I am toying with buying a new car, got around 6-7k to spend, ive got a shortlist of cars i want to view/testdrive. It will be a toy as my orion is becoming less and less used everyday and turning into a long-term project, but i still want to have something exciting to drive.

Several factors come into account here...

Handling - i love to drive hard round country roads and push the car through bends and roundabouts, so strong brakes and cornering ability is a must.

Performance, i want something fairly fast - obviously...

Running costs, im not wanting to run a car on a budget but at the same time i dont want to be paying out massive service bills and stupidly high premiums on parts etc. Fuel consumption is niether here nor there at the moment, lets face it fuel is massively expensive in pretty much any car at the moment and its only going to get worse, so i intend to enjoy my "toy" whilst i can without worrying about mpg too much.

Modification potential, im not intending to go mad but i'm thinking at least an exhaust, filter and some sticky tyres. Now some of the cars won't need them things, the M5 for example is pretty quick out of the bag i imagine.

The cars:

E39 BMW M5 - 400bhp rwd v8 powered sports saloon. High running costs, but a lovely looking car that i imagine i could have alot of fun in.

Mk1 facelift Jag XKR - 400bhp rwd supercharged v8 coupe. Only avail in auto, which means the mrs could drive it on long road trips, should be fairly fast and sound good too.

Mk1 Focus RS - 220ish bhp FWD sharp handling hot hatch. Possibly the most aggresive looking car ive ever seen, i love the looks and they are said to be superb in the twistys.

Mitsi Evolution 8 - 300ish bhp 4x4 sports saloon. Again great handling, but abit dull inside. Plenty of tuning potential tho and i imagine loads of fun sliding around with the AYC etc.

Now its worth noting here that i havn't driven any of these cars, they are my favorite cars based on what ive seen on the road and from what i've read/heard about them.

In an ideal world, i'd like to view and take on a hard test drive several examples of each and then compare them. I don't know if this would happen though as i don't want to start abusing other peoples cars. Unless i could get another owner to take me out and drive each example fairly hard.

So i thought i'd ask people opinions and see whats what...