On the high end of cost I would highly recommend a Juki. It has a 9" throat which is good for quilting and does an absolutely beautiful straight stitch. On the down side, it only has a straight stitch. I bought the Juki TL-98 for $3,000 4 years ago.
On the low end of cost, I had an old Necchi 535FA in my storage building that a son-in-law picked up off the curb. It still looks like new and I have had it for over 8 years. Of course, I never used it until a week or so ago. It is a wonderful old machine, take thick seams like they are nothing, you can drop the feed dogs for FMQ and has several different feet for sewing. I'm sure you can get one of these at a local shop that sells their traded in machines.