My poor MX5 (Miata) has delevoped a fatal fault, looks like the crank-shaft thrust bearing has self-destructed after 7 years and 137,000 miles. It will cost be about the same as the car is worth to fit a secondhand engine or rebuild the existing one.

So I think it is time for me to finally get a serious sports car. I've got a budget of £30,000 for a secondhand car.

The car needs to be suitably powerful. It needs to be nice and light. It needs to handle well. Ideally it will have a soft top/removable hard top. It needs to have luggage space for two people for a week away.

It also needs to be reasonably new, I'm going to probably be putting 15k miles on it a year for the next 5 years.

My short list at the moment is:

- TVR Tuscan
- Porsche Boxster

Cars I have considered but decided against:

- TVR Cerbera (probably the best looking TVR, but it has a fixed roof)
- TVR Tamora (a bit ugly, though I would probably still consider it if I hate the Tuscan when I drive it)
- TVR T350C (fixed roof)
- TVR T350T (targa panels look like an after thought)
- TVR Chimaera and Griffith (just not as good looking as the Tuscan and Cerbera)
- Noble M12 (zero luggage space)
- Elise (zero luggage space and probably a bit unlivable with for long journeys)
- Vauxhall VX220 (looks great, goes great, but has the same problems as the Elise and is a Vauxhall)
- BMW Z4 (looks great, amazing engine, but a bit "lardy-arsed" for me)
- Honda S2000 (front end just looks plain wrong)
- Honda NSX (for £30k I would end up with one that is older than I am happy with)

I haven't driven either Tuscan or Boxster yet, hoping to get some test drives in later this week.

Are there any cars (available in the UK) that meet my criteria that I have missed ?

P.S. anyone fancy helping me replace the engine in the MX5 ? Apparently I can get a second hand engine for £250 (they are cheap because they rarely break). I really don't want to scrap it if I can avoid it, I'd far rather fix it up and sell it on, even if I don't get much money for it.