Gordon, Cory, and everyone else who offered driving impressions, thanks!
I realize that Speedsters can be almost limitlessly modified, but, to start, I think I'll be going with a stock Vintage Speedster. It would probably be some time before I tried any modifications, and my hunch is that I'd be perfectly happy with the car 'out of the box'.
For 40 years, I've driven cars that were modestly powered - two liters or less. My 2002 was a '74, heavily limited by smog gear that had to be left hooked up here in California. The Miata was a 1600, 115 hp, and so is the MINI. The 2002 weighed 2200 lbs, the Miata and the MINI, both around 2600 lbs - all a lot more than the Speedster.
I've been OK with the power in all of these cars. I've always had as much fun playing with the pedal on the left as the one on the right.
The 2002 handled great for its day, but its day was 40 years ago. It was tight, had great feedback in the steering, a great shift linkage, the pedals were set up for heel and toe, but it rolled a lot in corners. The Miata was a huge improvement. The best word is 'tossable'. All the controls on the car were very light. It went just where you pointed it. You steered with your fingertips, not your forearms.
The MINI is better still - easily the best handling car I've ever driven. Even though the steering's electric, the shift linkage is by cables, and the gas pedal fly-by-wire, somehow the Bavarian boffins have gotten all the controls right. The steering has a reassuring heft to it and the car feels very planted on the road. There's almost no roll in the corners and the grip is amazing.
All of these cars were very controllable at the limit and you could easily steer with the gas if you wanted. But the grayer I get, the less I want.
My biggest question (for now) is about IRS. Does Vintage just pass on whatever the original VW chassis was? Or, do they do only swing axles or only IRS? What year did the Beetle switch from simple swing axles? Is there a thread here that explains all of that?
I used to think that all Beetles were swing axles and that only the Porsches moved on to better suspensions. Thanks for any light you can shed.