I haven't been off-road or to the track in a long time; I still want something that can get out of it's own way and can be enjoyed on the backroads, and I only want a truck to haul stuff.
Off-roading is expensive, regularly tracking a car is expensive.
I do not have any interest in going off-road in a new/newer vehicle - yeah the crawl control etc. are nice to have, but they are massive & parts are expensive. I'd buy an XJ Cherokee, older taco, or similar, and throw some tires, suspension & diffs at it; that way when it gets beat to hell I'm not worried about it.
I can also tell you I would not want to track one of the modern behemoths available today; too much in consumables, and not enough thought given to cooling or brakes from the factory for actual track work. C5/6 Z06 with gutted interior & upgraded cooling & brakes is about as modern as I'd want to go, and probably the cheapest place to start for a decent track car.
The 3.5L in my IS is "adequate" for it's primary use, but the car has way more chassis than it does engine, and the fact that I put stickier square tires on it doesn't help that discrepancy. Two more cylinders would go a long way to making it more fun; although I'd honestly prefer less weight over more power, but that's not something that is going to happen.
People can buy a car to enjoy without some grand delusion of tracking it/taking it off-road.