Well, it's a strange one.. I'm sure you knew my old MK1, ITB's, solid mount hardtop, bucket seats, sticky tyres etc - essentially a track car. Well, that didn't drive half as well as this one does. It's amazing how gutless MK1s feel; even mine at 150hp & 125lb/ft felt slow and it didn't seem to like to rev at all. Mine had a different intake cam too, which pushed power right up to the top end and yet it still just sounded & felt like a sack of spanners above 5500/6k revs.
The engine in the MK3 literally loves revs. It's not powerful on paper, but coming from a MK1 it really does feel like a good upgrade. And it's not just the engine, you can throw a MK3 around just as much as a MK1. It doesn't feel any heavier or cumbersome; in reality a soft top MK3 is way less than 100Kg's heavier than a MK1 (Roughly 1080kg vs just over 1000kg for a 1.8 NA). You can cary much more speed through corners and it feels more stable doing so.
The only issue is the standard suspension in the MK3 is quite wallowy and a bit crashy at the same time - it's like any other generation of MX5 (even the new one!). If you were looking to do it on a budget, I reckon a set of eibach springs and some RX8 ARB's and you're onto a winner.
But yes, in my opinion at least, it's a much better car in pretty much every way. I guess they just don't look as cool!