The first rule of new car buying is: never ever ever ever ever ever buy a new car. Ever. It's just not worth it. Especially for a Honda/Toyota, which last a bajillion miles. Get a two-year-old car with 20,000 miles on it, or even a four-or-five-year-old car with 40+ and save a bunch of money.

My mom is an accountant for a used car dealership/finance company/etc. Though I've only bought one car myself (and just bought it outright, so no payments or any of that crap), I have a pretty good knowledge base from working there, talking with sales people, working on deals, etc.

A new car loses a TON of value the minute you drive it off the lot. It's just not worth the huge depreciation in value, especially when you could buy a one-or two-year-old car that's already taken that depreciation hit.

My car is a '95 Lexus ES300 with about 110,000 miles (~90,000 when I bought it) which I got for around $6000, and I couldn't be happier with it.

If you go used, you could even get a better car. $16,000 is a lot to pay for a Civic. Is it a 6-cylinder engine? When my car was in the shop, I drove around a 2000 Civic LX for a while, and I hated it (it was a 4-cylinder). Newer is not always better. Anyway, if you went older, you could upgrade: say, a 2004 Accord, which would cost less and probably be a better car. Of course, it would then get worse gas mileage, so I guess it's a trade off.

I just want a nice car that rides well, looks decent, and is quiet.
If that's true, then there's absolutely NO reason to get a new car.