In my younger days I would have loved the inexpensive quality you can get now for $100 and I would have experimented and modded the crap out of them. But at this point in my playing journey I'm not interested in "pretty good for the price", I want "perfect". But that's my character flaw - which my wife is happy to confirm. My playing is better and more enjoyable with a high quality instrument so I want to play more. I just haven't been able to mod the cheap ones enough to get there.
Some of the Epis and Squires are really pretty good. The modern CNC manufacturing is very accurate and repeatable. But they skimp on hardware, electronics and wood so you want to upgrade. But upgrading to better bridges, pickups and electronics can get expensive and, as I've learned the hard way, Fender and Squire parts are not interchangeable so the job usually requires routing.
It's been great to see how the quality/price ratio of foreign builds has improved so much. In the $500-$1000 range you can get top quality exceeding that of legacy American brands costing 2x or more. That puts high quality in the hands of many that could not afford it before. But I still find the $100- ~$400 range too limiting - unless you're in a Who tribute band, in which case, you need to stock up.
More power to you and good luck.