Best car for 20k

[Franky]

As the title suggests I am looking to buy a recent to new car for around the magic 20k mark. For the past couple of weeks i've read countless reviews, visited a number of dealerships and drove a couple of demos and i'm stumped.

So far the cars i've looked up include too many to list but i've narrowed it down to the Mazda 6 (2003-2004), Volkwagon Polo (new), Ford Focus Zetec (used) and Ford BA XR6. I've tossed up spending a little extra for a Golf or a Accord but i've decided against it so no suggestions over 25k please. As a student i'm a little worried about fuel consumption, but at the moment i'm driving a EF so anything better than that would be fantastic... trust me.

At the moment i'm leaning towards the Zetec but last week I wanted a Polo Gti so my mind changes week to week :evil3:

Must have points:
+ Good styling
+ Good performance
+ Good handling
+ Reasonable amount of safety features
+ MUST NOT BE KOREAN!
+ Reasonable fuel consumption

btw i'm a student, male and I do a lot of country driving if that helps at all. And i'm not fussed whether its a manual or auto