what car do you recommend?  

Well that all depends on your budget. A good starter would be an Mitusbishi Eclipse GSX or its twin brother the Eagle Talon TSI, Focus ZX3, Focus SVT, Neon SRT-4, A Volkswagen GTI, Acura Integra GSR, CRX's are popular but finding one that hasn't been tampered by the hands of ididots places it at an odd. Miatas are a perfect choice, a Sentra SE-R,(I know its not that small but) a 300ZX TT or N/A is also good and easy to find, and if you're really into being apart from the rest a Geo Storm GSi (I think it has a variant engine of the corolla GTS)

     I would recomend find the cheapest fastest car on your list and buy it. Don't worry if it has a lot of miles on it. If you want to go fast you'll have to rebuild the engine anyways; You'll have a new engine relatively speaking and it'll give you a perfect excuse to put in an aluminum flywheel. A car looses about 1-4 horsepower per year of being used depending on its maintenance squedule so... If you buy a nineties car or an ealy 2000's car its all in the math. You're still gonna lose them....