having just bought an mx5 i will say this..sure there are a lot of em on the road...yup, they have an 'unfortunate image'...but i doubt there is another car you can buy that is a genuine dedicated sportscar for so little money that will make you smile so widely and so often......

mine has no power steering, no a/c, manual windows and a manual hood....it has 82k miles, is a uk '94 1.8 car...has been graged all its days and used sparingly in the summer months....i love it....especially with the roof down, which takes, oh, about 1 minute to lower and the same to put back up...simple less is more fun......and it wil handle atleast as well, if not better than your initial 'list' posting some surprisingly quick a to b times on the back roads.....

...i suppose im lucky that at around 20stone and sporting a shaved bonce covered in scars, im hardly likely to be mistaken for a hairdresser......