Advice for '02 2L estate

[andycap]

Hi there,

We have an '02 elegance estate (the one with the 2L petrol motor). So far, it's just spent it's life on a little island with a 35mph max speed limit and it's going to end up being used in the mainland (UK). At present, it's completely standard. The ASR is only used in the wet as it doesn't appear to work properly in the dry(!) and it burns a bit of oil - especially in the cold (but not so that it's visible in the exhaust).

SWMBOs driving could best be described as "spirited" (and not too dissimilar to certain taxi drivers I know...) and most of the driving will be on 'A' roads.

I guess the first (important) question is what oil consumption is normal for these motors? (Our main dealer suggested there was nothing amiss with ours, but...) Our previous 1.6 cavalier hardly burnt any oil at all so that's my reference point without prior VAG experience!

Second question is is it worth bothering with an uprated rear ARB on an otherwise stock car? At present, it does wallow a bit in the corners but I have no real interest in uprating stuff for the sake of it - just basically want to know if there's anything worth doing to the car to ensure that the experience is as pleasant as possible!

Any advice is welcome, as the only car I've been remotely involved with tweaking was a mini...