I’d say a manual Mazda 3 fulfills all of this for the most part.
1) Doesn’t break often, and when it does, still pretty easy to fix.
2) Is cheaper and not a sports car but is definitely an enthusiast choice.
3) Manual. It’s not a sports car but even the base model will get out of it’s own way when asked.
4) I have no…

Why is a Jeep Wrangler a bad first car? Because it’ll give the kid impossibly low standards for how a vehicle should ride on pavement.

I have a particular disdain for more recent car commercials portraying that it’s OK to not pay attention to the 2 ton vehicle you’re piloting.
On that note aren’t Chrysler’s non-traditional shifters partially to blame for Anton Yelchin’s death? A different style, yes, but these small details have a huge impact in daily…

“cry yourself to sleep a few nights eating a bucket of Neapolitan ice cream and watching a rom com, feeling thoroughly rejected.”
Well that sounds like the target Jeep Compass purchaser

So you’re telling me in order to get the game as it should have come out initially I’ll need to spend over $100?
Well that’s a pretty solid NOPE from me.

Same reason Ford is killing off all their small cars in the US. Probably wouldn’t sell enough to be worth it and Toyota has more cache than Mazda to push an unpopular low volume vehicle.

You’re saying you wouldn’t want to grab this thing after all the sweet depreciation has set in?

Failed jump, more like nailed hand plant 180!

I hate that the US market’s taste for butched up family haulers with captains chairs has removed even the option of a proper low long roof vehicle. They have the space for the requisite 2.5 kids, the familiar handling of a sedan based vehicle (unlike the lifted sedan that the Explorer is) and most times enough room…

Did you miss the impractical “motorcycle” styling?

Imagine it now the Harley Davidson “Friendster”

How is this different than an advanced cruise control?
They are taking their eyes off the road to willfully ignore the warnings and terms asked of them.
Autopilot in a plane will still fly you into the side of a mountain if the actual pilot isn’t paying attention.

I personally like the idea of the tach in HUD but mainly for manual vehicles like how you can spec that Mazda 3 pictured. That said Mazda’s HUD info for me is near useless.

I’ll generally travel my usual route with GPS on but it’s really helpful if something goes wrong like a downed tree limb or egregious traffic

I’d say Mazda over Honda because you still have to get out of the car at some point and with the Honda you’ll be greeted by this monstrosity -

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if I could get the 6 with a long roof, a six speed and a turbo my current Mazda would be swapped immediately.

True and their negligence in this case ended in tragedy. Were there not the 21 other injury complaints and 4 deaths it would probably end here.
 

I’m going to bet this thing smells like blunts and mold

In my case as a guy with college loans and newer credit I couldn’t get a loan for a 10k used car but they were sure happy to give it away for a new car. I wasn’t keeping up with the Joneses I was attempting to not be stranded. A 6 year loan and 4 years on haven’t missed a payment and have had near $0 maintenance cost…

Would... daily... ?