Let me go down the list of suggested cars:
-2000+ Celica: My first car was a 97 ST, uber underpowered but a great car. I'm not the hugest fan of the styling on the 2000+ and I haven't seen many with low miles because they've all been driven by pissed off teenagers. Still, I'd consider it. Transmission doesn't bother me.
- Sentra: I've read bad things about 2001-2003 Nissans, but that one you linked looks decent. I can't remember how I fit into a Sentra but it might be a little cramped (6'3", 260)
- SVT Contour: Not big on the styling, and I don't fit into older Fords very well for the reason mentioned above
- Civic SI: I auto-X'd one at Mid-Ohio a few years back and was thoroughly unimpressed. Something about that car made me feel like it was always trying to go a different direction then I told it to. I'd consider it, but only if I can find one in the mileage range and these tend to get up there.
Like I said, I'm not committed to the SVT Focus, I'm just weighing my options. I'd already seen Turborust's contour on CL, I've looked around at Sentra SE-Rs (all the ones I've seen are higher mileage and riced to hell), hadn't really considered the Celica or the Si but I'm going to look into those as well.