Well Gent's, thank you all for your very informative comments.
From all the comments (and mods), I think I can conclude that you also find the 135i a little staid in standard trim.
Just to clear up a few of the questions:
- The car I test drove was a manual - I wouldn't contemplate anything else for a car like this. And as for outright speed, that is a given.
- The Audi TTS is too "pretty" for my liking. As it is I've had to defend my desire of a 135i a couple of times already - once from a mate claiming that the 1 Series is a bit of a girls car and most embarrassingly from my 4 year old son who came home from school (ok - kinder) and told me that he had seen the car that I wanted to buy and there was a girl driving it
- I asked what he was getting at but it was quite obvious what he was saying!
- Question: What else is there with this performance for similar coin?
Answer: Not much that doesn't look like a feral machine that attracts all the wrong kind of attention - though a 993 or 996 Porker would come close in my mind.
So it looks like I'll need to budget for some mods to get the car just right for me. A bit of exhaust note will be required and some sharpening of the tiller might be nice (springs, shocks and stabilizers).