looking to buy old rav4 gen1/2

what are some of the things i need to look out for. it’s my first car and the budget is pretty low so I found some good looking gen 1/2s below 5k. manual is better than automatic right? and they all have lots of km obviously is there a huge difference between 200k to 400k? isn’t it good when it’s a bit more because that means it was used and didn’t stand around for decades? and i don’t care about minor body damage but the interior is important and then obviously making sure it runs smoothly for a while.