Without sounding rude, i struggle slightly when i see people at 20 getting into something like the Zed, i worked my way up the car ladder if you like and built my experience of cars up with the cars that i've had. and the majority of them (except my first ) have all been drivers cars. i kind of feel i've earned the Zed, and feel a bit miffed when i see people jump from a 1.2 corsa to a zed etc. the high premiums are there to deliberately put people off, as generally the sub 25 category are the most likely to crash, and hence push up all our premiums.
I'm not saying you have to earn your Zed, and fair play to the many on here who did get one at 20/21 etc, if you can afford to do it then go for it at the end of the day its your money, and you earned it and you can spend it one what ever you like. but for me its a lot of money to spend on insurance when you could get something with a slightly smaller engine and have a shed load left to spend on modding, for like the next 3 years. as your insurance won't drop anywhere close to a grand for at least 3 years. you could easily spend £5000 over 3 years just in insurance.
if you want some worthy alternative car suggestions i think alot of us could think of some equally driver focussed cars that wouldn't cost you an arm and a leg.
( know i'm going to get slated for this post, but its my personal view, and if you do get one, then i'd be more than happy to help you out with modding suggestions or anything else you'd need on the forum)
Good luck with what ever you do, and good car hunting (i always think thats one of the best bits )