If you really want luxury you could go with used...my boyfriend's 2001 Audi a4 cost within 500 bucks of my 2007 brand new hyundai accent. (that's 12,900ish if you were wondering) So you could go used and get a much nicer luxury car. If you get it from someplace like carmax, you could abate warranty worries with their own warranty.

If you're like me, though, and insist on a new car being really new, you might consider a hyundai. I'd say it offered more bang for the buck, but it's actually sort of different...you can't get more luxury features for the same amount, you get the same luxury features for a smaller amount. Does that make sense? Anyway. If modding the car isn't an immediate necessity, you could go with an Elantra, pay a little less than you would for the civic, and get a bit more car. And you can't beat the warranty. They're trying to make their cars into luxury-esque cars.

To that end, i'm not sure just how much cash you can put into this but there's also the altima coupe, starts at around 20g. You could get sunroof, leather, et cetera on something like that.