I will no go into detail how wrong you are.
If you can afford to buy a small hatch, and then mod it to make it heavier, slower and uglier, then you can DEFINATELY aford a decent car.
Or, the small hatch was purchased dead cheap what with the engine alreadly Majorly fubar, and as such the cheapest replacement was sought.
The chop shop to the suspension and spray paint do not seem like costly modifications, correct me if im wrong.