Patti,
My youngest daughter had a new VW convertible and loved it. She lives in GA and had it for 4 years. She does a lot of traveling and needed more space for hauling her stuff around so traded it in. It got good gas mileage, low maintance, and was fun to drive. Make sure to test drive to see if its something you will want to keep for a long time. I drive a Prius and love, love, love it. Compact, great on gas and has more room than a VW so that might be another option for you.
Brenda