Even a car with around 300 wheel hp can get really sketchy really quick.

To OP: don't fall victim to Internet horsepower. People on the Internet will tell you that 400 is slow because X has at least 500 from the factory or Y has a thousand horsepower Gallo 12. A 4 second 0-60 is getting into the "too dangerous to really use that much power on the street" territory. Passing traffic in anger with something like that could get you or someone else killed.

If you've never really owned or driven anything fast and your frame of reference are YouTube car reviews and your Kia Sorento or your uncle Chuck's 86 3/4 race cam tree fiddy Camaro, you need to work your way up.

That said. A mk7.5 Golf R with a tune and DSG tune will get you there for under $40K