It's been six months since I received my car. It is as above and also has
sports suspension, LSD and 17" wheel & tyre combo. And altough generally
better than my AU Forte, it has displayed more problems in the first 6
months than the AU had in four years. Problems noted as follows:

- the pedal placement has changed as it is crap ( I have the standard
non-adjustable pedals). I found my right shoe catching on the brake pedal
which never happened in the AU (same shoes!). So I had to change the
position of my feet when driving which was difficult at first
- the drive by wire throttle body sucks as I don't have the same level of
control over the throttle as I did on the AU with mechanical linkages. It is
especially bad at low speeds and part throttle application where any attempt
to slightly reduce the throttle results in the car getting into a 'jerking'
motion
- the V8 box is a fussy piece of sh.t as if you don't slot the stick home
exactly it doesn't always grab the cog. With the the manual box in my 6cyl
AU near enough was good enough. It is also very notchy in operation
- six months on and it is still difficult to get smooth gear changes. I
don't know if this is the gearbox, drive by wire throttle or a combination
of both
- the amout of brake shudder is shocking after only 7000 km. I have not done
any hard braking (I don't think I've used the ABS yet). There is no shudder
noticable when driving the car so the its not a wheel balance issue. Only
when I apply the brakes do I notice this condition. Is this an indication
that the brakes are inadequate for the increased kerb weight of the BA
model?
- the car runs like a dog when cold. If I do not allow the car to warm up
during these winter months it doesn't run smoothly for the first number of
minutes. And on occassions when I do try to drive straight away it sometimes
dies on me. This is totally unacceptable in today's vehicles with electronic
engine management systems. Last car I had which behaved like this it had a
carburettor!
- and lastly, in the last month I've experienced on a several occassions
during normal driving that the car just dies without any warning (even when
the engine is at normal operating temperature). For example earlier this
month I was driving from Tullamarine airport to Dandenong after midnight.
For those who do not live in Melbourne this is an approximately 60km trip
which is freeway all the way. I had the cruise control set at 105 and on
five occasions at random the engine just died! Without stopping the car I
put the box in neutral and it restarted without any hesitation on each
occasion. It has happened on other trips and gave me a real fright once when
the engine died mid corner and the steering loaded up because the power
assitance was no longer there. I do not know if this problem relates to the
previous point as I noted that this phenomenom only occurs when the air
temperature is very cold

So although my 2003 BA looks better and is faster than my 1999 AU I have to
say that my AU was a nicer car to drive and more reliable.

Anybody else experience any of the above problems or have BA expriences to
share with this newsgroup?

FF