Go for a golf dude, 1.4 MK4 is ideal pretty cheap on insurance and can be picked up for reasonable price on the ole interwebs.

I'm consistently finding Vauxhall Astra's (2007ish) models on Auto-trader for around the 2000-3000 mark, all around 1.6-1.9l engines, and on quick insurances quotes through MoneySupermarket it's only going to be around 1700-2400 for the insurance, probably the biggest(in terms of engine), newest (in terms of plate) and cheapest (in terms of all the factors put together) that you'll find, and plus the new style Astra's look alright!