Having spent a few years mostly renting, I'm looking to buy a new or nearly new car. I'm looking around £15k (possibly with a finance deal), anything from a Golf size or bigger. The main criteria is it should be fun to drive although lower running costs would be a plus. I mostly do short local journeys with the odd long trip thrown in, so a diesel probably wouldn't be ideal. I have no idea where to start (although I was impressed with a 3-series recently). Thanks.