Zen, I would have never taken offense by your comments. Sorry, was I the one supposed to be offended?
And when I made my point about there being more to it than speed, I was commenting on the fact that when I was looking, I was looking for power/speed too, and was amazed at how much fun I had in the Miata.
sushi, if you are talking about a daily, long, highway commute, I would probably not go with the Miata, as much as I love it. If you've had it on the highway, you'll know its noisy as heck. That's part of the reason why I went with the Z3-Coupe before. It's 6-cyl was MUCH nicer on the highway and the non-convertable factor probably added to its smoothness on the highway. I don't remember how the S2000 was on the highway -- I was having too much fun reving it at the time.
And, as much as I REALLY appreciate both the styling and power of the 60's American muscle cars, I just have a personal preference for the light, nimble 'feel' you get in a small, lightweight roadster.
Have you considered a 60's Austin Healey? You should be able to get a nicely restored one for about 30k. It's only around 2500 lbs and also has a 6cyl (back before safety/emission controls ruined everything
)with nice power (not Vette power, of course).
Or, why not go to the extreme and go with the Caterham 7? Six cyl., under 1500 lbs., 0-60 in under 4 seconds, all for less than 30k (life insurance extra). (http://www.britauto.net/)
