Stupid questions from a first-time car dealership consumer.

I know that most, if not all, of these questions may sound really stupid to most of you. Keep in mind that I’ve never purchased a car from a dealership. I’ve paid in cash for all of my crappy cars and it was much simpler than this seems to be.

The car will be in my husband’s name. He’s got a 744 beacon score. We’re trying to get our payments under $250/month. I want a car no older than 2010 with low miles and good gas mileage. We will have about $2000 for a down-payment. I was looking at vehicles with a listing price of about $15,000.

1.) Should we go through a bank, credit union, or the dealership to get the best deal as far as an interest rate? I’d “shop around,” but I don’t want to have a bunch of credit inquiries bringing his score down. The bank I work for has a special for a 2.1% interest rate and no payments for 90 days, but I’m not sure if we can get something like that.

I’m looking at these cars right now:
– New 2013 Mazda 3 – I love the look of this car, great gas mileage, great reviews, but payments will run me about $270/month; listing price is almost $18,000, this is with a 0% interest rate for 60 months through the dealership
– Pre-Owned 2013 Nissan Versa – okay gas mileage, good reviews, very cute car; listing price just under $15K
– Pre-Owned 2011 Toyota Camry – good gas mileage, outstanding reviews, but not all that great as far as looks; listing price just under $15K

2.) Are there any other cars you’d suggest I look into? I really want an attractive sporty-ish car with dark interior and an automatic transmission, but I also want it to be reliable.

3.) What types of fees are associated with buying a vehicle? What, other than the down-payment, will be due the day I sign the lease? Will the taxes on these cars be pretty high? I live in South Carolina, if that helps.

4.) What is the best way to negotiate a price? I don’t want the salesman the get the feeling that I have no clue what I’m doing (though I don’t!) and take advantage of me. If a Nissan Versa has a listing price of $14,995 but Edmunds has them starting at $11,000, how can I get the price down and get the best deal?

5.) Finally, ANY advice would be great. I’m feeling really lost and frustrated and I don’t want to sell my car and then end up buying an equally crappy one because I wasn’t anticipating all the costs.