I'll give up a certain amount of luxury to gain useable performance. In fact, I'm probably in the 5% percentile of car owners willing to make a big ride comfort for handling compromise. But I'm not in the 1% of people out there who willing to throw comfort out the window in an extreme quest for performance.
After a point, a great big Law of Diminishing Returns wall hits you in the face. An all out effort to gain performance by eschewing luxury sounds good from a conceptual standpoint, but doesn't really always work in real life.
Luxury is not just leather, power windows and heated seats. Its noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) suppression too. Its ride comfort. Its being able to drive a car for 5 hours and emerge still sane from the experience.
A lot of you may think you'll always trade luxury for performance. But I think most you would do an about face if you've ever had a ride in a car that's really been tuned to the extremes... like a Caterham 7 or SCCA IT race car for example.
Personally, for a daily driver, I have to draw the line somewhere between an S2000 and the Evolution 8.
The Evo is a car with awesome body control, good power and an object lesson in perfect steering. It will also knock your butt senseless if you drive on anything but perfect pavement. If there's any rubber at all between the suspension parts, it has the compression characteristics of solid granite. There's not much sound deadening (some, but not much). There's no leather goodies. Everywhere you look, its cheap shiny plastic and mouse fur covering the doors. Wonderful car, but not for me.
Take the S. Very good body control, decent power, and good steering. It is 98% just as exciting to drive as the Evo, but you can manage to have fun and not get beat up. I can easily tolorate a 2 hour trip in one, where as 20 minutes in the Evo, and I was looking to get out.
There's a line I think most people would draw. Some might have higher tolorances, but I doubt much higher.
///M-Spec
