In my opinion, the Stagea is a great car if you are after something comfortable, big enough to fit almost anything you need and has a bit of poke. In stock form, they are a touch on the slow side, but I found my Series 2 to be fairly quick from the lights.
I've had a bit of a fiddle with mine, a touch more boost and a high flow airfilter. This brough power up to 155kw atw. It makes it much nicer t odrive and I've found that I don't have my foot in it quite as much to keep up with the traffic.
It brakes pretty good if you're not out for a severe fang or track work. The tiptronic is nice, as you can use it to engine brake to a certain degree. A set of coilovers and some rims will see the car handling very nicely. Tein do a style master super low down wagon spec (I shit you not) for the Stagea. I have them in my car and it has a ride that is not to far from the comfort of stock suspension, yet gives it a low stance and handles much better.
I've done 25 thousand km's since I imported mine in October and I have not had any problems. The obvious expenses of oil, filters, etc and I did have to change the timing belt and tires. But they are consumables. If you find one that has had the belt changed, has good condition pads/rotors, recent service with close to new tyres, you'll be laughing.
Don't forget all the cool little options with these things too. Mine has leather, electric seats with heaters, touch screen climate control, TV, twin sunroofs, xenon headlights, etc. Much better than anything offered by the big 2 locals.