Having thought long & hard I decided to catch the end of the E82 product line.
I couldn't stomach the look of the M135i hatch nor the equally ugly interior. 235i meh & from those spy photo's the bonnet & grill look like someone hit it with a baseball bat.
I could wait for the 2013 S3 but I'm over 2L 4 pots, so the logical choice was the slick looking 135i. Ticked most boxes, gee it didn't take long for the price to rocket
Hope I made the right choice, should find out in 4 months.