I generally agree with your assessment. The 944 is one of best balanced cars ever. Still looks great today and can be made to perform with almost anything available now! One downfall is that panel gap is definitely indicative of it's VW/Audi and '70s heritage. The redo as 968 is much better in this regard, however, I don't like the way the 968 looks. I believe only the Turbo models carry the 951 designation even though the S2 had the same body work.
The RX7 (3rd gen), Supra (4th gen), and 300ZX (4th gen, Z32) are all wonderful cars. The Supra in particular can be a real montser with modifications but I prefer the styling of the Z better. The Supra and Z suffer from being overweight and the Z engine compartment is incredibly hard to work in.
I do like the 2nd gen MR2, especially the later Turbo models with revised rear suspension. The little 4-cylinder turbo is durable and can be modified to very high HP numbers. While the styling may be a bit derivative, I think overall it looks good and has held up pretty well.
The E30 M3 is a brilliant handling car with a jewel of a 4-cylinder engine. Styling is a bit over the top but is in character for the design of the car. I'd love to own one to complement my 190E 2.3-16 but as you mention, many are track abused and would be expensive to update/maintain.
The Neon SRT is indeed very fast for the price but every Neon I've ever looked at lacks any semblence of quality construction. I think it would be fun to own for a while but I doubt I'd want to hang onto it for the long haul.
In the '80s, I owned a 924 Turbo S (931), 1980 model with M471 suspension (this became the suspension used on the 944 with 5-lug hubs, vented disks, and 16" x 6" forged 928 style flatwheels). Fun car if not terribly fast. You've probably heard horror stories of how unreliable these cars were. Maybe but mine gave me very little trouble.
Other affordable performance gems...hmm. Early NSX's, if you like the styling, are sort of affordable now. C4 Corvettes. C36/C43 AMG's, early E39 BMW 540i's are coming down. Personally, I think it's a great time to be a car enthusiast!
