I think a lot of people are lost in the fact of what a true sports car is. I dont think most view it has a positive thing, but something that comes along with a vehicle in this realm.In the sports car realm a mere "30lbs" is a lot when you are trying to shave wieght everywhere you can. Power to wieght is what we are talking about 30-50 lbs could be a 5-6 horsepower loss. I know you are going to laugh at 5-6 horsepower but hey you buy this type of car to squeeze everything you can out of it. In terms of horsepower, everything is about wieght.
It amazes me that people buy these cars and expecting for the money (in truth these are cheap sports cars) they pay to get everything in one package. There is an infiniti that boasts much of what you are looking for with the same engine and a back seat. Which seems a much more practical option for many of the complaints Ive seen an read about. I mean look at the Ferrari F40 (I am in no way comparing our car to it in any other way than it was also a production car), for the money you paid you know what you got? A/C.... No door handles, no carpet, no stereo *it did have an oil cooler
" I dont know of any car designer who was designing a car built for speed and handling that would throw "cabin noise" high on the concern list.
I think you have to remember who a lot of your audience is here. Though there are some daily driver stock guys here, a lot of people here bought these cars to see what they could get out of them. A fun afforadable most bang for your buck sports car. So when you say people seem to think road noise is a positive issue, they arent they view it as an acceptable issue. I mean this isnt a personal attack, more of a defense of the people who dont mind the road noise. You said it yourself its easy to add, so if it bothers someone so much that they are having buyers remorse maybe a little more research or a few more test drives should of been on the menu.
My 2 cents, opinions are like @55holes, and all that jazz....