Gentlemen, if you are looking for a car that is under 25k I think you are on the wrong forum.
I personally, prefer quality interior and I am not interested in poor quality interior that will hide behind excuses like " it si 25k for God's sake" .
As I already said, it really doesn't matter for me, it can cost 300 bucks and have the COG lower than anybody, it is still a Junkbaru for me.
For me quality means everything in every thing including a proper anticorosive body, aluminum or real wood trim, real leather and proper fit and finish.
And Ithink I have mentioned already, I am not a Porsche guy, nor other very low cars, I preffer a discreet BMW with a small letter on the corner that puts to shame many other cars that blow too much advertising, and is doing so in confort, superb fit and finish and wonderful sound system with gadgets that make the life on the seat a pleasure. Not to mention a car is many times defined by the hands who drives it and own it...
Better engineered than Porsche?
Depends what engineering means for people. For some, the engineering term is just a term that defines the numbers on the window sticker; for others it means, mechanics, technical solutions, materials and technology used and other litle things made to be seen by the proper eye...
Not last, not every person looks at the vehicle from financial point of view.
There are people out there that even if they spend the last cent they know what they want and why. This is why there are choices for everybody, the ones who want a car to take the from A to B and calculates the cost per year, and the ones who love the car and care how they spend that every minute in their daily comuting machine...