<human>: I got rear-ended last Friday by an old guy and I just found out that it will total my 1999 Toyota Corolla. The pay out will be just shy of $3000, however it turns out the rental car will only be available until Feb 7th.

Upside, my wife and I were already looking to purchase a second car and we have ~2k in savings that can go with the $3k towards a down payment. Downside:

* I have no clue what make/model I want, I just have features in mind
* I'm not sold on new or used or pre-owned
* I don't know my budget other than max $300/mo
* My wife and I are differing on feature set and price range

Features I'd like

* Cruise, power everything
* MPG between 20-25 city/28-35 hwy
* Something larger than the Corolla
* Zippy, but not a pain to insure
* Some higher end stereo (since my pioneer head unit needs to stay with the Corolla for max pay-out). I need to be able to connect my Evo via bluetooth or AUX for pandora.

I'm not married to any brand, but I'd prefer not to go GM due to their acceptance of the bail out (but if push comes to shove I suppose I could over look it). This is also the first "new" car I would have purchased (the others were from family), and I'm a recent college grad/I'm nearly done with my masters.

Any advice on new vs used vs pre-owned, makes/models, helpful resources, or general ideas for condensing several months of research and effort into two weeks would be greatly appreciated.

Condense the text into a few key points
<bot>: I got rear ended on Friday, now I only have 2 weeks to research, test drive, and take delivery of a replacement car.