Suggested with only a little bit of snark, have you considered the Bugatti Veyron? 
It certainly fulfills the “kick-ass engine” and “great handling” requirements. And it’s surprisingly small (having seen one at an auto show).
J.
The Smart Fortwo has a Mercedes branded model. It is also in left hand drive.
I also prefer a small car and while I can’t justify the costs, I’ve admired the Audi A3 and BMW 1-series. The Lexus CT200 looks kind of nice, too.
Only during every moment I’m awake…and during the dreams i have about it. 
A true triumph of marketing that site. 41.91l/100km just doesn’t look all that bad does it? If my math is right, it comes to 5.6 miles per gallon.
And you’ve got to love the video of it driving down a snowy street. Yeah, that’ll be your Winter car. ??!?
My experience has been that most sports cars are not luxurious. Really uncomfortable in most cases, no matter how soft the leather is.
Pretty though. Very, very pretty!
VW Golf R
VW site has the specs.
Everything you could want for < $40K
AWD, 250+ HP, quiet, luxury.
75 mph = ~120 km/h! Awesome!
And 85 mph is over 135!
Take that, Ontario!
Seconding the 911.
This thread is five years old. Whatever car the friend ended up buying might be dead by now.
BTW, my friend ended up getting the Juke, and he loves it to this day.
No-yeah, it’s still ridiculously funny looking.
I mean, like, you’ve never been on the 401? If you drive under 130, you get run over.
There’s a reason I call it the Evil Death Highway of Doom…
The Cygnet was a dressed up version of the Toyota/Scion iQ. My daughter drives an iQ. It’s a surprisingly nice car for what it is, but there’s no amount of leather seats, genuine wood paneling or ultra deluxe audio system that could elevate that car to "luxury"status.
Glad your friend found something to his liking.
Updated submission to an old thread:
Infiniti Q30 (or QX30 if you want extra ride height)
I have absolutely no interest in cars, yet I’ve always found Morgans, and MGs, for some reason endearingly styled.
And they both produced left-hand-drives.
This little limited ed (19 only ) electric 3-wheeler Morgan from last year certainly seems… luxurious.
I was going to recommend the Mini Cooper Goodwood, which takes advantage of their relationship with Rolls-Royce.
So apparently he didn’t want a subcompact or a luxury car. :smack:
Whatcha gonna do? Sometimes you set your mind on one thing…and something totally different catches your eye, I guess. As long as he is happy, that’s what matters.
The car is beautiful, and I love the accessories.