Get a used V6 Honda Accord. Get the coupe if you want it to look sporty. Good performance and handling, very good reliability, pretty good fuel efficiency. Not as flashy as a euro built car but if you want a good quality car that drives, handles, and performs well, it's hard to beat an Accord.
I also highly recommend the Honda GPS navigation. It is absolutely top notch in my opinion. I've used a couple other systems and the honda is comparatively very easy to use and responsive. It is worth the $$$ for the feature I think.
If you want to add bling or more horsepower later, there are plenty of mods available for accords.
Of course, your budget is low enough that you might need to settle on the 4 cyl accord and might need to skip the GPS. I just sold my 2006 civic for $11000, so you'll have to get a fairly old or lower trim line accord to remain within budget. Still, an accord is a really nice car and if you can find one at a good price with the V6 then you will probably be really happy with it. The 4 cyl versions are nice too, but I like having the extra power available so my personal buying decisions tend to be biased that way.
Still, I drove a total beater of a station wagon until I could buy my first new car with a very small car loan, and I ended up with a 1998 trans-am because it had the best bang for the buck in a new high performance car at the time. I paid $26.5k for it and it was still driving great 11 years and 120,000 miles later when I sold it. I replaced it with a 361hp G8 GT, brand new out the door for under $30k because pontiac was going under. I liked my firebird better but the G8 has more room for the kids so I guess it is ok. The point there is that you can find a nice car and not break the bank if you shop carefully and if you buy cheap now, you can go big later on and pay cash.
