What's a good mid to late 90's economical hatchback to buy

[muso]

I am looking at getting a cheap economical second car 4 cylinder hatch or wagon pref mid to late 1990's and manual. Some are tinny buzz boxes (I had a 1985 Pulsar once...buzz box) and others not so bad.
But I drove a 1996 corolla and was impressed but they are expensive compared to other similar cars. Laser Km or Kn I find to be very impressive but have not driven one they are a 1.8 with 92 kw's I think and have a driver's airbag.

Anyway although economy and practicality are the main points I hate gutless cars so something which is manual and can at least go with the traffic would be good and fun to drive. I've made a short list:

KM or KN Laser 1.8 hatch
N15 Pulsar Hatch
Suzuki swift Hatch (GTi would be fun but too expensive)
Mitsubishi Mirage (a bit expensive in this company)
Lancer CE hatch (a bit boring and buzz box from memory)
Holden Barina
Ford Festiva
Daihatsu Charade (1.3L 4 cylinder not the triple)
Honda Civic Ed or Eg (way above the others in quality but still have Carby no EFI but they look better than anything else here inside and out)
VW Golf 3rd gen (always been a great car but may lack Japanese reliability)


ABS has saved my *** a few times but I don't think any of these have that but my kids will be learning to drive in it so the more safety features the better!

Don't want to spend more than $2500 so my choice is pretty limited.
(Pulsar SSS a bit out of my price range but would be fun with 100 kw)
So far the KM or KN Laser is the best in my opinion.

Any suggestions especially from those who have driven or even owned any of the above would be appreciated