Well, hold onto your hat cockmaster because I'm about to recommend a...ehem, Lotus Elise.
You can pick up a slightly used Elise for around $30k. Nothing is more fun for canyon carving and motorcycle like responsiveness than...not in that price range anyway and if you could live with commuting on a bike 5 days a week then a Lotus Elise would be downright cush in comparison. Oh, and the Elise gets nearly 30mpg city too.