Not car advice, but with such a big change imminent in your life it might be prudent to put off buying the new ride for just a little bit. Get your legs under you and see what your budget is like in reality rather than on paper. Worst that could happen is you put the money aside anyway and have a bigger down payment.
Other than that, I've been driving a VW Passat for almost 5 years now and I'm happy with it.

I would say because your changing your life massively I would hold onto the neon and wait about 3 months to see how everything settles down. As stated above you can get a bigger down payment or have enough cash to buy into a better class of vechile, but you need to watch out for higher insurance and gas too

I would also recommend shopping around and picking up a lightly used last year model you could save like 5-8 grand right off the top and get exactly the same car.

First, wait until you know what your income/outgo is. Know what you can afford to pay.

Second, don't go payment shopping. The car business is full of sleazy deals and loans. It is good that you're already thinking affordable. Try not to get suckered into a 120 month lease on a low end Mercedes.

Hit a site like Edmunds, and get the invoice pricing. I once saw my mother purchase a car buy adding up the invoice price, taking off the dealer holdback, and telling the salesman, "I'm going to let you make $400 on this car." We drove off with the car.

As for cars, we're a Subaru family now. Love the Sub's, but admit that they're getting pricier. That said, my Hyundai Accent is about to turn 100K, and I've treated it like garbage. Paid all of about $8500 for it brand new.

Hard to go wrong with a Civic or Corolla. I know plenty of folks who buy Civics with 100K+ miles on the cheap, then proceed to add another 200K+.

I have little useful advice. I'm still driving my first car: a 92 Jeep Cherokee. While I drive it hard and it's still going at 230K+ miles, the mileage that an SUV gets is just not sensible with today's gas prices.

Don't listen to those words of caution! Just leaving college, you're what, 22? 23? If the job offer is signed, sealed, and delivered, then get the car you want. You'll likely be keeping it for the better part of a decade, and you probably won't have sudden unexpected money sinks for the next few years.

I found at that age that rent, utilities, and car payments took out a predictable chunk every month, I saved what I decided to save ahead of time, and I found some way to blow the rest. My car payment being 200 bucks cheaper would have just encouraged me to spend another 200 at clubs/eating out/taking out young ladies of low moral fiber. And that would have given me a lot less enjoyment than my ride.

I really like my Hyundai Elantra. Bought it new 3 years ago (hard to go wrong with 0% financing), and it's treated me beautifully -- even though I haven't been as assiduous with the upkeep as I would have liked. The quality numbers on the Hyundais at this point are very good, and the prices are also very good.

With that in mind, the Accent is now sub-$10k, if you want to look that way.

At this point in your life, drive the car you have into the ground, then buy a used car. If at all possible, pay for it up front. You don't want another monthly bill to deal with.

There is NO reason to buy a new car. There are rich assholes out there who buy a new car every year and sell the "old" one even if it only has a few thousand miles on it (no offense to any Goodjer assholes we might have here). It'll cost thousands of dollars less than a new car but it'll only have a little more wear on it and you'll be able to get impressions from other people who have owned the car for a while already.

All in all, a car is necessary unless you live in a city, but is generally a very bad investment. Treat it as such.

Actually there is. If people did not purchase new cars there would not be used cars for other people to buy.

Thanks for all the advice everyone, every little bit helps me with getting a good perspective.

I think I might hold off a little while as that seems to be the prevailing advice but things are going to be pretty stable for me.

A little background, I am a computer engineering student who did the co-op program. Co-op basically means I have work terms during school, kind of like an internship.

The company that has hired me after grad is the same one I worked at for my internship so I know what to expect. Edmonton is a bit of a pricey city to live in now because of the oil boom so I know my rent will be kind of high but other then that I will have minimal expenses.

I already know my wage and I am not too worried(maybe incorrectly) about being able to make payments once I buy it. I am mostly worried about making the right choice.

So as far as financing goes it sounds like the bank is a good idea?