One other thing to consider:

AP2s (04 or newer) have the 2.2L engine, which has a bit smoother VTEC transition and revised spring rates, so they area lot easier to manage.

It's probably getting a bit more expensive than you want, but 06+ also add traction control ("VSA") that is designed to keep the car going where the front wheels point. It will let some wheelslip happen, but not much--defeat it if you want it off. But for street driving, I have it on 98% of the time. If I want, it is very easy to screw around but still have a safety net to keep me from getting in too much trouble.

 

As others have said the S is very competitive in its class.

 

No it's not. The early AP1s have a rear biased suspension where the rear spring stiffness is quite a lot higher than the front. The opposite is true for 02-03 and even more so on AP2 (excluding CR).

I have on 01. The car handles very well and has high limits to its handling. What I have found though is that when you reach those limits the rear tends to give, suddenly too. If you react quickly you can catch it, but this is not one of the cars that you go drifting with or power slide out of corners. A very rigid chassis and little torque do not make a good drifting car from my understanding.

 

Not all AP2's have VSA.

 

Actually, the IS is really about the heaviest I'd be willing to buy at 3200lbs. I forgot that the 3 series would be more than that.

 

So, I tried a Miata today and I essentially just didn't fit in the car. The steering wheel was touching my legs and eye level was about at the top of the windshield. I think I've crossed another car off of the list of choices .

I want to take a look at a Boxter. Also, the Lancer Evo is a thought (fairly light), but they're really on the top end of my price range. Anyone have experience with Saturn's Sky N/A model?

 

This discussion came up in the old fartz forum, too.
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...ic=682984&st=0
Here is part of one response:

Here

 

I'm amazed to hear that about the EVO. It's not much heavier than the S2000... I'll definitely keep that in mind.

 

at expense of corner G's

there's no issue with instability with the car, failure happens mostly on the thing between the steering wheel and the seat

 

miata is a tad smaller than our car, which is the least of its problem(imho it's a 20 years old ergonomic design)

they are much more forgiving and better to learn the line with, i throw my miata into corner and you'll get tons more feedback(manual rack) than my s2k eps system.

you should go check out NC miata 1g project, mazda took a regular nc miata, with some bolt on suspension and street rubber, the car pulled 1 g with very very low budget. Many owner followed the 1g receipt from mazda pulled more than 1 g with better tires, which is amazing for a car in that price segment