Would buy in the following order, although Hyundai is starting to creep in there.
Toyota -> Nissan -> Honda -> Mazda.
I'd have to disagree with your order there, there is a reason why Mazda is the leading 100% imported brand in Australia, it's because their cars are high quality, have everything that opens and shuts and they are priced well.
Toyota produce the occasional nice sports car but the rest of their catalogue is boring as and their styling is a bit naff too (new corrolla exempted). their biggest sin is low entry level pricing that includes next to no niceties and if you want those extras you have to hand over more cash for the next model up.
Back in 2002 when I was shopping for my first ever new car it came down to the 323 Astina and Corrolla - the corrolla was technically inferior in every dept except engine power (extra 5kW's), it had a torsion beam rear end, cable-link clutch, cable-link manual gear shift and very lazy gearing + if you wanted power rear windows you had to buy the mid range model as you could only get power fronts on the base model.
Compare that with the Mazda 323 Astina which had a hydraulic clutch, mechanical-link gear shifter and fully independent multi-link rear end and both were almost identically priced. I bought the Astina and was able to option it up with power everything, 6 cd-changer, cruise control and alloy wheels for the same price as the mid-range corrolla and got a better car for my money.
these days Mazda is still my #1 pref (just bought a late '10 6 Wagon still under new car warranty) but i'd buy a new Hyundai before i'd buy a Toyota now - they look great, handle well, are priced well and reliability is now excellent.
