At $2500, you're really in 'crap shoot' territory, regardless of method, so I'd heavily evaluate whether or not you need two cars.
If I were you, I'd spend $4500 on a the lowest mileage newest Honda Civic you can afford, with less than 100k if you can. I'd then drop $500 on a 'might run most of the time' craigslist beater (1989 Cutlass?), with the idea you might have to spend a little bit of money keeping it running.
For places to look, try Autotrader.com and Craigslist.
Something like this:
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...00&cardist=986
Or this:
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...0&cardist=1955