mook

You guys should see this one from the legendary Japanese Best Motoring series (this is the series that had the King of Drift (the japanese guy, who started the drifting craze by winning grip road races while showing off his drifting skills):
Best Motoring: The 350 Z Shock
It's an hour and a half tape, all about the Z and how it stacks up against the other Japanese cars.
Of course it's an older Z (and 370 is much improved, although 200lb heavier and still over gimmicked), but this tape has Z vs RX-8, S2000, older GT-R, etc.
At some point the racers (and you have to see the tape to understand just how skillfull these guys are on the track and in the mountains) get to talking about which cars are sports cars for people who enjoy the pure driving experience for the fun of it and have the skill to take advantage of the go-fast bits, and which ones are "sporty"
cars for people, who want to feel like they are driving a sports car, but really only need a car to keep them out of trouble while they go fast. Only one car does not make the sports cars list although it was voted as the safest, most stable at speed (even over GT-R) and has plenty of gimmicky cyber-nanny electronics (some of which you cannot turn off) to keep you out of trouble. Guess, which one?
They were also using S2000 as the measuring stick and it gets the most votes for "pure sports car" for race nuts.

They do say that the tuners can make the Z shine, but that's besides the point. How many people actually end up installing the go-fast bits and why not put them on another car instead, why not put those on the S2000, which is by the way 500lb lighter?

As for Mazdaspeed... who cares if it's cheap? It is a VERY fun and competent sports car, light and fast. All these cars are relatively cheap and some use cheap materials and components to make them more affordable (just like the Z's LSD), but who cares? Would you rather drive an expensive Cayenne?