Monitor the oil level diligently, especially at first. I have an 09, automatic unfortunately, and its a great vehicle. It does use some oil, luckily its only a quart or two per 5k miles. It seems highly dependent on the weather and driving habits. When I shift it manually and there are periods of high rpm engine braking involved the consumption definitely seems to peak. This driving is harder than most people will ever drive a car, this I know. This last OCI I have about 2k miles on, I used 5w30 Oil, minimal hard driving and warm temps and the oil level doesn't appear to have dropped at all.
I know the history of the vehicle since new and it has not had any issues. It has had 1 set of front brakes, a few set of front rotors, two sets of rear brakes, the airbag recall, Plugs and a few batteries. It has never had any repairs outside of maintenance.
They are extremely versatile vehicles, relatively quick and they handle well. The fuel economy isn't great for the size of vehicle, I get 21mpg driving back and forth to work, sometimes as low as 18 in the winter strictly commuting with the cold starts and engine warm up time, and about 26-28mpg on the highway generally.
I find it to be a very comfortable vehicle, it rides rough, though it handles phenomenally for me anyway. Mine does have the TRD Sway bars, i doubt it makes that much difference. I have not driven any other 2nd gen xbs so I cannot compare.
