good value, sporty, manual transmission for a young guy

Check Consumer Reports (CR) for reliability stats on most vehicles. Any decent library should have the current issues, as well as the archived issues - going back a few years. CR is a good baseline, from which to begin your research. You may also google "reviews/tests" for any make/model vehicle that interests you. That willl bring up a host of expert and consumer review sources for that particular vehicle.

The answer to this question usually begins and end with


MIATA !

I believe the Toybaru BRZ is also allowed.

Being taller, my list begins with Mustang.
Enjoy them while you can-and pay it off, so when your beloved sticks you in a minivan, you can tell them it's there to teach your offspring the fine points of double clutching.

I did~~and it still works!

My suggestion would be to be honest about your budget for this. Add up your payments, insurance, estimated repair costs and gas. You're specifically asking about repair costs - off the top of my head, $2000-$2500 a year would seem reasonable rule of thumb for most of the vehicles you mention, probably a little more if its a turbo; a little less for the Fiat maybe? More if you're putting on crazy miles; less if you're not. Price out the cost of a third party insurance policy for repairs (pay attention to what they exclude), and you'll see what the bean counters think the cost of repairs will be for the car. So if you're looking over a five year time horizon, you'd probably spend $10-12.5k on repair and maintenance.

Also figure out your risk tolerance for a big repair bill. If you're driving a 100k+ Audi, the engine may die on you. Will you have the cash to buy a used engine or transmission and pay someone to put it in? Check car-parts dot com for used prices in your area. Alsogo to the users website for whatever model you're considering and see what the common problems with them are, and how expensive the fixes are.

If you were in NY and spent $20k/5 years on one of the cars you mention and drive it 10k miles a year, you'd probably be looking at $4.5k payments, $2k repairs, $2.5k insurance, and $1.1k gas, so $10.1k a year in automotive expenses. Or, assuming your repairs/maintenance would run somewhere between $500 (no repairs) - $9,000 (a major and a minor repair or two in a year), your costs could be $8.6k - 17.1k. Your Honda, assuming it's paid off, is costing you on the order of .5k depreciation, $1k repairs, $1k insurance (no collision), $1k gas, so $3.5k a year. I'm making assumptions here, but adjust for your specific case.

Even assuming you've got that $10.1k a year in cash flow coming in that you could spend on a car, my suggestion is you'd be better off slugging it out with the Accord and banking that extra $6.6k a year. In a few years you could pay cash for something really cool.

Of course you could go a middle of the road option; get a $3k-5k Miata, a Lexus SC or IS300 or something like that; give yourself more like $4-5k automotive expenses. I'm sure if you think hard about it and consider what you really want out of a car, you can find a $5k car you like that you can keep on the road for $1k a year in repairs and maintenance.

Once German cars are 6+ years old experiences vary widely. After that point they could require few or even no repairs for the next few years, or very expensive repairs. If a $5,000 repair would be very hard to pay for, and you can't potentially do the work yourself (the best way to own an older German car), they're probably not a good idea.

The 1-Series is a fun car. The A3 and previous generation GTI aren't as special, in my opinion. I do like the 2015 an up GTI, but unless VW values are severely depressed you probably cannot find one within your budget.

I didn't much like the Abarth, but some people love them. The stick shift is awkwardly located and feels clunky. Some owners have had bad reliability experiences.

The Miata an FR-S are both good if you won't be on the highway much. Not so good if you will be.

The Infiniti G37 might be worth a look.

Among front-wheel-drive cars, you might try to find a 2015+ Mazda3 with the 2.5-liter engine and a stick. Or do what a few auto writers have done and get a Ford Fiesta ST or the larger Ford Focus ST. Either is a lot of fun, and my largest reliability concern with the Fiesta and Focus is the automatic transmission, which the STs don't have. The Fiesta ST drives far better than the Abarth.

Finally, for cars closer in size to your Accord you might try to find a Mazda6 or (budget buy) a Suzuki Kizashi.

I'd check rates with your insurance company before buying anything. The Mazda6 and Kizashi could be much cheaper to insure than the others--though of course they won't be as fun to drive.

The Fiesta or Focus ST would provide the biggest bag for the buck.