Absolutely agree on those points, essentially I did sth similar with my 996tt (except the sunroof that I love). This to me is one of the biggest attractions of 911 turbos in general; for a decent price you get a very fast and reliable car which is just the base for achieving a much larger potential.. No other car I know can combine that. Think about it. For 15-20k euros of performance upgrades you can have a car that is faster than pretty much everything with the exception of Zonta, Enzo and maybe CGT! It also handles great and has huge torque!
I personally get bored with cars after 1 year or so but my 996tt has kept me excited for 3 years but improving it bit by bit.
Cant do that I am afraid with any other car..
The ideal would be of course if P produced a tt version that addressed all those issues; I hope the S will be designed in that direction