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I'm in the market to replace my old Focus hatchback, that I sold after 10 years and 220,000 kM of happy travel. I now need something similar and I'm kind of stuck.

Because I like to be involved in my driving, I want a mid-range manual hatch that is capable, has comfortable seats, cruise control (because I sometimes do big distances) and is at least a bit of an involving steer.

I've only found the Mini Cooper so far, which is a good drive, but their anecdotal reliability record, run-flat tyres and cost of repairs gives me real pause.

Almost no sellers I can find now import anything like this and I'm looking for suggestions.

Hi there,
You may be looking at European vehicles that fit the bill, but with a small negative as to cost of repairs. VW Golf or Polo GTi or 1 series BMW might still have the odd manual transmission- but not sure about the cruise control. Maybe a Mazda MPS (Axela turbo) might have man transmission? Maybe a Subaru WRX STi hatch, this would be the best fun and reliable.