Best Sports Car under $80,000

It might not look like a sports car in the traditional sense of being a low-slung, strictly two-seater with soft top but, make no mistake, the 135i Coupe fits the bill in every other way. 

So complete is the 135i in the areas of design and function and on the road (class leader in both), that it manages to overcome a considerable deficit in vital value for money stakes, normally the kiss of death for any vehicle that scores poorly in this critical objective area.

Providing the ‘motor-vation’ is a 225 kW twin-turbo, direct-injection, 3.0-litre straight-six, a dynamic power plant that has won its share of international design awards. Little wonder – this is an engine for any occasion, eager to send the tachometer needle racing to red line, or (thanks to a broad spread of torque between 1300 and 5000rpm), impress with its mid-range muscle.

The six-speed manual gearshift is rifle-bolt precise, although the optional six-speed sequential (paddle) shift auto is even quicker.

In coming up with an overall handling package, BMW designers and engineers have suitably answered their engine colleagues’ call to arms, endowing the 135i Coupe with not just the required suspension tweaks and hi-tech braking system, but near-perfect 50/50 weight distribution and rear-wheel-drive. Ride quality, while understandably firm, is agreeably compliant for everyday use.