I don't know much about the finance side I'm afraid but I could recomend some cars. I had a Ford Focus till recently and was very pleased with it. The one I had was a diesel and it was ok. A friend has a focus Tdci (diesel again) which is fairly quick and looks the part. Just now I have a MG ZS which I bought new and I'm thrilled to bits with. It's sporty but quite big. It's little brother the ZR however, is, again, quick and very sporty looking, and I think new they retail around �10k, so a second hand one would be within your budget. Another friend's girlfriend just bought a 2 year old Vauxhall Corsa (sxi I think, something sporty anyway) for about �6.5k.