What would the experts in here recommend as an ideal car for a young College student in here? I mean in a general sense. Reliable, Affordable, Fuel Efficient, Good looking, fast.....? If one were to wish to buy a car that'd fall under catagory. would his/her options be limited to Honda Civic's or Toyota's Sedans or are there anything else? Pictures are welcome as well.

P.S. I only seek to know what cars appeal an ordinary college student. I personally am ruing the mistake of buying a SUV thanks to my shitty driving record which has kicked my Insurance to over $1000/ 6 months and it is NOT fuel efficient at all. I might even think about trading in after going through the responses in here.
Thanks in advance

For a college student? Stick with public transportation. Once you start making enough money to cover not only the purchase but the operating cost of a vehicle, then I suggest you take a look at Honda Element.

hey bhale bhadre..
i would like a white SUV with a Sticker of nepali congresss on one side and a sticker of TREE on the other side.

ehhehehe

HONDA will be best for college student coz it has good fuel efficiency than TOYOTA.

nope u are wrong..

Toyota gives the best milage ever...
not even honda civic.. if u go for a corolla.. thats the best ...

mazda mx-5 , toyota corolla or yaris, nissan versa ....
get the insurance package from AAA. they are relatively cheap and reliable too.

if manageable (for shcol and/or work), commute in the gifted by god --no. 111 vehcile ...keeps u fit and fine ..and yah take a good care of the middle '1' :P

LooTe

Nobody gonna take my car
Im gonna race it to the ground
Nobody gonna beat my car
Its gonna break the speed of sound
Oooh its a killing machine
Its got everything
Like a driving power big fat tyres
And everything

I love it and I need it
I bleed it yeah its a wild hurricane
Alright hold tight
Im a highway star

Loote, your comments made me laugh ("and yah take a good care of the middle '1' :P"). But how can you be sure that Balbhadra is gifted with 111 or just 11 and .... in the middle?

Balbhadra, Corolla would be the Ideal car for you, I think

If public transportations do not fulfil your needs and need a car depends upon your size of your wallet and monthly upcoming expenses you can afford. During my student life I have seen students from African countries are more leaning toward BMW and Asian towards Japanese car.
Are you looking for one with luxury or a reliable one which brings you one place to another? Do you drive standard or prefer to drive automatic?
You have choices and we do not know your factors you are considering then we would be able to advise that will answer to your questions.
However, as I mentioned just need reliable one, Stick is better than automatic and in winter it is controlled by gear along with brake. Maintenance cost is lesser and gas mileage is higher than automatic.
While we compare Honda with Toyota, I will say neck to neck. In Hybrid, Toyota are ahead than Hondas. Honda has good resale values and can buy generic brand parts which cost less than Toyotas.
Up to now I drove 4 different Hondas and recent one has 225K miles and still running like a young stallion but it is a standard transmission. Hoping I can drive another 75-100K.It has Vetch engine and gives average 29.5 miles per gallon.

You may have seen those Corolla's ads, I drove 336K. One mechanic told me if you do not want to put extra expenses to fix buy a Toyota Tercel. Tiny car with 2 doors gives you over 35-40 miles per gallon.
I am just talking about a purely a student car (very basic one).
Civic EX and Corolla LE is pretty and nice car for every one.

Solely, it is you to decide reading and listening all. I have to say "if I were you I would have done this".

Thanks for the responses. I'm driving a Toyota's SUV myself, but the fact is, the insurance got raised from over 900 to over 1300 since the last speeding ticket showed up in the record ( which happened to be my second speeding and already have an accident's ticket ). Anyways, I appreciate you lots' suggestions in here but most particularly, I'm wondering about something cheaper than the truck that I drive ( in terms of insurance, fuel efficiency ) and although fuel efficiency isn't a huge issue ( Since I live in one of the best cities for terms of commuting distances to work ) , I'm thinking about getting a Ford Mustang either as it's insurance is pretty expensive as well and the fuel that it consumes is a joke in itself....
http://www.automotivehelper.com/topic6654.htm has Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla/Celica and Mitsubishi's Eclipse listed in as girly cars... which has seriously forced me to wonder...

So I'd appreciate if you could come up with some more ideas...like in Models and Brands.... Scions....Mazda...Nissan...Toyota...Honda...What should I get?

Try to get Acura (if possible Integra) . Good looking, affordable..great mileage. That is what I drive.

Sparrow

What model in particular? @ Toyota...Honda..

Which model jack?

toyota --corolla LE or S
(don't buy scion. it is considered as a sports car so they will rip u off in the insurance)

Honda---Civic
(saw the 2007 model..must say it's sexy)

Mazda---Mx-5

:D)

Acuras are expensive. Think twice before buying. If your wallet is thick, then go for it.

get a mazda 3 .. its a nice little sporty car and good reliability.. it is fun to drive and good gas mileage also..

Hmm..I'm really caught in a dilemma in here..I was actually thinking about getting a BMW ( older model ) until someone reminded me about the maintainance cost and the Gas ( think it runs on Premium gas ) which would seriously rip me off... One more thing, while the newest model of any make might look sexy...attractive and stuffs..I'm not looking for them as Insurance is the main issue in here.....Civic 2000 doesn't look anywhere near what the 2008 model looks does it? So when I'm trying to get a 2000 and newer model...why bother pondering about what 2008 one looks like?

bmw is out of question. a student cannot afford a newer model and older models will rip u off while maintaining.

civic 2000 is not that bad. btw, what's ur budget if i may ask :D

I'm hoping to get around $ 6500 + by selling my truck.....so it's gotta be under $10,000.....unless I got a Toyota / Honda for less than 5000... Thatd give me an extra 1500...