You are looking at a great time. With all the dealer incentives on new cars, the market is flooded with many good used cars. You should be able to get into a 240,740 or 940 from the years '92 - '94 for that price range pretty easily. As an example, I saw a super clean '93 960 for $4000 over the weekend. I don't know much about the reputation of the later 960's so no comment.

A car with a turbo will have more power, but will cost you some in gas milage. The turbo charger does wear out with use, typically 120K to 150K miles. If looking at a turbo car near this milage, make sure that it has already been replaced, or deduct about $1000 for the replacement down the road.

By the way, hold back $200 to $400 for some nice tools and keep close to this board and you may learn to do some service items yourself. It will save you $$$ in the long run.

Good luck,

Dan