my rx300 was my first car (that i bought for myself, that is). i did quite a bit of research for cars in my price range (ahh, the dot com boom days) and the rx was the top choice, hands down. i expect to own it for quite some time so it's reliability and comfort were big factors. i was "downsized" 3 years ago but thanks to my large initial down pmnt my monthly pmnts were still manageable till i got another job ("you want fries with that?" j/k). just make sure you can afford it but it's a great choice...