I want a 2008 Miata. A 4 cylinder manual with a couple hundred horsepower that doesn't weigh very much and has a suspension someone thought about for a little while and a sticker price of $25 grand, and it'll probably make better gas mileage than the old Buick Century I drive to the store today just on weight alone.
Like, if you said "2008 Miata, or a Pigani Zonda. Choose one and it's yours for $25,000, but the terms are you have to own and drive it you can't just sell it" I'm going for the Mazda.
...the elise was my daily driver for five years, then the NC, and now the ND: the elise is in the shop after its garage burned down, the NC is parked in my driveway awaiting a 2.5l motor swap, and the ND is starting to show its age after some poor suspension repairs last summer...
Pretty easy and cheap to maintain for the most part, just don't damage the body cuz that's where it gets expensive and takes forever to replace, for example, the entire front half which is one piece.
Had one for two years. LOVED it. Highly recommend, tho a used Cayman may be a more practical and less worrisome alternative
Staggering amounts of cargo space, body far more easily repairable, parts far more easily available, more creature comforts, and still staggeringly capable and fun to drive
Had it for just about a year (bought it "new" but used as demo car for a nice discount) before I traded in for my current Taycan wagon, but yes a Cayman is effortlessly capable as a daily driver!