Want a compact car with some scoot and good fuel mileage to boot?

Check out Nissan's 2008 Sentra SE-R.

This little road bomb can give you a joy ride down the highway while still delivering 24 miles per gallon city and 30 on the highway from its 2.5-liter, 177-horsepower, four-cylinder engine.

Better yet, for those of us who are cost conscious, you get a whole bunch of equipment for only $21,610.

Standard equipment includes a continuously variable automatic transmission with paddle shifter, front stabilizer bar, torsion beam rear suspension with an integrated stabilizer bar, full power accessories, alloy wheels, deck-lid spoiler and driving lights.

Other goodies include side sill spoilers, sport appearance headlights and taillights, air conditioning, aluminum pedal pads, roof mounted side curtain air bags, moon-roof package, oil pressure meter along with an acceleration, and deceleration G-Meter.

I didn't have the equipment to time acceleration, but Autoweek says you can expect to hit 60 in seven or eight seconds. That's not a figure that will worry some of its competition such as the Mazdaspeed 3 and Honda's Civic Si, but it's certainly fast enough to be a heck of a lot of fun.

This car is quite a little handler that throws itself into corners, stops on a dime and has little or no body lean. The only fly in the performance ointment is that the paddle shifters, while fun to use, are a bit too slow in responding; so gear changes aren't as crystal clear and sharp as I'd like.

Of course, if you really want to go full tilt on the performance scale, you'll probably want the Sentra Spec V anyway, which comes with a manual transmission, a 200-horsepower engine and a lot more street racing character. But you'll also spend about $500 more.

What made me unhappy, however, was the lack of traction control and stability control, either as an option or as standard equipment. Even some cars smaller than the Sentra offer these things, and there's no excuse in these safety conscious times for Sentras not to have them.

On the plus side, the Sentra SE-R is surprisingly roomy, more so than many of its competitors, and there's real stretch out room in the back for your legs, too. And one of my favorite features is adjustable front cup holders that take just about any container at the spin of a button.

The bottom line, though, is that Sentra SE-R allows you to have the best of many worlds -- fun driving, good mileage, plenty of room and decent performance.