Best place area in town for a 20-something to live?

If you want apartment :Metro M Tineretului,or M-Unirii -near old town full with nice pubs and restaurants ,but same you can find Victoriei and Aviatiei(here you can find a house also for renting)
Otherwise for modern houses NW,N NE of Bucharest within Baneasa shoping mall.But over there no metro.

@K-State: The best residential areas in Bucharest aren't well served by metro.
  You could search using google the words ,,soseaua nordului '' and study the results,pictures and so on.. I would chose it if I had unlimited budget. That's where an ambassador would come for jogging for example, it's near the biggest park/lake in bucharest The prices for appartments are 800-1200E/month. Taxi from there to downtown costs 3-4E . For comparaison, a studio in a peripherical neighberhood, in a communist block of flats, would cost 150E/month. Example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alexa … erceni.jpg   . There you could find metro, market but the ,,social quality'' of the inhabitants is questionable. As a general rule, if you want a more authentic experience avoid the communist blocks and search for older buildings ( build before 1950 ).
IF you have any specific questions I'm glad to answer.

Great information, thank you both.  I may also be given a car, but I always prefer a subway when there is one in place.  I will be arriving sometime in early August and am quite excited about it. 

I'll be reading as many of the blogs and info on Bucharest as I can find to get a better feel for the city and the do's and don'ts.  Any information and tips are greatly appreciated!

How much does it cost to lease a vehicle per month, something like a BMW or Mercedes?

If you have a good accommodation budget, you could see if there's a place to rent at Orhidea Gardens. It's a modern housing estate with 5 blocks and has it's own spa and gym. It has security on the gate and underground parking and the utility costs aren't too bad either (not much more than a normal block).

It's also only 10 mins walk from the metro (Gara de Nord or Basarab), and you can catch the 123 bus to Unirii (for the old town, pubs, clubs, etc). Just down the road there is a large hypermarket (Carrefour). Basically, you get the benefits of an out-of-town new build, but in the centre, so you can choose whether to go by car or by public transport.

It's not cheap, however, with a 1-bedroom flat (78m2) starting at 1200 Euro/month. As RomanianTraveler say, you can go elsewhere and pay a tenth of that but...

K-State wrote:

How much does it cost to lease a vehicle per month, something like a BMW or Mercedes?

I hope it isn't considered advertisment. I came upopn this site when searching for long term car rentals in Romania: http://www.autoboca.ro/long-term-rent.php  .

I will translate for you: A BMW X5 or Audi TT would cost 1500E/month + taxes . If you rent it for 6 month it will cost 1000/month. 

I don't think it's worth it. Paying 400- 500E/month + cost of fuel you could easily hire a private driver using his personal car for this purpose ( a decent car) . As an example: A driver at a pizza home delivery doesn't earn more than 200E/month in Romania.
Hiring a driver in Bucharest would be a worry-free alternative for a foreigner, at least until you get used to the rules and customs regarding romanian traffic:)

Keep in mind that taxis cost aprox. 0,4E/km and are available everywhere and anytime. Cost of gas is aprox 1,5E/l .Personal cars are absolutely necessary only then leaving town, journeys around the country..etc.
I'm waiting for another questions!

Woah, didn't know it would be so expensive.  Ok I was just wondering.  Taxis seem like a great choice.  Thanks for the info!

You're welcome! For how long will you be staying in romania?

Forecasting about two years assignment..real excited about it.  I wonder how much trouble it would be for me to buy a car and sell it two years later?

Registering a car is a bit of a pain here but if you're going to need a car on a daily basis, you'd probably be better off buying one and then selling it when you leave. You can easily hire someone to do the registration for you if you don't fancy doing all the red tape yourself.

K-state, what an interesting choice. I have always been fascinated by Kuala Lumpur, wouldn't your company be interested in trading places with a Romanian? LOL.

So, about your question, I'd say search for a place near a subway station, because the traffic here is HORRIBLE! I also have a car but many times when I am in a hurry, I prefer to take the sub. If I were you, I would chose Tineretului, you have supermarkets there and a big park you can run or take a walk.

It's also close to the city center (but careful, Lipscani seems to be a little bit overpriced sometimes and, if in search of food, with sucky food... I would recommend some very nice places around Piata Romana or Bd Dacia for eating, like Bistro Jaristea any many other, but hey... it's a matter of taste) and you have some gyms there, a big pool and so on.

Hope it's useful to you!

Oana- Yes that is exactly the kind of information I was wondering!  Thank you.  I will not arrive until maybe September or October now, so there is lots of time still to do my house shopping.  There is a big need for english speaking expats in KL, I am sure you could eventually find something here!

I thought about it and the best would be to stay here(anywhere in bucharest) for 2 weeks and than decide for yourself what to chose for long term.