Third owner of this car since Sept of 2000. Several problems have crept up but this one has me concerned.

Turbo works fine under normal conditions - except, (most notibly during the summer) when idling at a long light or at a drive-thru. Operates fine until you start to accerlate. First gear is fine. Second gear is where the problem starts. I'm not sure it's the tranny or the turbo. JUST as the turbo needle goes from 12 to 1 the engine suddenly appears to lose all power, but then picks up again, then dies, then picks up. This will continue until you ease up on the acclerator pedal. At which point the car will continue to accelerate if you don't push the turbo needle too much past 12. It appears to happen just as the car is shifting gears (from first to second). I'm not 100%, but I think it can happen from 2nd to 3rd, but I'm not 100% on this one.

Once the car "cools" down in less than a minute while cruising, usually the fan clutch kicks which disengages the cooling fan indicating the engine temp has dropped sufficiently. Then all turbo responding and gear changing are back to normal. You can actually floor the accelerator pedal and she hits warp 10 without even a growl.

I've also noticed that the turbo appears to be "sluggish" during humid/damp/wet days and "zippy" after sitting in the sun baking to a nice comfy temp in the afternoon. This makes for a nice, zippy ride home.

I have not checked for any of the other problems mentioned on this board like oil in the coolant or oil in the vacuum. I have not seen any post a problem like this and I have a feeling it's either really expensive to fix or really simple.

Other notes: Fuel gauge works intermittently - pounding on the dash will usually get it to engage. Temp gauge acts like a Mexican jumping bean while the engine warms up from a dead-cold. Between 9:30 and 11 the needle bounces up and down but never past the actual temp. Pounding on dash makes no difference. Temp sensor was replaced in 2001 with water pump that was shot and had left the system low on water at one point. Any ideas on these two points would be greatly appreciated.