[onewhippedpuppy]

The S2k will hold value and in my opinion appreciate given time. They are an icon of Honda's golden years, and a car many of that generation aspired to. If you buy a stock one, keep it stock, and keep it nice, you'll probably never lose money. BUT, you have to like a car with super peaky power delivery.

The Miata is the Camry of sports cars. Won't turn heads, dead reliable, cheap, and 100% delivers on the promise of perpetual fun. It's why they are so popular. But they made a ton of them, and the NC will eventually be a sub-$10k car because of that. You can already find early NDs for under $20k, which will keep pushing the NC downwards. They also are a lot of fun but not fast cars. Not slow, maybe quick, but not fast.

Assuming your price range is somewhere around $15k, have you considered the Boxster? You can get a nice 986 S for that money, or an exceptional non-S. It's also the most practical of the bunch, both the Miata and S2K have tiny trunks that will limit your weekend excursions. The Boxster's two trunks hold a lot of stuff. It's faster than the Miata in both forms, handles better than either, the S is faster than the S2K, and they are very solid reliable cars.