Joined the dark side and bought a miata
I'm amazed how easy she is to work on. I did oil, tranny, diff, coolant, brake and clutch fluid, spark plugs, pads and rotors, sway bars, intake, cat and exhaust, steering wheel and racing pedals, shifter and aftermarket springs in the first month.
Handling is amazing compared to the GTI. There's no comparison. Power is less amazing, although slowly improving. I received a standalone ECU in the mail today and am going to start tuning my own AFR and spark maps to try and squeeze out as much as I can while staying NA.