well.. considering just the 2 grand, not your future job or anything.. i'd go with a 4th (1986-1989) or 5th (1990-1993) gen celica. i bought a 4th gen for 450 bucks and a 5th gen for 1200 bucks. you could find them cheaper actually. lol.

performance potential is there. you can swap either 20v 4age or 3sgte depending on what trim you get. 4th gen gts comes with 3s-ge, awesome motor imo. chassis is fairly light to mid weight. little bit of suspension and you can corner quickly and easily.

as for reliability, my 4th gen died at 352k miles. my 5th gen is still running somewhere with over 200k miles.

hope that helps. ^ older civic suggestion is great too.