[Rampage]

I do not totally disagree with your observation about the internet but I do think that what you are seeing is a bit of an illusion. What you are seeing as a car enthusiast who regularly visits car forums are a bunch of other people like you that are interested in cars and performance. In reality, the people that come to car forums and talk are a very very small percentage of the population in any age bracket. Most people are not car enthusiast. Most view cars as transportation or fashion accessories. I believe this to be especially true with young drivers. Many cannot tell the difference between FWD, RWD or AWD and most do not care what the difference is.

Even those that I would call car enthusiast do not all share the passion for light weight good handling vehicles. More are concerned with the stop light gran prix and want more power so they can beat the guy (or soccer mom) in the lane next to them.

Face it, those that want cars like the FR-S, MX-5 or my MR-S make up a tiny portion of the car buying public. Ford will probably sell twice as many of the "fat" Mustangs this coming year as the FR-S has sold in the entire time it has been on sale. Why would they want to change?