The Bonavita 5 cup coffee maker with thermal carafe is going for $110 on Amazon. America's Test Kitchen tested drip coffee makers and they talk about Bonavita towards the end of this video, at around the 5:15 mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gggDqQ5yh6o

I have both the 40oz Technivorm Moccamaster (top pick in the above test) and then jumped up to the Technivorm when that came out because we like it and needed the higher capacity (2 morning cups + 2 travel mugs). However, when it came time to purchase my sister a coffee maker as a gift, I went with the Bonavita. It tests nearly as well, good water temp at the coffee, and she's not going to take advantage of the drip-stop that's a must for me.

Anything other than the Bonavita I would recommend, would either be more expensive or more complex (or both). You could always simplify and ditch the electric in favor of a Chemex Pour-Over or my favorite, a stovetop vacuum pot (aka siphon). KA has an electric Siphon Coffee Brewer that'll both entertain the guests, and make a tremendously rich brew.

For something that only gets used a few times a month, it would be hard to beat a Chemex for good coffee. But would you want a manual pourover for those "few times we leave really early and it's more convenient to make a pot of coffee"? For those times, maybe an automatic would be more what you are looking for?

For fire and forget capability, the smaller Bonavita definitely makes very good coffee albeit costing beyond your specified ""under the $100 range." Also, the 5 cups are 4 oz. cups. Is that sufficient capacity for what you want?

To get one within the "$100 and below" range, you could look for an an open box return on sale at a site like Seattlecoffeegear.com. I mention Seattlecooffegear.com because they have a pretty good return policy and sometimes have had returned Bonavitas. They also have their own review and testing videos which I found helpful in sorting through the many market choices the last time I bought a coffee maker.

If you drink your coffee with dairy &/or sugar and you are a Costco member, you might check out the Cuisinart Brew Central 14-Cup machine. I saw one at Coscto today for (IIRC) about $60. I used a predecessor Cuisinart model (12-cup capacity) for a decade between the death of my ancient Braun automatic and the current Technivorm that I've been using for the last few years. My frame of reference is that I could drink my coffee black from the old Braun and the current Technivorm, but I pretty much always wanted some milk in the mix when I decanted from the Cuisinart into a thermos for early morning departures like you mentioned. Costco's absolute satisfaction guarantee means you can get your money back if you try the Cuisinart and don't like the coffee it makes. That might tell you more about the sub-$100 coffee-maker models than can be garnered from print reviews here.

Thank you all. I think I may get the Bonavita. I'd love a Technivorm as I've had the pleasure of using one several times when traveling in Europe and they make the best coffee, but it doesn't make sense given how little we brew straight drip coffee. I think the 5 cup size will be perfect since we rarely need more coffee than that.

Vacuum pot or a french press. Much better coffee than drip.

Get an Instahot and do pour over coffee. French press is good but I hate the silt. Plus, with pour over, I grind finer which to me yields a more robust coffee in less time.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I decided to order the Bonavita. As much as I love french press coffee, a coffee maker is ideal for our needs on the few super early mornings where we need to get out the door quickly. I can set it up the night before, turn it on when I wake up, then go shower, get ready, and come back to coffee ready to pour and walk out the door. No fuss, prep or wait so early in the morning.

If you want the cheapest thing that makes an excellent cup. At $30, the Aeropress makes excellent coffee.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0047BIWSK/ref=asc_df_B0047BIWSK5360827/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=394997&creativeASIN=B0047BIWSK&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167152462925&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13432385695598957924&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9010194&hvtargid=pla-315571604316

I switched out my REI stainless french press that I used for camping for this. It makes a better cup of coffee and an order of magnitude easier to clean.

As far as cheap drip machines go, just about anything that will take a #4 cone filter will work reasonably.