Alright. I spent this morning checking out cars so when I went shopping I could have what I wanted already in mind. The key issue to remember is that I want to spend only $2k on the computer and ~$10k on the car, since my Bass is upwards of $5k. Anyways, I first checked out the Chrysler/Plymouth/Jeep dealership where I learned that the PT Cruiser doesn't have enough headroom and that the Jeep Liberty, while accomodating head and legs, has absolutely crappy gas mileage. The Seabring didn't even come close. I then checked out the Honda dealership and found that neither the Accord nor the Civic had a deep enough trunk to accomodate my Bass (the bridge is too high for the depth that the trunk allows), I didn't attempt the Element because it is so God awfully ugly but I did try out the CRV. The 2003 was very very nice, though the folding/unfolding cup holders between the front seats was terrible, and the older CRV's (aka: those closer to my price range) were good as well, not as fun and still a bit short on the legs, but that's my problem. Then we went across the street to the Toyota dealership and checked things out. The Corolla was absolutely too small and the new Camry wasn't managing either, though the older has a larger trunk so I'll have to test it out sometime. The Toyota Matrix, while kinda short on the legs, was a good car and has a built in Subwoofer (a large built in subwoofer). The Rav4 was slightly smaller, but did manage to accomodate the Bass, even if it did get in the way moreso than in the Matrix. Dragging my bass around did get a ton of comments, the most from the Toyota people, slightly less from the Honda people, and nearly none from the Dodge people. It was annoying to say the least.

So, the total learning comes to this. I really want a new 2003 Toyota Spyder, but there's no way in hell the bass would ever fit or that I'd ever afford that for a college car. But it's so very very nice.