Will put pictures up soon I'm happy to be part of the family. It's a yellow 02 with 40k ish miles on it. Some things that i've noticed in the couple days i've had it and i wanted to run this by some experienced owners:

i get a clunk sometimes between 1-2 and 2-3 ... happens usually at low speed and lowish rpm maybe around 3 or 4k. It's not a grind perse but kind of a heavy sound when i shift. It happens maybe 2 or 3 percent of shifts between these gears.

When i drive over imperfections (not pot holes but like considerable bumps) the suspension makes the same sound that any other normal car makes when the shocks aren't working so well. I figured this was due to how tight the suspension is because the car doesn't bounce around as if the shocks aren't working and the my07 that i drove brand new made similar noises - just wanted to confirm.

There are some rattles when driving with the top up ... i figure in such a stiff car there may be some - i can't localize them but they are faint and there - any ideas?

The previous owner changed engine oil ever 5k with either amsoil or mobil 1 and changed tranny/diff fluid ever 15k. Should i keep up this routine? I'm used to changing my synthetic motor oil every 5k but not the other two (i used to own volkswagens/audis).

thanks for the input guys and i really look forward to being in this community

 

Get a new strut and spring combo and buy my rims......

 

That could be your spindle nuts.

Congrats and welcome to the community. IMO 02-03 are the best years.

 

Hrm so you are saying that what i'm experiencing is normal for the stock suspension or that something is actually awry?

As for the spindle nuts, just spoke to the dealer and since the car is still under powertrain warranty he'll have a look and see if that's the problem - i noticed it a lot less today once the car had warmed up.