really, just go to a used dealer and buy something japanese with good records and low miles.
to the kids telling him to go and buy enthusiast oriented vehicles (ur-s audis, etc), the OP doesn't seem like the type to care about obscure performance/niche cars. the same goes to the kids on here offering their extremely biased opinions based on cars they own.
check online, and go in person to dealers/private sellers. do some quick internet research of suitable cars in your pricerange (with the features you want), and start pursuing them (refer back to line 1).