bye bye Deb

I need some decision-making help. So after working all day saturday, i was on my way to work at about 6am sunday morning in the rain of course (because it is Seattle) when I hydroplaned and smashed Deb into the guard rail. For those of you who dont know, deb is my Subaru Forester (she is named Deb because it was a fittingly lesbian-sounding name for a lesbian car). And she's dead. She looked fine, and I thankfully am 100% fine myself, but she had a slashed tire on top of some knicks and scrapes so i got her towed to the shop the insurance company wanted me to use. Then I go in there on Monday, right, and they tell me the estimate is $6800! Which is ridiculous, since that includes replacing every panel on the car that has even the most minor scratch which is totally unnecessary. But anyway, my only other option besides calling it totalled and taking the $5500 or so that the insurance company is going to give me is to pay the salvage cost and then fix it myself. Which I'm thinking will take more time and effort than i can afford and ultimately wont be worth it. So, it is goodbye to Deb. But now i have no idea what to do! My initial response is get a similar used car, but the more i think about it the more I sort of want to get a new car. Less hassle, warranty, I'll already have the insurance money to spend toward buying it, and.. well yeah. But i have NO IDEA what kind of car i want. here's where you come in. I know a lot of you have probably recently bought cars being recent college grads and all so perhaps I can hijack some of your research results. I just looked at some more subarus today and sort of liked the new outback, but i have no idea if I might like a different car better. I always thought my next car would be a hybrid but I dont think i want one now for various reasons. What are good cars? Help, friends. So far I have been thinking everything from toyota to acura to bmw (haha cant hurt to dream out of my price range, right?) to saab. Really I have no clue.