This reminds me the ever so popular monkey psychological experiment commonly dubbed "because that's the way we've always done it" Sometimes, it's okay to think out of the box and see what happens
The original topic poster has quite a positive additude about making things work and I believe if anyone will try it, I'm sure he will.
I've yet to hear of a solid reason as to why the e-manage or e-manage ultimate is not a viable option (regardless of whatever reasoning someone has of wanting to use it) for this car. When I get around to installing one in my MR2, then I'll keep you guys posted for sure.