as above, me personally would buy a fairly stock s2 turbo.

2k will get you a tidy one. If you start looking at heavily modded cars then yes, they will break and cost a bomb to fix. Something with small mods, exhaust, chip, lowered nice alloys will be a far better bet.

PLUS and most important, buy a dog and it will not sell!!! buy a nice straight ok condition car and it will be easier to get gone when you need to.

Stick to something that isn't running power beyond it's comfort zone.

Matt