eww... so that's what a $5000 m3 looks like. makes me feel better about asking $7000 for mine...

and off-topic real quick... you guys actually cried enough to get them to lift the word filter for a racial slur. fucking pathetic.

anyway, there are decent cars to be had for $4500 or less, i don't know why you're stuck on it being newer than 2000 MY though... better cars can be had that are older, as long as they've been taken care of properly. trust me, you could buy a 2007 that's been ran into the ground and is a complete piece of shit if it's never had the oil changed...

any vr-powered vw you should be happy with, i'd steer clear of the e36 m3's in your price range, as you could very easily spend what you paid just getting everything to work properly in it after you bought it... you could also look to the tuner crowd and find a decently built civic/integra/240 etc., but that's up to you if you want a car that someone else has fucked with- plus, as a rule, cars that have had work done to them that are done properly are generally sold at a premium over the garbage 'b18 civic' or 'ka-t 240' that are just someone else's problem because they didn't do the swap right or are just in bad shape overall. $4500 puts you in the realm of the possibility of finding a decent car, but vastly reduces the likelihood of it being done right. for example, your typical nicely done sr-swapped s13 240 with a body in decent shape and tolerable paint and accessory mods will run at least in the neighborhood of $7-8k... but you could GET an sr-swapped 240 for $4k or less. just sayin. look at it comprehensively if you decide to go this route.