The handling and braking is bar none. This vehicle corners like a sports sedan and it will outperform many out there. The ride is controlled and the grip is impressive.

The best part of the car though is the 2.0 liter Turbo engine mated to the 8-speed tiptronic transmission. At first glance it does not seem like the 2 liter engine can move this car around but Motor Trend’s 6.8 second 0-60 was validated by my heavy foot. Even better is there was no turbo lag and there seemed to be ample power from any speed.

A big reason for this is the 8-speed transmission always squeezes the most out of the engine. It’s always on the right gear and shifts are pretty quick. Sometimes, it will downshift once then shift again if you’re still prodding it on.

The big reward for the small engine and tall gearing is impressive mileage. At 70 mph, the tach is just a hair above 2000 rpm. I measured exactly 32.0 mpg on a twenty mile stretch of Highway 101.

So there’s my take. It’s an awesome car with the 2.0t and quite a bargain at $35k with auto, leather, 18 inch wheels. It really trumps the much more expensive 3.2l V6 which isn’t really any faster.