Ready for a New to You Car? What Will it Be?

What do you look for when you're purchasing a new or used car?

Is it the safety features that draw you in? The seating capacity? Estimated gas mileage? Are you a brand loyalist who bought a car in 1980 and you get the newer model of that same car every time you need to upgrade?

Car shopping can be a headache, but is made much easier with a little research and taking the recommendations of your peers under consideration. Sites like Cars.com, Kelley Blue Book and AOL Autos offer extensive reviews and comparisons for perusal.

For me, I've been driving a small sedan since I got my license. My first driving options were my parents' Chevy Lumina or Geo Prism. When I was 22, I bought my dad's Prism from my folks when they upgraded to new Hondas. I owned the car until April of 2005 when I skidded in a pile of sand in the road and slid into the grass. My car, which was closing in on 260,000 miles, hit a rock the size of a soccer ball, which effectively destroyed it.

About a year out of college, living paycheck-to-paycheck and needing a car immediately in order to manage my reporting job covering seven towns for a newspaper in a very rural part of the state, I settled on a new Ford Focus, which offered a great promotion for students and recent graduates.

To say I have a love/hate relationship with my car would be an understatement. I'm fond of it, because it's my first new car, and I like that it gets good gas mileage and it's certainly served my purposes. But I've had a lot of problems with it and it was no more than a month after I sent in my final payment that my A/C died. It would require extensive work that I just don't want to pay for to get it fixed.

I'm always daydreaming about what I'll get next. I've gone from planning to get an ever-reliable Toyota Corolla, to wanting a Prius to a Prius V, to my latest obsession, the Hyundai Tucson.

Whether you've been driving a compact car for years and are ready to upgrade to a midsize sedan or small SUV, or maybe you've been driving a gas guzzler and the unending pain at the pump is putting a dent in your savings or if you've been driving your first car into the ground and can't wait to slide behind a fresh set of wheels, we want to know, what will your next car be?

Share your pick in the comments section below and tell us why!