Perhaps it's obvious that I own one.

I rarely drive on winding back roads anymore, but if I did, then I'd consider trading it for a MINI Cooper S (non-JCW) or a WRX.

I own one and drive it everyday. But I've also autocrossed a MINI Coop and they are insane.

The Mustang GT is nothing like a Mini. The Mini is much, much more fun to drive on the road than the Mustang. The Mustang is a horrible corner carver since you have too much power that can't be put down, so you just keep it in third gear the entire time. Plus it's way too big for twisty roads.

The bolsters look like GTI seats.

Pretty much everything that's expensive.

Let me just reiterate that, this is a stick shift longroof with a herd of ponies under its hood. Oh, and the final little bit to really make you cream your jeans? It's all-wheel drive. *mike drop*

Those systems are helpful when you need it. My girlfriend had a Rav4 and she backed off of the edge of a driveway (people did this often when it snowed). She was able to get back up unassisted by locking the center diff.

What about a Wrangler?

I'm glad that you are comfortable with driving feather-weight cars day-to-day. For me, the difference is so dramatic that I'll leave the Miata parked in the rain. No tires you can buy will make it feel as stable as a modern car with a long wheelbase, ABS, and stability control.

There's much more to safety than just other cars on the road. I hated driving light cars in the rain on the highways because the puddles that gathered in the ruts would toss my NB around.

Buy an FR-S. In spirit, it's exactly the car that you are looking for.

For half a decade now the car industry has been telling us the way forward for performance is lower weight to counter downsized engines. As it turns out, they've just made their engines more efficient and continued to keep the weight.

Of course, we'd hardly need the 25-year import ban to get lifted if we could just buy sweet, simple, awesome rear-drive coupes from the showroom. Nissan made a big huff about these cars last year, then issued some statement about difficult business cases, and then went silent.

Might as well go full-retro and put on some of those dope TURBO stickers above the rocker panels.

These things are about to explode in value.

The performance package is a must-have for me. The stock suspension is like driving a around a bouncy castle and the 3.31 rear end is really tall. The skinny all-seasons suck too, but those are pretty easy to replace.

They are more high-tech than other sports cars. The Corvette is simple and light, the NSX will be, as you say, heavy and complex. If you don't like the weight and complexity of a hybrid sports car, there are plenty of classic sports cars on the market, like the 'Vette.

They are going for high-tech. If you want low-tech, buy a Corvette.

Imagine how you feel about the Scion TC. That's what people felt about the 240SX.