Heh, you put a Ford in that list. One thing to note is that the Focus is a Euro Ford, not a US Ford, and that the 91+ Escort is actually a 90-94 Mazda 323/Protege.
Which, actually, Mazda Protege5 could do, too.
The TDIs... be careful. When they're good, they're excellent. When they're bad, they're horrible, and a lot of these are starting to need the really expensive bits. (I own a 99.5 Golf TDI. I've replaced most of the suspension, the clutch and flywheel, the injection pump, and the turbo.) DO NOT buy one with an automatic, Volkswagen automatics back then were horrible as far as reliability goes (and you lose quite a bit of efficiency, too). And, worse, dealer service often isn't a good thing, due to systemic problems with the VW dealer network. The expensive bits that these often need, in rough order of cost: automatic transmission (lasts 100-180k mi typically, and you're looking at a $5k bill if it fails (and the only rebuilds that actually last are the VW ones, third-party rebuilds often only make it 20k mi)), suspension (shocks and bushings are shot by 100k mi typically on these, and replacing everything is $2k), manual transmission flywheel (the dual mass flywheels like to fail around 150-200k or so, but at least a single-mass flywheel is cheaper, you're looking at around $1k), injection pump (at 200k mi, a lot of these are getting worn out, and there's another $1k or so, more if it's an automatic (the automatic pump is a performance upgrade for the manuals, too, so they're highly desirable)), turbocharger (some of these are fine, but 150-200k is when these start to fail, and that's another $1k), and the timing belt (this is a maintenance item, not a failure) is due every 40-100k mi interval depending on year and transmission (but the competent independent mechanics install the 100k mi kit on everything), the dealers often do these wrong leading to one of several kinds of catastrophic failure down the road (if you see paint pen on the timing belt, it needs the job redone ASAP), and it's another $800-1k typically.
And I've gotta get mine in for a heater core replacement... damn pain in the ass job...
Oh, and by the time they're this old, the interiors rattle like crazy.
Quite rewarding cars to own when they're in good shape and you keep up with the maintenance, and they last a long time, but a lot of them are in their expensive phase now. Good news is, they can be brought out of their expensive phase, too.