I got my 'new' ( well new for me, its used ) car for $3000. first thing I would try is ask friends and family are selling their cars, cos u could get mates rates, like I did.
I got a ( well I bought for family and they paid me back ) a 96 magna se, 4 cylinder, auto ( yeah im quite the manual noob ) with 50,000k's for just $3000 when its value is double that.