Nissan Pulsar

Are Nissan Pulsars a good car to buy used? I'm scared of buying a used car and having to spend eventually 1000s for repairs. I'm looking at a range of makes and models, I seen makes such as Renault, Citroen, Volkswagen, and Holden Captives, Holden Cruzes, and Ford Focuses but they're supposed to be avoided and I should aim for Japanese or Korean makes? Im finding it hard to pick something under 6000. Would I need to pay more like 10k?