Hi Bob,
just thought I would add some stuff on the 3.7 Roadster, I will have had mine 2 years in July and have done 12k miles so far. Prior to this I had a 96 +8. So on the quality issue raised earlier I have to say mine is very good, no electrical or other issues on build quality. Mine did have the Rev hang issue and I tested the replacement ECU for the factory. The replacement ECU is a must do IMO, especially if you are a spirited driver. This as I have said and others transforms the car. With respect to chassis being up to taking the power, it does handle it IMO. It may be that others are not as used to such power to weight ratios as I, having owned a number of powerful cars in the past. The one thing I have changed is the front brakes to 6 pots from Williams, these give much better controlled braking and are less snatchy. With respect to gearboxes on Roadsters I drove Series 1 and 2 Roadsters when looking and on two of them found they were clunky and slow, although others were OK. The gearbox on mine is good, and allows a pretty quick change. One thing that is important on the 3.7 Gearbox (developed by Getrac for Ford) is that the correct oil is used, either from Ford, Fuchs or Millers, a fully synthetic API GL4 or GL5.
I would not discount a 3.7 Roadster without driving one first, it may be your bag or maybe not. But best to find out yourself.
