So this will be a $20/minute lesson? :lol
It really depends on what your interests are. Honestly, I love MR2’s, they’re cheap and VERY reliable (I beat the ever living shit out of mine and only have about $40 in maintenance into it), but i would not recommend one as a year round DD. They are very twitchy and probably wouldn’t be so hot in the snow even with snow tires.
That being said, a Civic is a good way to go. Any generation, really.
Honestly, if I was looking for a DD in your budget range, I’d go MkII VW. I’ve loved all of bigred’s MkII’s and every “clean” one that I’ve seen. They can be made “fast enough” for not too much, especially for someone coming from an Alero 
.
A few examples, some are obviously faster/better/in better shape than others
comes with uninstalled turbo kit for a little project, only asking 5.5k:
rebuilt motor but a little beat up, only 1,000!!!
PNW but seemingly minttttt, 5k
You get the idea. Plus, the VW crowd is the best there is, no questions asked.
My $.02