatchbacks. Pretty much the only sedans are the taxis.

An oddball, but appealing, choice not mentioned yet is a W8 Passat. I owned a Passat V6 and I've driven the W8. The W8 is a nice engine with really usable torque. Even though the Passat starts as at $25K it's not outclassed by 35-40K cars.