[s-cars] New or nearly-new car purchase

[TM]

I'm soliciting suggestions/advice on what car to
purchase for under $25k.

Priorities are handling, performance, reliability,
ease of service, refinement.

Must have a manual transmission, must be 2000 model
year or newer, significantly smaller than an A6.

To give you an idea of what I'm looking for, a Mazda
Miata falls into the marginal category of performance,
but an excellent handling car and otherwise a potential
candidate- the Mazdaspeed version is a bit pricey.

The Audi S4tt is excellent in terms of performance, but
marginal in the reliability and ease of service categories,
midpack in handling.

Camaro SS would be marginal in reliability, otherwise
good all-around, very unrefined, though.

Thanks.

Taka