you want the best car for both worlds. get an 89 civic si. reliable as hell, and fast as "explative." the civic si when setup is incredible. it will own miata's, 325's, sentra's etc. Our local superhero Jesse went to a prosolo driving an SI and took out STX with a wimpy little 106hp vs. 300+ WRX's. the si is a fantastic choice for a daily driver + autox car. tons of parts, cheap to keep up, and hell they can be pretty cool looking as well. don't think of them as a grocery getter, thats just crazy talk. honda builds some of the most advanced suspensions in the industry and there motors are well, pretty much the best. manual tranny's are great as well. obviously i am honda biased, but go to
www.scca.org and look at the registration list for STS and you tell me who's crazy. SI is money.