Reliable, cost efficient, fun ride

Mazda3 s Grand Touring. No touchscreen, but a good knob-based system. And an almond interior.

If you want something especially quiet and comfortable, and are willing to trade off some handling vis-a-vis the Mazda, then a used Buick Verano. Too expensive new, but they're quite affordable used.

If you're open to a hatchback, maybe a 2014 and up Hyundai Elantra GT (the 2013 had a weaker engine).

You'll find my reviews of all three in the "more about" menus to the right.

We have 2 Subarus in the family: 2002 Legacy Outback VDC & 2011 Legacy Sedan. They are known for safety and reliability and high resale value. Both are fun to drive, quiet, comfortable smooth ride. 2002 take premium gas and gets about 17 mpg (its a 6 cylinder). 2011 is 4 cylinder and gets good mileage.

If you look around you could find a newer sedan style (eg Legacy), crossover/wagon style (Outback or Forester). We bought the 2011 Legacy w/ about 30k miles for $15k a few mos ago. It has leather interior and nicely equipped w camera and steering wheel controls etc.

For $25k, you would have more options on trims and low mileage. After some strikeouts w/ other cars, I'm sticking to Subaru now for great safety ratings, nice features, nice ride, reliability and high resale value. ALso, I'm on short side, and can drive both cars comfortably w/ good view (Legacy back window is a little harder to see through for backing up). WRX is more sporty if you prefer that.

I'm not sure what you meant by touchscreen technology? My old Ford Flex had most things touchscreen (heat, etc). I found it distracting going through the menus. If you are mostly interested in GPS and stereo and/or camera screen, you may want to think about ignoring that factor when looking for the car itself since it is easy to switch out the radio for a different unit. I'm doing that w/ the 2002 Subaru now (radio/GPS/backup camera). You can get a decent unit used or even new for a reasonable price.