I recently bought myself a Mitsubishi Eclipse from 1997 and it drives amazing. It's a 2.0L and has 146hp.
I bought it for just €2450,00 and it's insurance wasn't that much in Belgium. I had it for a month and didn't have any costs on it for now. I'm planning to add a bodykit and stuff to it if I get more money It does use 10l/100km though
Polo is small and slow, looks outdated as well. Get a Golf instead, same price and more space
Make sure you also check out the Ford Focus
Other cars in your price range: BMW E36
Audi A3
Seat Leon I
Not going into detail but those are some nice beginner cars I have been around with. Depends on your needs what you want. However none of the cars in your list are sporty or actually "fast"