The early cars ( pre 04) were a lot less assisted in terms of suspension geometry and damper rates - they feel much harder on the road and as such can be a bit 'snappy' if you're not careful. I like the ride mine has, it's a bit softer, less inclined to bite you although if you drive it like an idiot in anything but bone dry conditions you'd best have your brain switched on because it will kick the tail out.
The cabin layout as you say is excellent, the seat moves forwards and back and the backrest moves - that's it and that seems to be enough to get anyone of any size comfortable. Seats are excellent, pedal layout is straight, wheel is dead centre and the gearstick falls nicely into place. All the heater controls on the left and all the audio controls on the right - nice big rev counter in the middle etc etc blah blah. Only criticism is the lack of glovebox, there's two storage bins in the rear centre console which are pretty big but only one can be opened if the roof is down
Only had 2 minor back end out moments so far, both were catchable and all I did was steer into it whilst holding the throttle and it snapped back perfectly into line - admittedly this was at <30mph .... i'd not care to try that at any higher speed.
Spent most of the weekend with the entire interior out to run RCA cables and suchlike, that's all done so now the only thing left to do is fit the amps and finish off the sub box.
Problem with it is that it's SO compact, running anything over and above manufacturers stuff is a time consuming process. Really not looking forward to getting cables through the to the doors - wire coathanger covered with insulating tape is going to be the only way to do it.