maybe... what is ur opinion on Volkswagens (like a golf)?
...VW Guy walks in...
Okay, the skinny on VW's is that you've gotta time your cars just right in order to get a good one. Given your price range of about $8,000 that lands you right in the "pretty okay zone" for the MKIV generation Golfs and Jettas. Really, it depends on what kind of engine and transmission combo you're looking at, what trim package is on the car, and how well the vehicle has been maintained. The good news about the MKIV cars is that they offered a wide variety of engines (not so much transmissions) in the cars, and the wide variety of trims that were available with most of those can get you a pretty sweet deal on a pretty sweet car.
Personally, I'm impartial to the 1.8T versus the VR6, despite all of the dangers associated with it. The 2003+ 1.8T models, for the most part, sorted out the problems with sludge and such, and the significant re-tunes added a lot of power to the engine as well. A well-kept Jetta GLX 1.8T or GLI 1.8T will run you about $8-9K, and are likely to be in fairly good nick if they were owned by die-hard VW fans. They did offer a Wolfsburg version of the Jetta at the time as well, which basically stuck GLX mechanical bits under the hood of a more GL-like equipped Jetta. As I recall you got 16" BBS wheels, a sunroof, a pretty nice stereo system, and fancy cloth seats standard. Not outrageous amounts of kit, but enough for most people to keep them happy.
As for the Golf, its almost exactly the same story. However, they didn't have a Wolfsburg-like trim level on the car. You're pretty much stuck with the GLS, GLX and GTI badges there (the GL only came with the 2.0L I4). Stay 2003+, and you should be in pretty decent shape.
Be forewarned, however; Insurance rates aren't cheap. Even on my old MKIII Jetta, it was over $120 a month for me to insure it at the age of 18, and it wasn't even a "sporty" model. The GTI/GLI is going to be killer on the wallet, so I'd suggest stepping down a bit to a lower model.
The VW Passat, while being a heckuvalot larger than the Golf/Jetta, is also available in that price range with pretty decent equipment levels. The B5.5 generation cars are still some of the best-looking vehicles VW ever produced, certainly living up to their name of the poor man's Audi (deservedly so, the Passat and A4 were nearly identical vehicles at the time).
Also, this existed:
The New Beetle Turbo S was basically handed all the performance goodies from the Audi TT 1.8T, and delivered a solid performance despite the body that it had. Both fortunately and unfortunately, the car was not fondly remembered. I've seen Turbo S models going for cheap - way too cheap - considering what they are. They are rare, they are quite fast, and appear to be somewhat reliable (for a VW). If you want something
different that'll blow the doors off your average Celica GT-S or Sentra SE-R, this is it.
If we want to talk other European, or European-derived options, I'd definitely look at cars like the
Ford Contour SVT and
Ford Focus SVT as well. Both are awesome cars in their own right, and well-kept models can be fairly easy to find for not too much money. In terms of BMWs, your price range is pretty much going to limit you to late-model E36s or very early, low-spec E46s. I've never researched insurance rates on the cars, but I imagine they aren't exactly pretty. I've always wanted an
E46 328/330ci, but I'm not an expert on those vehicles.