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Consider an e36 328is 5-spd stick. I still have my 97, about 250k, and it's a blast to drive. Had some suspension and braking mods done, and a CAI...
Not a lot of power, although it can be modded if you want to go that route, but it handles very well, and there are plenty of suspension mods to make it even better.
Find one that hasn't been beat to death, garaged so the paint is good, hopefully a weekend driver with no or minimal track use so it's relatively low and low-stress mileage. If it hasn't already had this done, immediately swap the stock rad for aluminum - the plastic necks for the upper hose WILL fail around 100k. Upgrade the water pump as well, either a quality aluminum one or the most recent BMW OEM part, which I understand has had the vanes improved.
I haven't had any rust issues, had the clutch rebuilt once and replaced the dash module when the gauges got screwy. Oh - the brake light switch can be a replacement item, cheap.
Biggest issue for me has been the quality of the interior - vinyl peeling on the door cards, headliner needed replacing, door cards come loose, general cheap quality inside. I still love the car.
Fairly easy engine to work on, I replaced my own radiator, water pump, coolant bottle and switches; plugs several times; valve cover and plug gaskets; upper crankshaft position sensor (that fix brought the car back to new life).
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