I'm new as well mate. I have an s-body, I'm going to weld the diff and spend the rest of my moneys on track time and rubber. It's also a daily so hopefully i dont smash it.
Personally I'd say once you've got a car, keep your money until you've been doing it a while, then you can make informed choices on what to buy judging by your experience and what you think you need. That's what I'm gonna do.
Car wise i love my S14a. Easily tuneable on stock injectors and turbo to 250-280 safely. That's more than what I'll need at my level. And the SXOC has thousands of 'walkthrough' how to's which ive used (and saved a pretty penny) many a time. I cant comment on other cars as its the only decent RWD ive owned. Im sure someone else will jump in with good cars mate.