I've been pretty pleased with my Caddy. It is a v-8, and doesn't get quite the milage that I'd like, but parts are relatively inexpensive, it is front wheel drive, looks pretty classy, has leather interior (a first for me, but with 2 kids in car seats, I feel it is a must now), and lots of power stuff. I'm kind of anal about the car seats in the back myself, but I just put towels down on the bottom cushion before the seats go in. The other thing about my car is that for the options and everything, they're very inexpensive to purchase. I've owned mine for over a year, have about a grand in misc. repair and maintenance costs, and am still far from your 5k price cap. 5-10 year old GM luxury cars are pretty good as cheap, relatively easy to maintain, family cars. BTW, I'm not selling mine because I'm not happy with it, I just want another "fun" car.