if we had a sticky for every thread that keeps getting asked over and over, we would never be able to see any new threads because all 248,161 post in every one of the 19,319 threads would be stickied
let me save you some trouble, i have owned both gens (00 & 03) every little thing that bugged me about the 00 was addressed and fixed, and the 03 is more powerful and faster, many changes have been made to the interior to make it better looking and functioning.
it not even something to consider, the 1st gens where a sweet car and a huge step forward, the 2nd gens is where they took it and found out what was bad or stupid (mostly the center console storage, and dumb ninja cup holders) and fixed it and got it right.
i would definitely buy another LS but it absolutely would have to be a 2nd gen, unless i was just buying it to strip it down, cut it up, and shoehorn in a blown terminator motor in it (hey we can all dream, right)