Then go for Civic. Look man, it's easy to find that car perfectly used here and has good parts availability and less maintenance costs and even a good resale as it's PKDM. Go for the 2012 model Civic (Don't get confused with the new-shape one).
btw, why not city? look man the bigger the engine, the badder the fuel economy would be. City's fuel economy is quite good and bit cheaper. And at this range, you can get a brand new city and brand new cars have better reliability then old and used cars. Especially if you're buying it for the student whom can't afford higher maintenance costs and would be forced to sell it.
Even I dream about buying a Mercedes too, but remember I would go for a small PKDM car rather then an old imported and used car.
