Okay hold up a second now shall we?

First of all, an "insanely fast shutter speed" has nothing to do with how quickly a camera can go from shot to shot. Secondly, the cheapest dSLR that is for the most part all metal is the Canon 20D at about $1300 for just the body.

What are you looking to accomplish with this new camera? What sort of situations will you be taking pictures in? You say you want to be able to take shots in quick succession but that's a rather general description. Are you taking pictures of sports events? Parties? Give some more detail on what you're going to be shooting and that will help give a recommendation.