"its more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow"...says everyone with slow cars
I have a little different view on this. For me these super high powered street cars are kind of silly. They were fun early on in my driving life, though. I started with a three-carb Austin Healey 3000 as an undergraduate and subsequently had a lot of fairly powerful street cars including a Lotus Elan SE, a Porsche 911, and a Shelby/AC (real) 289 Cobra.
After spending 15 years racing sports cars (starting with the Cobra in vintage) I realized that, other than the occasional stop-light drag race, it is pretty boring to drive a fast car on the street. It is the challenge of the competition and chasing a track record through the turns that is fun. I actually looked forward to a 160mph blast down the straight as an opportunity to relax a little.
But I have always had performance cars. Too many to remember. Several Merkur Scorpio sedans, a Jensen Interceptor, a couple of Shelby Mustangs ('66 GT350, '68 GT500KR Convert). More and more I look for convenience, like a little passenger and luggage space. Last time I was shopping I drove a Honda 2000 with its wonderful motor and considered a Miata with (like the Honda) its great handling. But for my last car I chose a Mazda RX8. Adequately fast, a little bit of passenger space, and a reasonable amount of trunk space. Recently it developed headgasketitis, though, so on Thursday of this week I took delivery of a Subaru WRX. Even more space than the RX8, lots of toys, good handling, though a bit more motor than IMO a street car needs.
My street car criterion is I want to see a 55-85mph time of around 3 seconds, which translates into roughly a 3-second passing exposure on a two lane road. That is adequate. (I used to kid my engine builder, asking him how much HP my engines showed on the dyno. His answer was always the same: "Adequate.")
I thought about the Porsches, Beemers, and Benzes but for me all of those just add "prestige" and cost without IMO adding much value. So I wrote a check for about $30K for a new 2017 WRX and so far I am a happy guy.
Re the Fiat 124. I did drive one of those a couple of weeks ago. Not really interested because it's a convert and I drive a lot on noisy urban freeways, but the saleskid was bored and convinced me to take him for a drive. Apparently it is basically a Miata with a different engine and different bodywork, but it is assembled on the Miata line in Japan. So maybe not your "Fix It Again Tony" Fiat from days of yore. It's performance is adequate, its handling is good, but like the S2000 and the Miata there is not a lot of space. From the road tests apparently the Miata can edge it out for performance, but not enough to provide a meaningful advantage on the street. So anyone looking for something a bit unusual might benefit from finding one to try.