don't go from an accord to a 1st gen honda fit. You'll hate it. I went from a civic with power nothing to a fit. "Holy crap the fit has power windows" was my first thought when I got into it. If you approach a car from that perspective, the fit is awesome, but the seats suck, the driving position is strange, and the heat takes forever to come on.
The Mazda3 is a nice car. A friend has one, and he loves it. I test-drove a 2009.5 3 hatch, and I really liked it, but the salesman made the mistake of giving me an automatic with every option to test-drive, when I clearly and plainly asked for a manual with no options. That alone lost the sale, because my impression of that car was bloated, and heavy, and not balanced as far as power went. The friend with one loves it, and swears that I got the wrong impression and I should have gotten it instead of the fit. He has nothing really bad to say at all about it.
Subaru legacy would be good too, just don't get the h6 engine. That thing was fucking horrible, and IIRC ate trannies. I don't think you can find the h6 in manual in the US. Older (90-ish to 99-ish) legacy wagons rock. One pulled my fit out of the snow when I had ZERO traction. You can find them with options out the wazoo too.
I've seen some very loaded xBs and I thought twice about them. I rode in one and was very impressed. It looks like Cal has no problems with it too, so it might be an option for you.