I'm looking to buy a new car soon in the $13K-16K range. What I'm most looking for in a car is reliability with a good manufacturer's warranty. Fuel economy is my second concern.

The 05/06 Ford Focus looked like a reasonable choice, but they seem to have a bad history of mechanical failures.

the new civic

you could get a corolla, 41mpg, good cars, great resale.

new civic

toyota matrix

kia rio, (havent really heard too much bad about the new one, worth a look plus 10 yr warranty)

nissan sentra (you could get a good deal as there is a new one coming out next year)

the focus is underpowered

the new toyo yaris' are due out soon, same with the honda fit and nissan versa.

The 05/06 Ford Focus looked like a reasonable choice, but they seem to have a bad history of mechanical failures.

Anything but a Focus.

Basically anything from Honda or Toyota is good. Also Hyundai is worth a look because of their nice warranty.

As noted above, Honda or Toyota are fine.

Kia and Hyundai have lower resale values and depreciate faster.

Also, my friends recent Hyundai expreience has shown them to have so-so reilability for electronics, warranty or no.

the current focus is not underpowered, it has more power than the Corolla and Civic. Its hard to find a matrix with any warrantee left for 13k.