surf-mat – no views on other makes, but have had 3 Corrado's in the past and loved each of them. Then moved to a family estate (yawn) and now in the position where I can 'justify' having a 2nd car! Thought a slightly more modern Golf might be a good option (and cheaper) than another Corrado. And have some VW experience that's been good so am biased from that point of view.
Not interested in having an outright sports car as need some practicality (3 dogs, 2 kids, often need a bit of room for work stuff etc) and some relative cost efficiency (my Corrado got low 30's mpg, nothing broke over 150K miles and consumables seemed reasonable).
Budget is £3.5K max – difficult to get a good C for that as they go for silly money. Lots of Golfs around at that price. Just not thought about others … except poss a Sub Impreza estate!