Have you ever looked at the Mazda 5? It is a mini-minivan based on the Mazda 3. I find it pretty stylish, nice sized (not too big) and if I am not mistaken it can be had for $20K. Gas mileage is of course not as good as the TDI.
Go for the full size Accord or CRV. They are more fun to drive than the Camry or Rav and one of the few no brainer recommendations anyone can make. If you don’t like it in a few years, it has great resale value relative to most other cars. The satisfaction rating in CR of owners is extremely high. All those people can’t be that gullible/wrong.
More fun to drive? That’s like saying a coma is better than being knocked unconscious. Or a gun shot wound is better than a stab wound. 
Of those 4 you mention, the Rav4 is the only one that comes close to being fun to drive.
Love that; the “better” options are just a tad better than the most boring car.
When I test drove a new Civic(when they first came out with the new design they have now), I was wide awake before I went out, part way through the drive, I started to fall asleep it was so boring.
That’s why I’ve been recommending Mazdas to the posters recently. They combine reliability with driving fun.
That’s also why I recommended the Mazda6.
We had a 97 Taurus and 98 Camry, and both were getting up there in miles. Both were generally very reliable, but it was getting tiring doing all the maintenance and repairs required to keep two rusting cars going (it is not unusual for us to get 1" of salt put down at my office for every 1" of snow, if that tells you something).
Neither of those vehicles is even comparable with our '10 Mazda6 for driving fun. Not even close. Even the '10 Fusions, which use the same chassis and most of the same suspension components as the Mazda, weren’t as fun to drive, as they were tuned for softer rides.
And they’re still selling off the last of the '10s… the base i Sports are going for $16,800 now with automatic…
Must be nice to have your work place actually put salt down. Sometimes I wonder if my place ever does anything but have someone come in and plow the parking lot, then through out some sidewalk salt around the entrance area. 
I haven’t had a chance to test out my CX-7s AWD completely yet, will definitely get a chance this winter though. After I get through this winter, I’ll probably get some real tires and ditch these crappy RS-A factory tires. Might consider getting separate rims and tires for winter, but that’ll be another year or three before that happens. I’m looking at atleast 2 grand for rims and tires in that respect
Trust me, bscar… you don’t want this much salt… :S
Between the salt and the speedbumps / sinkholes, I sometimes think its amazing any car lasts me any length of time
"More fun to drive? That’s like saying a coma is better than being knocked unconscious. Or a gun shot wound is better than a stab wound. "
OK I get the point…but we are looking for a family car and I struggled to find ANY that are “less boring” to drive, other than an awd Subaru in snow…is that better ? You are right, fun to drive and fwd seldom belong in the same sentence, especially in larger cars.