Car recommendation please

Originally Posted by Mt Tam I am

My buddy who just got the go ahead from his wife to buy another used car for himself. It needs to meet certain requirements for the family too.

Wife needs:
Leather to cut down on dog hair sticking to daughters dresses.
Seat five.
4 door (saloon).
Mileage not too bad maybe 20-22 MPG city.

His needs:
$25,000 used car budget.
Handling over power but not like a Miata's great handling and too few horses.
Reliability and maintenance costs. He would love a BMW but is afraid of maintenance costs.
He is pushing 50 years old so an EVO type car is not age appropriate.

I have suggested an Infiniti G35. A 2006 Infiniti G35x seems (from internet knowledge) to be in the ballpark.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.