I own an 03 import too and like you I had a similar budget, imports are generally cheaper to pick up but I think that's down to people not really knowing and just sticking with the 'safe' option. Mine has all the good bits of a UK though even down to the bumpers, only thing it was missing was steering wheel controls. Although all my clocks and speedo had been converted it still had the top speed limiter on which stops you going over 112mph, I had Abbey Motorsport remove it for me.
Like others have said just make sure you do all the relevant checks and pick a good car regardless if it's UK or JDM.
Mine still has it's flare, I'd say buy an import just for that haha!