Not sure if its going to the States, but Fiat is bringing the 500 to Canada soon. I can not describe how excited I am for this car - I would sell all my lights and my motorbike to get this thing.
The 500 is pure awesome hot hatch in my opinion.
My sister had a Honda Civic, four door base model, 2001 I believe. Brakes were great, but faded quickly. Suspension is fantastic! Lively, strong and responded very well to almost anything. The engine wasn't bad either, certainly lacked power but revved fantastically. It would happily stay near the top end all day. The body and interior on the other hand…..well…hands down.
My current car is a 2000 Jetta. 2.0l, auto tranny. Boring as hell to drive. Its slow, but torquey and the suspension feels very heavy. The brakes are great though! Body and interior I find fantastic. Made very well and super comfy to be in but certainly doesn't have the fun appeal of yesteryears VWs. I've given up long ago of having a fast car – that's what motorbikes are for.
Every now and then I borrow my fathers Miata. It has the sport package or something along those lines. Many chassis braces, stiff Bilsteins, short ratio tranny, although an NA engine. Handles like its on rails, and you certainly feel it in your back after a while. It's a great car but the one gripe I have about it is the pedal position – I think they are too far to the right for me, and I have a heck of a time using them.
As far as RWD v. FWD, FWD can certainly hold their own if not outhandle many RWD cars. Look at the Super 1600 rally cars, sure they are not WRC spec. but they are awesome in their own right. With that being said, I come from the FWD generation and have never owned a RWD vehicle (The only reason I would is if I got my hands on a Fiat 131 or Alfa Romeo Berlina). I compete (Driver) with my father (Navigator) in amateur performance Rally and I can say for sure that I would be completely useless in a RWD car. We don't have the fastest car - a VW GTI w/ HotBits Suspension, Caged etc, but once you hit the corners that thing grips like nothing else. (For a 2wd…)
One thing many people don't know is that many AWD vehicles are biased towards the front wheels – its safer for many casual drivers.