[akboss]

That's a wide open question, but good to hear you're looking for a manual tranny, not only will it make your car more fun, it will save you a bundle in the long run. So are you looking for a tuner? Highway cruiser? AWD/FWD/RWD? If you want decent reliable transportation without a lot of headache, Hyundai's cars in the early 2000's made leaps and bounds in quality for the brand - a 2000-2003 Elantra might fall into your price bracket, but might not tick all your 'fun to drive' boxes. Mazda also has the underappreciated 626, which was a thoroughly decent car and had an available V6. If you want something fun, get an older Celica or 240SX, decent build quality and lots of fun. If you prefer domestic, a late-90's Regal GS would give you a supercharged 3.8L V6 good for boat loads of torque, but no manual tranny. You could try and find an early-90's Taurus SHO with the Yamaha V6 screamer, but in good nick it will cost you.