If I could do it again I'd get a cheaper car, but I got a 2024 Subaru Legacy w Limited trim, about 8,000 miles on it, for $26.5k.
It was my first car purchase and I sought my dad for advice, and I think he ended up kind of living vicariously through me and encouraged me to get something more on the expensive side. And he was obsessed with all wheel drive.
I put down maybe $8k and felt buyers remorse relatively quickly, it's a $425 monthly payment for 5 years. The interest was pissing me off (my rate is around 6.7%) so I began aggressively paying it down. It's around 7 months since buying it at this point and I have the remaining principal down to 12.5k.
The silver lining is the experience got to me to look at my budgeting and start optimizing and saving better. I know where all my cash flow comes from and goes now.
The car is really comfortable to drive, fast acceleration from the perspective of a non-enthusiast, great shocks and quiet interior. I can start it remotely with the AC or heat blasting, which is kind of awesome in the Midwest. My biggest frustration with it besides the big screen dashboard is the speakers. It has the upgraded sound system but I'm just not a fan for some of the music I listen to. It's very easy for vocals to get muddy or even unintelligible, and it doesn't have good sound stage despite being a 12 speaker array. Stuff like bass-y jazz and pop sounds fine, it's definitely tuned for normies.