Yah I like the nissans as well. I wouldn't get a stanza or sentra though. I've owned 3 different 200sx's and currently have a Maxima and a pathfinder. The maxima with Blizzak snow tires is wonderful in the snow. The pathfinder accelerates slow and harder to stop due to it's bulk. (fun off road though).

Other than Rx-7's I think I'll keep buying Nissan.

 

Hell yeah! Another vote for an AWD Impreza! They are great little cars. I had a '99 2.5RS for a couple years and now I've got a WRX wagon.
If you get an older Impreza you should look for a 1996 or later. Subaru only made AWD cars from '96-on (no more FWD), and made the 2.2L engine standard. You could probably find a decent one for a few grand. Super reliable, unstopable in the snow (with-in reason of course), and you can even get a lot of tuner suspension parts for them now (AGX/Eibach: great combo).
I had high performance summer tires on the RS and took it to New Mexico for a ski trip and it didn't give me an ounce of trouble in the snow.
Plus the boxer engine sounds cool.
Good luck

 

1974 AMC Pacer.

Im partial to the yellow one, but the lime green is okay too.

Make sure the glass is not cracked cuz that back window will cost about $6000 to fix

 

I have an 88 Mazda 626 Turbo as my daily-driver and I absolutely love it. I bought the thing for $600 and when I stop to think about how fun the car is compared to the amount I paid for it, I get a big grin on my face. Seriously, 88-92 626's and MX-6s are great car values. Just make sure to get one with a manual tranny (the automatics are garbage) and a recent timing belt change and you're good to go. The cast-iron blocks on these cars are near indestructable; hell, I have 91K on my car and I should expect to get another 120K out of it without a problem.

One of my friends has an 89 LX with 150K miles on it, 110K of which have been spent on delivering pizzas. The only problem he's had has been issues with the brakes, but thats Midas's fault. It is an automatic and the transmission has started slipping a bit, but all in all, the car runs like a champ.

Another great thing about these 626's and MX-6's is that they really don't hold a great resale value, so it's extremely easy to find a car in decent condition for under $2000. If you can find a nice car like I did for cheap, then jump on it. Hell, my 626 had a new timing belt, clutch, brakes and other miscellaneous things repaired on it last year to the tune of $1600.

 

Well, i'd agree with Zach on getting a first generation mx-6 or 626 GT. Those cars a quick little buggers and run forever it seems. I on the other hand have a second gen mx-6 LS. That V6 in there can get around pretty decent like and really it doesn't look too shabby if you ask me. I have a big ol' aluminum wing on it so it looks faster than my FC, thats the cool part