Thank you all for your fast replies..
I'm very heavily leaning towards TCH at this point, you've all been very helpful and assuring.

zebra- Diesel is something I've had no experience at all with.. and it sorta scares me, too. Maybe if I lived overseas, like in the UK where the diesel infrastructure is much better set up, I would seriously consider getting one.. But right now it just scares me.

beng- I believe you're looking at the specs for the manual version of the GTI, I was referring to the automatic DSG version of the car. But you're right.. The Camry hybrid isn't anything to be sneezed at.

chiedoziedike- Yes, I've looked at all of those cars, but my parents have some pretty tough safety and practicality requirements for the cars to meet.. for instance, Vehicle Stability Control is a MUST, and in the case of the Nissan- is only offered in the V6 Altima, which also bumps up the price a great bit AND at the same time lowers fuel economy.