5k to spend on a toy? it would not be a starlet they are cheap to run tax and insure and when a fair bit of modification is done will piss all over most on the road. but they are certainly not the be all and end all of cars. an evo/skyline supra etc are a completely different beast, yes a starlet will keep up but it certainly wont be as good to drive, prices are low due to many things chavs that dont know what they are worth economic climate at present is shit there are alot more on the road than there was 3 years ago they will drop even more before coming back up so if you have a good example keep hold of it, if you have a rot box get rid asap you will notice that mk1 and 2s are worth alot more than most well speced glanzas atm as there are less on the road due to being broken by all the oldies that first had them and hae spent£££ on them