I spent three months trying to track down a good one both in the UK and Ireland and eventually struck gold on Pistonheads.
Mine was originally W673 TBK. It was sold by now defunct Liningtons in Portsmouth and I'm pretty sure it had a lady owner who had the car from late 2000 to early 2006 and managed around 48k as the car had four service stamps and invoices. It then somehow made it to the Clio Centre in Winsford where the gentleman I bought it off got it in P/X for a bronze 106 GTi (co-incidentally, I sold one to buy the 172). He was from Manchester and had started a new job in Bristol so put some motorway mileage on the car before deciding to sell it as he got a company car through work.
What sold me on it was that he was exceptionally friendly and helpful over the phone, full of information and also involved in motorsport. Knowing that he'd at least have some element of mechanical knowledge and fingers crossed, sympathy I had the car RAC inspected which it passed with flying colours apart from glazed rear discs and a rotten pattern exhaust. It has never been crashed, never painted and apart from a tiny shopping trolley ding and a slight scuff on the front bumper is immaculate, some very minor woman driver kerbing on two wheels aside.
I wanted a completely standard, low-mileage car approaching the belt change interval and was also prepared to drop another £2k into it to get the thing as fresh as possible so took it to KTEC for belts, tyres, servicing, the Stealth exhaust, discs and pads all round and a few odds and sods and had another big thumbs up on the car from the lads there.
I then brought it back to Ireland via the Nurburgring, as you would.
It's currently on 79k and at the time of writing is in for major servicing with my NSX-owning mechanic including engine mounts, plugs and a few other bits like the ITG filter and everything else outstanding from the 72k interval.
It took a while for us to become friends but I don't think I'd sell it in a hurry, the car feels factory fresh, is nicely anonymous and embarrasses 90% of things on the road. What sold it to me was the EVO buyers guide where an owner from Norfolk talked about winding roads and limited overtaking opportunities which sounded exactly like the west of Ireland.
The few things I would consider replacing it with would be a Trophy, an R26 Megane or something with a nice FR layout like an M3, but the downside there is that 3.0L road tax here is almost €2000 a year which is downright crippling.