the car doesn't grind any gears at all
and yup - it was pampered since at least 130k miles (i got it off of friend of mine)
it has been filled up with 93 octane since it got into my friend's hands and has been seeing premium gas ever since.
the car is 95% stock. only mods to it are: air intake, cd player and alarm (don't know if the last 2 fall under mod category)

Now i'm not saying it's not problem free. It got a knocking noise after you go 30 mph. First it has very low frequency (at 30mph) and by the time you reach 50, that frequency is increased greatly.
Also, when it rains heavily, there's water leaking into passenger seat area (under glove compartment, where your feet go) I found that the leaking is coming from some white container's rubber seal, but don't know what it is.

thanks for replies!

ohh and as far as 4vs8 cyl rpms on highways, my buddy's z28 6spd was doing 80 at under 2k rpms