I have never made rational decisions about things like this, so please take this advice with a grain of salt:

Get something really neat.

It's true, cars have been figured out. The odds of you finding a near-bulletproof transportation appliance for completely reasonable money are high, high, high. You know, AC, working defrosters, idles for days without overheating, 30-plus MPG. It makes great sense to get one of these.

But you're not crazy to go the other route. You're mechanically inclined and seem to care about what it is you fold yourself into. Why would you relegate yourself to something conventional that gives you no joy but constancy (though it must be noted that reliability is a virtue)?

My father-in-law once told me that during his ownership of an extremely reliable Toyota that every morning while drinking his coffee he would look out his kitchen window at that car and get a little sad about purchasing something so... boring. Some folks don't care, and that's great for them, but it seems you do. Make yourself happy! This is no dress rehearsal and you are not hurting anyone*.

I drive a 93 240. It is a young car for this board. It's not perfect by any means, and as our financial situation changes, seems a bit of a folly; we could afford something less quirky that gets better mileage. But there isn't a day I don't look at that car and say, "Hey! All right!" somewhere back in my brain. It's a little lift, but it's a lift all the same, and we need those things in life.

As the kids used to say, "Go for yours."

Good luck!

*Okay, climate change. Okay. But you get me.