You're asking for a lot in that price range

I'd check out the Mazda 3. Last time I looked you could get one pretty loaded for 24k. Might be able to knock off a few options to drop that price a bit. It's not a power house but it's fairly peppy for what it is.
The Subaru Impreza is a decent peppy car starting around the 20k mark.
I find standards won't save you as much $ these days, and some cars are actually pricier in the standard models.