Everyone will tell you to NOT get finance, etc. I persoanlly hate finance and did clear off quite a major chunk of my debts this year!

If I was in your situation I would look for a 5year loan and pay off more on the loan if you have it spare over. You dont know what the future brings and if work goes tits up you won't have to pay so much back each month, making it easier to find the cash.

I was looking at 15k cars for my daily runner, but couldn't justify £300-£400 per month on finance as if it went wrong I would be fucked. Brought a 2wd Cos in the end which atm suits me fine. As said above look for a cheap V6 Vectra, nice cars and Vauxhall are pretty reliable. I was looking at them for a daily car also, but I wanted RWD for fun

Good luck