If the idea is to get a low cost runabout car, thats not exactly the best choice..... Best would be to go for a cheap local car.... Maintanance/running costs are much lower

kembara is also a poor choice.... with that kind of budget... you should be looking for those easy to maintain very common cars....

with a 5k budget
wira, saga, satria (if u dont really need to carry people) and the other tiny models

with a 10k budget
your options widen to include the kenari, gen 2, waja... i can go on and on
if you want a non local, seg

LOL....read properly lah.
Probably Teana after discounts.
If low budget is the priority then you should instead look for older Mitsubishi era Proton's.
I know some might say that Perodua cars would tick more boxes in terms of being a student car, it is smaller thus easier to park for newbie drivers, fuel efficient for poor student budget, and of course cheap to maintain. But I find Perodua cars of that era woefully unsafe. I know it might be an extreme example but remember that Kelisa that got split into half when a construction equipment fell on it? Granted not many cars and owners would survive such an event but I've seen too many Kelisa's in bad accidents lately thus it goes against my conscious to suggest such a car.

1997 Proton Wira 1.6XLI - this would be about your budget level and I tihnk it is a good car, firstly body parts for Wira is literally littered around the country, no problems getting door, glass, aircon parts, etc. Those are the common stuff this particular model is the 1.6xli not the 1.5gli (which is more common). The big difference? Power and gears. 1600cc of course is more powerful and also the automatic gearbox has 4 gears while the 1500cc only have 3 gears, so that means overall you've got less gears and higher chance that fuel economy sucks. The bad news is that the 1.6xli is less common than the 1.5gli so expect to buy parts at slightly more expensive prices if it is specifically for the 1.6xli which is mainly just anything for the engine/gearbox. Overall, it ain't going to really hurt your pocket that much compared to the 1.5gli but you'll enjoy better performance and fuel economy everyday with the 1.6xli, service and parts is just 1-2 days per year 
Haha....what kinda sound you expect?
If you're talking about the rumbling of the boxer engine isn't your thing.
News is the newer ones don't really make that kinda sound anymore.
Especially v10 really sound like a regular engine, however if you want sound you can always change to Remus exhaust for that sharp F1 kinda sound or Arkapovic for that raspy boxy rumble.
Funny thing is the Kembara although shares many similarities with the Myvi, it isn't as cheap to maintain, it isn't as powerful and fuel consumption is terrible in comparison.

Don't buy death traps from Perodua.



The only older Perodua that is decent is the Myvi.
here is an example...

A = axia, attrage
B = vios, city, almera, myvi
C = altis, civic, sylphy
D = camry, accord, teana

seg is an old toyota corolla. prety decent thing but its old so finding one in good condition isnt as common nowadays.

ohh yeah... best to find a later model proton (2000 and onwards) but IF you do look for an older proton (pre 2000) check for rust especially on the roof. its very common on protons back then.
*highly recommend you look for a manual car though..... easier to jaga, less headaches in event crap does happen
short shifter, can install (but... trust me Kosumaledoko depending on how short the throw is, the novelty can wear out daily after driving a while. Shorter the throw is, the stiffer it is.....)

hehe most 'performance' oriented cars are meant to be obnoxiously loud, difficult/harsh to drive (not so with the newer ones), . Like you say, he will probably like a sporty car better.

i think he is looking for anything round 5 years old or newer that fits his budget.