That's good to know, Ray.
I'm not wild about having this kind of discussion publicly. I'd rather have it person-to-person.
From my perspective, I'll give anyone who cares to dial me up my view of what they did well, what they didn't do well, what I still needed to do after I got the car, and what effort and time and money it took to get it to the point where I can now easily and reliably drive it 20 miles each way to work every day (which I do). My views are informed by some excellent '02 mechanics who have worked with me (and the car) since I took delivery, in addition to some other very knowledgable '02 owners who have been over the car. It was a long journey--much longer, harder, and more expensive than I expected--and I don't want to trivialize it in a pithy post.
My bottom line is that I now--after a LOT of effort--have a car that I love and love to drive. My only motivation for even weighing in on this topic in the first place is that I feel a sense of responsibility to help relative newbies (like I was) make a good decision for themselves, one way or another.