Yeah go ahead and buy a typeS. We have one of the earliest VIN ended in 001xxx, took it off the lot on the 7th of Jul 2001. Never noticed any grinding only a slight notchiness between 1st and 2nd gears. Didn't really notice it until everybody and their brother started complaining about a grind. Didn't pay much attention to that because there really isn't much that can be done about it, some of it is because of the small size of the transmission housing and some of it because of the 6 speed. It hasn't been detrimental to the performance of the car and goes away once it is warmed up.