They all received what's called the "death flash" as a dealer recall. It took all the timing out of them to mitigate the plenum gasket blowing out and sucking in oil, which causes pinging. Instead of fixing it properly they just did the recall and made them absolute dogs. Being an '01, yours probably came with the death flash from the factory.

Fix the plenum gasket and get a tune, it's supposed to make a big difference.