If you're after performance, a shifter cart, well... especially a super kart will beat 99% of anything Ferrari and Lamborghini have produced, on almost any track. Superkarts even hold the outright lap records on some tracks, over F1 cars even.

Shifter carts are reasonably cheap and they're a hell of a lot of fun and adrenaline. If you truly like racing, that's where a lot of the F1 guys start their careers. Not the safest thing in the world, though. Spec Miata is way more tame, relaxed and safer.

Aha, interesting, I'd never heard of Veblen goods before this. I'd also never thought about it in this manner before, making it a better product would make it actually worth the money, and hence less desirable.

The world is such a weird place.