Five best Performance cars under $100K

Australia actually is the lucky country when you consider how many affordable high-performance cars there are on the market.

Not only do we manufacture heavy-hitting rear-wheel-drive sports sedans (for now) that are unlike anything built anywhere else in the world, we’re also treated to hot variants across a diverse market in which more than 50 manufacturers are represented.

The sheer level of choice on our shores is found in few other parts of the world.

We didn’t always have it so good. While performance cars from Japan and our own backyard have been on the scene for decades, some European makers have come and gone. Today, we have high-performance offerings from Alfa Romeo to Volvo, and almost all of them deliver a spectacular mix of talent and value that would make their predecessors – and ours – weep.

As the ultimate iteration of ’90s cult car the WRX, Subaru’s STI is an evergreen enthusiasts’ pick. However, the STI has, in its various iterations, asked its driver to pay a substantial price premium, then put up with nasty compromises such as harsh ride quality and turbo lag.

That changes with the newly affordable fourth-gen model – it’s a more rounded car than ever, and our pick of the category.

As well as diversity of manufacturer and country of origin, there are a range of drivetrain layouts, price points and philosophies at play.

The co-developed Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ stand for rear-drive purity and affordability.

BMW’s stove-hot M235i makes a case for towering outputs in a RWD coupe, while HSV’s best-ever effort, the supercharged V8 GTS, reckons rear-drive and mega grunt belong in a boofy sedan.

Alongside them, it’s no surprise that Renault’s Megane RS265 is something of a well-kept secret. It’s subtler in going about its business and delivers sharpness and tactility ahead of sledgehammer grunt. But take it from us, the French front-driver is one of the world’s great drives.

motoring Recommends best Performance cars under $100K

Despite dropping the Impreza badge, the all-wheel-drive fourth-generation STI comes powered by an intercooled turbo flat four-cylinder engine (the same 2.5-litre engine as fitted to the previous STI), sticks with hydraulic power steering (rather than the increasingly common electric steering), favours practicality over style and has an oversized boot spoiler, though the latter is now a no-cost delete-option.

The genius of the STI is in the execution rather than the recipe. Instead of a blank-sheet design approach, Subaru took proven components and refined them, and the result is the most appealing iteration yet. Now, the STI is about driver feel as well as foolproof speed.

Turbo all-wheel-drive performance cars are ruthlessly efficient at firing out of corners, but typically like a relatively slow entry. However, the STI is much more fluid than most. It turns in with conviction and is capable of impressive mid-corner speed, yet still exits like a slingshot on a slug of boosted torque.

A spartan, plasticky interior treatment plagued earlier models – it’s sorted in the current STI with neat design, improved plastics and richer trim.

There’s not a lot of choice in a two-variant STI line-up. Subaru has dropped the hatchback body variant citing lack of demand from the USA, making this a six-speed manual sedan-only proposition in base or $5K-pricier Premium trim.

Consider the $49,990 pricetag of that base variant – $10K less than the old model – and even the excellent value equation offered by the $38,990
WRX pales.

After all, in a shared development effort with Toyota, Subaru provided the Impreza-derived underpinnings, which come minus the all-wheel drive, and the flat-four engine, which is supplied sans-turbo. Toyota, meanwhile, provided the direct-fuel injection system and the inspiration – ’80s drift icon the AE86 Levin/Sprinter.

But the 86/BRZ is a less-is-more car and if the spec sheet leaves you unconvinced a quick drive will have you ready to sign on the line. The WRX and the Toyobaru are very different cars, and what the 86/BRZ lacks in turbo-boosted accelerative thrust and all-wheel drive tenacity it makes up for in entertainment value.

The cult coupe brings steering of a calibre found in very few cars. The electromechanical system is perfectly weighted, millimetrically precise and intimately connected. It’s a standout in a chassis with the rear-wheel drive balance to paint a wide grin across the driver’s face while making him look like a drift legend.

Sure, the engine isn’t the sweetest or the most potent unit, but it takes on a smooth note and a sense of urgency above 4500rpm and delivers enough performance to exploit the handling.

And you can rest easy about the reliability of an under-stressed 147kW four-cylinder, particularly when it’s the engineering co-creation of Subaru and Toyota.

The Toyota 86, in freshly facelifted form (it gets new instruments and colours and suspension tweaks), starts at $30K in base GT spec, rising to $37K for the GTS. The one-spec BRZ is $37K as a six-speed manual and $2K more as a six-speed auto. Those are cheap thrills.

As years passed, the Ultimate Driving Machine DNA born with such icons as the 2002 and E30 M3 was slowly eroded. And, while the M235i isn’t perfect, it marks something of a return to form.

The 2 Series chassis – 2 means coupe variant of the 1 Series hatch – is a talented rear-driver ripe to be worked up into this high-performance role.

Meanwhile, BMW’s venerable 3.0-litre turbo in-line six-cylinder was ready and waiting to provide the grunt – a howling, sonorous 240kW and 450Nm.

The increasingly uncommon manual transmission is available (a six-speed), which might make this powerful, rear-wheel drive an enthusiast's dream.

Alternatively, an excellent eight-speed auto takes little away from the drive experience, and brings slick, intuitive shifts when left to its own software. The fractionally heavier auto is also two-tenths quicker than the manual to 100km/h, at 4.8 seconds, not that it matters much in such a rapid device.

It’s a pity you have to pay up for big brakes and a limited-slip diff, though that helps contain the entry price to a reasonable $79,900 (either auto or manual)

The dynamic flavour is of beautiful rear-wheel-drive balance with rear-end grip that takes a deliberate effort to unstick, underscored by a pointy snout that turns in with alacrity.

The Driver Experience switch brings some benefit, such as intake and exhaust noise liberation and a slackening of the ESC safety net.

However, neither Sport nor Comfort mode delivers quite the steering weight and connection or rough-road damper control to elevate the M235i from good to genuine Munich great.

HSV GTS
The fact that it’s Holden Special Vehicles' last-ever sports sedan might be enough for the die-hards and the speculators. But the fact HSV’s GEN-F series GTS is the best sports sedan this country has ever produced should count for far more.

That LSA badge on the boot stands for the menacing 6.2 litres of Roots-type, four-lobe Eaton supercharged Chevrolet V8 under the bonnet. It provides the continent-crushing grunt – all 430kW and 740Nm of it – and is rightly the centrepiece, though there’s more to the GTS than straight line shove.

HSV’s 1881kg GTS might be a big unit, but it’s a well-balanced, talented handler than gives its best in Track mode, which is the ultimate GTS-specific setting on the Driver Preference Dial.

Already beefy steering is sharpened and a torque vectoring system engaged to help the burly sedan deploy its grunt. An electronic stability control sub-system, it brakes the inside rear wheel to send torque to the outside wheel, and it works.

The launch control system is another ESC sub-function that helps six-speed manual (but not auto) variants charge from rest to 100km/h in around 4.5 seconds, to a fruity bent-eight soundtrack overlaid by an insistent supercharger whine. Not that you could ever forget the blower is there – its presence is felt via a thump between the shoulder blades whenever the throttle is tickled.

But despite this epic performance, HSV’s crowning muscle sedan manages a veil of civility and sophistication. It’s more polished than you’d think possible for such a potent beast, and it’s this quality that makes HSV’s last, its best.

The feisty Frog sees off all comers with its blend of speed, talent and involvement, and it’s this last quality that seals its appeal.

Driving a Megane RS is an all-enveloping experience. The turbo 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder engine provides all the performance the chassis needs to shine, delivered with a satisfying soundtrack of turbo whoosh and rasp, intake growl and overrun exhaust pops.

The steering is meatily and intimately connected to the front wheels which, with a clever dual axis front suspension system, deliver turn in enthusiasm and generous grip. The brakes are linear and powerful; the seat grippingly supportive and the gear lever oiled in its action.

The throttle and brake pedals are on the same plane, which makes heel and toe downshifts easy, which signposts the Renaultsport attention to detail that marks the Megane as a cut above rivals. It’s not by fluke that everything about driving the Megane RS feels right.

The two-strong line-up kicks off at $44K and a Premium variant with more equipment adds $4K. They’re covered by the brand’s new seven-year warranty, which is worth having because, as dependability goes, a Megane is no Corolla.

It’s this, and less than stellar resale value, that come as the only drawbacks. But the Megane RS is such a spectacular talent that we'd overlook that.