I feel for you OCD it will cost you much in the long run with a car. There are arguements either way in terms of leasing, I am against it. Yes you can have a new car for a few years and then give it back, but you never really have anything that is yours, and in the end you always have a car payment. You will pour thousands of dollars into the car for normal monthly expenses, gas, upkeep and such, and in the end, less fond memories, you have nothing. Also, you have to be overly cautious with the vehicle. Parking farther away to avoid any possibility of having anything touch the car. I would say mileage, but I don't think that will be a problem with you in this case. Either way know that even for minor damage on a lease the fees will be enforced strictly. Lastly, as you may already know, leasing a car comes with higher car insurance rates. While I feel being screwed a lot of the time for having to pay car insurance, you are being doubley screwed by taking the extra hit of the higher premiums.

I would say that if all possible go for a used deal. I am a big fan of CarFax. It was fairly cheap, you buy the unlimited service for only one month, and can check everything out. If you have to have new I would then go for something quite cheaper and buy. Know this though, I know of many friends that bought cars from various dealers, makes models, and aside from recalls, have had problems from what employees and or test drives did to the cars. Is it as bad as what a used car could hide, hard to say, probably not depending, but it can sometimes. Essentially Cars = Risk, always. Good luck, and anything I can do to help let me know.

I was just thinking and have 2 great examples of brand new cars friends of mine purchased and had problems with. First vehicle was a Dodge SRT-4, it was the performance version of the Neon that was made in 2003-2005. Anyway, it ran fine on a test drive, not problems, got that car. Within a week the exhaust was backfiring and making the strangest aspiration noises as related to the turbo. We checked, it seemed that the staff had beat the crap out of this car, taking it home nights and putting it through it's paces because not only was that a problem, but the wheel bearings were about shot. Needless to say, it was taken back and returned under our states lemon law and he shopped elsewhere. The 2nd vehicle was a Mazda RX-8. Within in 2 months of my friend owning the car, the clutch went, and then the transmission. Again, somebody at the dealership must have beat on the car. In this case however, it did not go his way because it could not be proved that he wasn't the one that did it somehow, even though he did not, had driven stick well for years, and had owned other performance vehicles. Just thought I would throw that out there for examples.

You just have to check things out well, I recommend that for any vehicle, new or used. Also, you can usually steam clean those out, not very expensive, I've done it before to help someone out.

On a side note: Props on the Monte Carlo Cattivo. I have a 04 Impala I got in 06 used. Blue book was $12,500, I got it for $9900, and a 3 month warranty. I am the proponent for used cars. Great deals, and, it helps because if you wait the 2 or 3 years you have a better idea on the ratings from Edmunds.com, Consumer Reports etc. about reliability, recalls, and so on. I would hate to buy a new car and find out that that model year has like 10 recalls and all these problems the previous years did not and have to deal with all that shit and hassle.

I would stay away from a Rio. I dated a girl that bought one new, loaded, and it died within a month, and after 6 months of headache, returned it and got a different, non-kia car. If you must go korean, get a Hyundai. I am a huge fan of the protege though. Still good mazda engineering, not much shitty Ford in it, and quite sport both in the drive and looks.