Trooper,

I'll disagree, gently. I bought an 05 Roadster Limited, manual transmission, in JAN. It had just over 74K on it when I bought it. I was looking specifically for that combination, and might have been too impatient. I didn't want a good one to get away, and it compared very favorably to another I drove that had much lower mileage. It was beautiful, and felt like a new one, at least to me. It had been well cared for, and seems very far from used up. Also, by 50,000+ miles, the problems that show up in some have had enough road time to occur.

Mine is a southern car, and the back window is starting to separate. From information available on the forum, I'm pretty sure I can correct it. If I have to have it done professionally, I'll still feel like I got a good car. I would not sell it now for what I have in it. You'll probably feel the same, regardless of the mileage on the car you buy.

Regarding the manual shift - at least one person here mentioned that the shift into first gets better with use. It is clear that it is worse in cold weather, so you may want to consider that. Mine shifts easily into first, but it is noticeably smoother once the car is warm.

If you do your own maintenance, you'll save money and be more certain of what you get. Be sure you download the technical information available here.

Good luck. Let us know how the search goes.

Michael