Wow quite a few ideas

The key for me is the sub 1000kg as I love the chuck ability of light cars

Stanza Coupe if I could Convince the old lady in town who has one to sell it would be great

The comment about the seat is probably the closest to the mark if I simply swapped my turbo gear into the Sunny coupe with Stanza diff and my upgraded front brake's etc it would be pretty fun then it is just a case of fixing the seating position so that I can drive the thing to Melb and back and not feel like I have to leaver my self out of the car with a crow bar

I already have my seat in my 1200 hard against the back seat and down quite a bit lower then standard. I run a 100mm extension boss behind the steering wheel this gets the seating position good but makes the climb in and out a pain. The longer doors on the sunny coupe help

Looks like sunny coupe it will stay for now till a better idea comes alone

Celica and 180SX weight more than 1000kg
Cappucino has too much caffiene ... try a decaf americano

The original question was: Quote:

suzuki cappucino

just get a sunroof

TA22 Celica? Around the 76 model
Edited:
Ahh I re-read your post... For a newer car, 180sx.

if you get a louts, dont worry about the nissan engine, toyota 2zge will do the trick, and will be a legal conversion as it came in the later elise... also 8200rpm redline and vvtli... what more could you want 141kw, but only 200nm tq also could get trd supercharger kit.... nice

but still 6 foot plus would struglle to fit nicely

1200 coupe. perfect

is it leg or height room that's the issue? in my ute i've got some sweet sparco buckets that sit pretty dam close to the floor and i've got heaps of headroom. i'm about 189cm (6'3ish i think) but my legs are long in comparison to my body. anyone under 6'4 would fit easily though i would think. seats are so nice to sit in as well, surprisingly comfy.

here's an idea... take a working holiday in the UK for 12 months. By a lotus elise... series 1 versions from the late 90's - early 2000's sell for around 7000 pounds (sometimes you find them for as low as 4000 pounds).

At the current exchange rate, you get them for around 14.5k AUD. Bring it back as a personal import
When the rover engine dies, slam in whatever nissan motor you want.

You may also be able to do the same thing by taking a working holiday in Japan, although I have no idea what they cost there.

I reckon 180b or 240k coupe. Those look sex.
I'd go 240k coupe with an sr. That would give you the most room but I doubt even with a 4 cyl it would get down under 1000kg. Would still be cool though. Plus IRS would be nice on a daily.