What is your budget? You can get a nice nice infiniti g35 probably around 2005 for around 16-18,000. Nissan Maxima's are nice and sporty, or even a 350Z.
I will assume "cheap" includes maintenance cost as well as initial cost. If that is the case then Mini Cooper.
If you search around, you can get a HR '08 Z base for around $23,000. It'll own a base Lancer, it looks better and chicks dig it.
Mini Coopers aren't known for their reliability (although they probably aren't as bad as the first couple of years they were out when they were pretty bad in that regard). And unless you get an "S", I don't know if I'd consider them all that sporty. To the OP, what's your budget? Whatever you do, don't just go out and buy whatever you have enough money for. You can buy a used car that was $30-$35k when new, but $20k now, but consider that you'll also have to pay for the repairs as if it were a $30-$35k car down the road. Make sure you can handle it if you go down that road.
I own a 2008 Lancer ES (bought it brand new). I'm pretty happy with it. Just upset that I paid too much for it. Should've gotten a better rate and should've bought used.
You should specify your wants more. Is cheap <20k? Sporty as in a coupe or actually fast? Do you care about fuel economy?
Given that all 3 of your requirements (good, cheap, sporty) are largely subjective, it's hard to say. Personally, I just bought a 2007 Honda Civic Si and I happen to think it fits all the categories. I got the sedan (introduced in 2007), but here's a good review of the 2006 coupe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOHfn8elm1A
Cheaper: Civic SI Accord coupe Acura RSX Hyundai Genesis Coupe More expensive: Nissan 350/370Z Infinitie G35/G37 coupe Honda S2000 1/3 series Bmw coupe Used M3 Mercedes CLK
It looks like he's in the market for something on the cheaper side. The base model Lancer is about $14,500 and the different trims go up to around $19,500. I'm just assuming he's talking about one of those models, although there is the Lancer Ralliart, which runs about $27,000.
