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They can be quite the rip off, but you just have to be a smart consumer.
I bought a 96 Civic CX with 205,000 on the ODO for $2300, in all honesty it's not worth it but I really needed a car at the time and had asked a co-worker to drive me 50 miles to go check it out. I felt pretty obligated to buy it because I needed a car to move the next week.
The CX is the hatchback version for that model year it is also the most basic, so you don't have power steering, power windows, power doors, air conditioning, VTEC, stereo, etc. It also weighs the least of that generation. Next step up from that is the DX which you can purchase as a hatch or a coupe, but it has air conditioning, a stereo, and I think power steering. Next would be the EX which is the sedan version but has more things standard.
If you're leery about Civics and don't care for Metros, why not try Prisms? They are just Corollas rebadged as Chevy/Geo so they will sell for less. Should still be able to return decent MPG, especially if it has a 1zz in the engine bay, I got 35+ on an automatic 9th generation Corolla.
In all honesty, all you need is a manual transmission mated with an entry level car from any manufacturer. I don't know how much you have to spend, but I bet the Toyota Echo is probably pretty affordable and if you're in Canada you can find the hatchback variant of that.
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