I hear ya man. These kids just have never been in really fast cars before. And for me, a 6-8 second car is super boring and slow as shit, so I can relate, but it was fun back in high school. Lately, if it's not in the 5's my heart doesn't even get pumping. Not trying to make you feel bad or...
The boost he is running on race gas (simple canned tune by APR, huge well-known tuner) is very conservative, not unsafe by any means. Don't know about the airport part... my local gas station carries race gas.
And the same guy did 12.4 at 110 on pump gas with safe boost and a canned APR pump...
If we are talking about great value, fun-to-drive cars, the 2015 GTI starts at $24,700.
Great handling (performance pack adds electronic LSD which essentially eliminates torque steer and understeer--much improved over pretty much any previous FWD), great steering, can be optioned under 3,000...