Bear in mind there are lots of these for sale so it really is a buyers market.

Brakes are ok tbh but the std ford pads need upgrading as they fade quite quickly. I run Mintex with EBC disks. Thermostats can leak, theres a billet aluminium one available. Breather hoses can go soft and collapse, causes them to smoke like a dodgy turbo. Metal water hoses corrode. Clutches last from 40k up to past 100k depending on how theyve been driven. Depending on the ecu map AE or AF it may either have a slightly dodgey cold starting or a small cough at 4k under boost. They have a reputation for torque steer but that can be all but dialled out by polybushing the front end, getting it four wheel aligned properly and fitting decent tyres. Engines are pretty solid and take a lot of abuse. What kills them is overheating so fit an aftermarket temp gauge or scangauge. Chargecooler pumps can fail but they are available as a recon on the RSOC, also the hole in the reservoir can get blocked. I opened mine up slightly with a drill bit.

Paintwork was very poor from new on some examples, the rear quarters were very patchy. Front end suffers badly from stone chipping and most will have been repainted at some point. Front bumpers split very easily but are still available to buy fully painted from about 400 quid.