Hi Adam welcome to the site .
I would spend as much as you can afford and get a rust free low milage example, spending more on a car now will save you a lot of work, heartache and future expense.
I Looked and bought the best example i could find at the time and touch wood have done nearly 2500 trouble free miles , car starts everytime ticks over fine, runs very well , just what you need if you are using it as a daily driver .
Good luck
Steve