I miss my '07. That said, I don't think it's necessarily the best of the small car segment.
They tend to retain more resale value because they're almost universally the FIRST small hatchback people think of when they're shopping.
So look at a Mazda2. Smaller, less powerful, but better to drive and much cheaper.
The Versa isn't as well made, but it's larger and far cheaper, if not as fuel efficient.
The Yaris is sort of an also-ran. Not very good to drive, too small, not nearly as versatile as the Honda or Nissan.
My personal favorite is the Mazda3 hatchback. Bigger, but generally more efficient if you get the newer Skyactiv version. 2013 and newer was the start of the "hard" Skyactiv platform which saw fuel economy jump something like 30%. The base trims are actually pretty well appointed, and you can also easily find a manual transmission of that's your thing, although I believe the auto actually got better fuel economy.