bicostp wrote:2002 Saturn wagon with the drivetrain from a Cobalt SS
Dodge Aries K wagon (or 1st/2nd gen Caravan) with the turbo 2.2L 5 speed drivetrain from the 80s Shelby Daytona (or maybe SRT-4)
1985 Buick Regal / Monte Carlo with an LS engine
1987 Fiero with either the 3400 out of an early 2000s N-body or supercharged 3.8
3.5L EcoBoost Fox Body
(Noticing a pattern?
)
2012 Focus, preferably ST
2003-2007 Accord V6, esp. later models with stability control
get a stock turbo caravan, or a 92-95s astro/safari, or 96+ supercharge toyota previa if you are going to get a van, previas were all wheel drive mid engined and supercharged, thats pretty sporty for a van lol.
late 80s to mid 90 volvos (740s 940s and 960s are RWD 850s are FWD) all had turbocharged and 5 speed options, 850t5 and T5R are beasts, 222hp front wheel drive and pretty sporty looking. turbo 740s have about 165hp stock and are pretty fun to drive, i prefer the wagons of course
volkswagens are great cars too, my cabriolet is a blast to drive and not too terribly expensive to work on either, i spent 90$ shipped and got all 4 motor mounts, one of my tie rods and both ball joints! VWs are like legos when it comes to motor swaps, you can have a 79 rabbit and put the motor out of a 94 jetta into it with very little difficulty, head swaps on the various 4cyl cars are easy. you can even put the cylinder head off of an audi v8 on some of the VW 4 cylinders with only minor modifications! later model cars also had the VR6 engine which is 6 cylinders and 160+hp and the newer ones even have a 6 speed transmission
speaking of audis, they are badass too! any quattros from ~85 to the early 90s will have a 5 cylinder engine and manual transmissions are just as common as automatics. audi coupe GTs are a front wheel drive toned down version of the original (ur) quattro, the audi 100s and 200s came turbocharged and the 200 also had a 20valve turbo model that put out over 220hp, and can be modified easily to produce double that.
lexus was another brand i considered buying in the past, the SC300 SC400 and LS400 specifically, the lower end cars are just upbranded camrys basically
the sc300 has the same engine as the mkIV supras (the supra has the 2jzgte twin turbo, the lexus has the non turbo 2jzge) and the SC and LS 400s have the venerable 1uzfe 32 valve 4 liter v8 engine pushing ~260hp and nearly 300 ftlbs of torque, but its still capable of 18-24MPG mixed driving if you maintain them and with a light foot
other toyotas from the 80s and 90s are great options as well like the supra, celica, ae86 and earlier RWD corollas, cressida (basically a sedan supra) and a number of others including the hilux/pickup
as for american cars i'm preferential to mid 90s and earlier, the new ones (2009+) are getting better every year but i buy used cars, not new ones
so i'd have to recommend anything G- body (1981-88 chevy/buick/olds/pontiac including the grand national, monte carlo, and el camino) or mid to late 90s caprice/roadmaster/custom cruisers with the lt1 v8. the late 90s supercharged buicks are pretty sweet too, and there are lots of other cool 70s-80s american cars (amc products among others) that can still be decent daily drivers today and more modern "captive imports" which are really rebadges of mitsubishi/toyota/suzuki etc. like the sprint turbo which is basically a first gen suzuki swift. or turbo/v6 lebarons from the 90s too!
(I would find a friend with a beater that has a stick to learn on).
i'd driven a stick maybe 3 or 4 times in my life before i bought my VW and it only took me a few days to be able to drive it adequately but it was a week or two before i was really comfortable with it. its not hard it just takes a little practice lol
Almost pulled the trigger on a $200 SL2 about 20 miles away, but unfortunately it was completely the wrong color inside and out. 
Definitely would have picked it up if it was the same as mine though. Waah. e: Got a lead on a local parts place that has both a same-color-as-mine fancypants model and a base model, both with the front bumper assemblies! All that's left is a couple cans of Krylon Fusion and a couple packs of OEM-imitation push pins from Lowes.
