If you only have $25-$30K to spend, why don't you seriously look at a 2door E46 330Ci? I'm looking at a few now in Perth, and i've driven a 5speed manual with all the fruit (tv, gps, leather, sunroof, all elecs bla bla bla) and for a 3L inline6, and being luxury and smooth as silk on the road they are pretty quick.
Put it this way, my 323Ci (2.5L Inline 6) had no probs hitting 200k's, so trust me, a 330Ci has plenty of squirt. And funnily enough, the ecu's in the E46's are "learning" ecu's. So if you hammer it around a bit the ecu will adapt to your driving style and the car will actaully develop slightly more power. And just for anyone reading this, no that is not a load of bullshit....