How much disposable income do you have? I'm a HCH I owner that's loves my car but I am dying for a HCH II. I love the looks and some of the new gizmos I don't have on the HCH I.
I'm used to noisy cars too, so to me the HCH I is pretty quiet. The HCH II would be nice for the quieter ride but I'd muck it up by putting too much air in the tires in the quest of the perfect MPG.
In the end, $10k is a lot of $$$$$. Think of all the stuff you could buy with that. Heck, there's my 50inch LCD TV, a Tom Tom for NAVI in the car, a nice DVD radio for the car and still a couple grand left over to overpay on my house payment to chop a couple years off of my mortgage. Heck, just use the extra $10k you would of used on the car toward your house payment. (this is coming from a "car guy" too, my world revolves around cars - anyone in my family will vouch for that)
You just made me talk myself out of trying to talk my wife into letting me get an '06. Darn it!
