Considering 2.7T AR (UK)

[cnews]

I have an XC70 at the moment but fancy an Allroad. I have scanned through a few forums and found a few concerns about the auto box so as I am not really bothered either way have decided on manual. I am in the UK.

Went for a look at a 2002 "51" Allroad last night. It is a 2.7T manual with 65k miles, 3 owners and is in decent condition but is a very basic spec (for an Allroad).

Anyway, a few questions if I may.

1. It went well and seemed great but the brakes were 'soft' and needed a hearty shove to get them to stop quickly. I am assuming this is not normal. Any views? I mentioned it and he said he would "sort it out" before delivery.

2. The rear tyres were low so he said he would put two on - it has P6 Allroad tyres all round. Is there any reason to insist on these or will any right size/rated tyre do?

3. It sat level and rode reasonably well. The ride height was set so that only the bottom green LED was on. I pushed 'up' to go up and the 2nd LED flashed for quite a few seconds. How long should it take to rise from 1 to 2? I then went through to 3 then 4 and it did come up ok but just took a few seconds each time. (Just trying to convince myself there's no leaks anywhere).

4. When rising the height with the 1st LED lit and 2nd LED flashing I had to wait til the 2nd LED went solid before I could then go up again to level three and same again up to 4. I assume this is normal behaviour (for some reason I was expecting you to be able to press 'up up up" one after the other and the ride height sort itself out in going from 1 to 4).

5. I notice in this pic http://www.eagleeyed.com/DSC05139.JPG (from a completely different car on eBay) the ride height indicator has an orange LED lit. I don't recall seeing this being lit on the car I looked at. What is it and how is it switched?

6. Do all UK Allroads come with headlamp washers? I didn't check that close. It had the little square cut-outs in the bumper but I wasn't sure if this was a blanking plate or if it had squirters underneath. Do you just wash the windscreen with the headlamps on to clean the lights?

7. Silliest question of all now. Looking on the web at different cars I see these two pictures http://www.eagleeyed.com/DSC05139.JPG and
http://i16.ebayimg.com/03/i/000/8a/2d/956e_3.JPG both showing the same shot of the centre console. Is it a trick of the light (so to speak) and these consoles are the same size or are they different? One radio is single DIN and the other double DIN and I am struggling to see where the extra space has come from. Is it just the loss of the fold down flap that makes room for the larger unit?

8. Finally, anyone got a view on the performance of manual 2.5TDi 180 vs the 2.7T? The 2.7T went well but I guess will be quite thirsy (my XC70 2.4T gets about 24-25 mpg) so am not sure yet which I fancy. (Heart says 2.7T, heat TDi)

Many many thanks in advance.
C