In a way all sports cars are impractical. My philosophy for anything is if you're going to do it, buy it, go for it, go all the way to the extreme. Make no compromises :-)

Assuming that you have a factory stock suspension, then I'd say go test drive a Turbo bug and see what the heck I'm talking about :-). I've since swapped out my suspension with aftermarket stuff -- Eibach Prokits, Tokico Illuminas and RMDSM fat swaybars and I can say now that it can outhandle much of what's out there. On a purely stock comparison, of course the Eclipse turns pretty darn good, but it has a lot of squat, a lot of flex (more so on the droptop), and lots of weight moving all over. The bug from stock is flat and solid, you feel like the whole damn car moves as a piece. The responsiveness is simply not there on the Eclipse. When you want the Eclipse to move, it'll go but not quite as well. And the Eclipse shifter is just, well, sad. There are things on the Bug that rank rightfully with very good sports cars -- dispite that the Bug is not a sports car. :>

Calvin