Well, the only other car brand I trust is Honda. They've got some pretty decent cars.
As for model, that I think is up to you.

Yeah, I think I'm going to test drive a Honda Civic as well and see what I think. If I can find one with decent miles at a good price, I'll probably get it over the Mazda and Hyundai.

Ive heard, get a honda like a million times when I was about to get a car >D

Yeah...Honda is pretty darn popular. Honda and Toyota. But Toyota pretty much lost that reputation now. X3;; I'll definitely be test driving a Honda. What car did you end up with?

well for me, cash was a problem. Outta the like million cars I looked at, the best one for the money I did have was a 2000 Ford focus. Now I dont like ford and I dont plan on getting one ever again.. but the whole beggers can be choosers thing ya know.

cant*... messing up on that one word totally changes the meaning of that saying lol

Haha, I understood what you meant. :3

And yeah, I was considering just getting a cheaper car for the time being; but if I do that, I might as well keep my Toyota and just buy new tires and have the crap I need done repaired. ~_~;; But, I figure since I don't have rent and utilities to pay right now (I live with my parents), now would be a good time to pay off a new car. At least, I hope I'm making the right decision. X3;;

Prius. xD

You want me to die!? X3;;;

I'll get me a early 2000 Prius when I have the monies. :3

Honda is a good car type. I'm pretty happy with my Saturn too!

Blaaaah...post below is response to you. X3;;

*nods* Yeah, Honda is pretty reliable from what I hear. And I'm kinda sketchy about Saturns; I had two roommates that own Saturns and they've had all sorts of problems. ^_^;;

Really? I've had mine for near two years and never had a problem. xD

It's such a toss up. Any brand car can have it's lemons. And any brand can have it's great cars. I guess it's kind of the luck of the draw. X3;; But that's great you haven't had any problems! ^__^ Let it stay that way!

Thanks, I hope you get an awesome set of wheels too. <3
(Also, mine was a lemon before I bought it. The dealership - Bob Moore Saturn - repaired it and all I've had to do are regular oil changes so far. :3)

Mazdas are decent cars (fun to drive, that's for sure), though interior quality is sub-par, if that's an issue for you. I've also noticed that Mazda doesn't seem to have the best of luck with stereo systems/CD players; a friend of mine has a '5 (I think) Mazda 3 hatchback, my dad used to have a '01 Protoge and I drive a '05 MX-5, all of which have had problems with the CD players and none of which have excellent interiors, which are pretty plastic-y. Probably just as reliable as a Civic, though (and, again, maybe a bit more fun to drive ;P).

The car companies I would suggest off the bat are (in no particular order) Mazda, Honda or Subaru. I would have mentioned Toyota, but, as you said, they've been having safety issues and we don't need Shukis getting hurt. An older Volkswagen might be an option, and while being German means they'll be reliable, it also means maintenance will be considerably more than a Japanese car. Subaru are nice cars, all around, and have the advantage of all-wheel-drive, but tend to be a little pricier.

Not to be a sheep, but if I had to pick only one car, it'd definitely be the Honda Civic. Safe, reliable, good, solid build quality and cheap to maintain, seeing as they're a dime a dozen, which also means it should be easy to find one for cheap (though finding one that hasn't been modded/riced out in some way may prove to be somewhat difficult :P).

*Bleats.*

Also, if you want to save quite a bit of money, aim for a somewhat older car. If properly maintained, a car with up to even 100,000 miles can be fine for many more miles to come (past 200,000). Even a 3-5 year old car with low mileage (-25,000) can be considerably cheaper than a year-old car. Cars lose value very quickly and never really regain that value, so a newer car isn't always the best decision.

Thank you so much for all the info! This really helped. =^_^=