What right do we have comparing an all-wheel-drive Japanese rally sedan versus a rear-drive German luxury coupe?

BMW’s new 1 Series really is just that-the only one in its class. Its smaller stature and lower-cost bar comparisons with the Infiniti G37 and Audi A5/S5-plus, there’s the BMW 3 Series for that. Though the BMW is available as a convertible, the 135i’s 2+2 seating combination eliminates sports cars and roadsters like the Nissan 350Z and CLK350 (and the Z4 already has those covered.) What’s left? We put together a matrix to compare.

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