The wrx would be an excellent purchase. It made it into my
top ten article i wrote.
My recommendation is to find one from 2000-2002. Unless you have a personal grudge against circle headlights, these cars are going for way less then people think they should.
I've seen 2000 model wrx's going for 8-12k. Usually from tuners who bought one when they first came out, but decided to ditch their half modified cars for the new STI's.