Need a little help finding a good american car

Ok, soo here's the dilemma. I am going to buy a new car in the spring, I know it's quite a while away, but i am trying to do all the research i can and looking for other opinions. I have been driving a '94 civic EX for the past 2.5 years, and owning a import in Michigan at the moment is like being a worshipper of Satan. I have nothing wrong with imports, and it's not just because of the *** i get for owning a honda, i do really want to find a good american car. Looking to spend 10k at the most, and newer then a 2000. I was looking at Cobalts for a long time, but I dont think i could find a SS for less then 10k, and i've heard from more then one source that they have pretty awkward handling. It's going to be my daily driver also, so gas mileage is an issue. I have been making spreadsheets on a bunch of different cars, and looking at autotrader for the past month or so, and i am at a loss, it could be that i am just trying to find a car that doesent exist. Best thing i have found so far is a 2005 Dodge Stratus R/T. Anyway, any suggestions would be helpful. I looked for other older posts also, but if i missed one, a simple link would be great as well. ~Thanks~  

i say go with a cobalt. i just sold my 2000 civic si for an 09 cobalt lt and love it  

ya, when i get closer to the spring i will probably start test driving a few more cars that i narrow it down to...was thinking of trying to find an SRT-4 also, but everything i have seen so far is a little pricey  

I would add on by saying not to let Ford out of the picture. The Focus is a good little car and very reliable as is the Fusion. I don't know if you can find any thing at you price range, but it's worth a try. The Cobalt would be a good car as well, in my opinion. I'm not too thrilled with what has happened to Chrysler as of late with Fiat owning the company now. I would give Chrysler products a few years to see how they improve, if at all. When Dymler owned Chrysler, it had a chance. They pulled out for some reason, though. That's all I'm saying.  
How you drive is your buisness. Remember that you're not the only one on the road!

Ya I definately am not going to put any cars out of the picture im still considering everything...but something caught my eye lately that I really never considered and don't know much about them at all, but how are the Saturn ION's? They arent that expensive at all used the get good gas mileage and they look like they might be cool to play around with a bit. Any downsides that i should know?  

Saturn is a good car, too. GM got out of making them, though. They are only making Caddy, Buick, GMC and Chevy. GM is still issuing parts for the aftermarket support. It's for OE parts, though. Performance is another issue. There is a person on this forum that goes by Carcass. he owns and races a Saturn, if I remember straight. I would check in with him to see if that's a car you would be interested in. My oppinion is that they are good little cars and people I know that own them have had good experiences with them, but I don't know too much about the product to give a straight forward comment on them. Again, check with Carcass due to his familiarity with the cars. He's raced them against other cars and I will say that it impresses me a lot.  
How you drive is your buisness. Remember that you're not the only one on the road!