I hope it's not just another "starting when cold" thread...at least the symptoms sound different.
Anyway, maybe you guys will have some ideas.

So, the car is MY00 2.0 RX model (I think, these are known as "Sport" in UK), has 11 000km on the clock and is treated with respect...well, most of the time.

From day one the car had "starting when cold" problem, very similar symptoms like in
some threads discussed here. It was more or less OK in warmer weather (above 0), but still felt "not right".
When colder, it gets worse and worse - just keeps turning, but finally (depends on temperature how soon) starts
with, what sounded like, three or two cylinders. I think, it is just badly misfireing, or actually fireing too early.
The dealer checked it with Select Monitor and didn't find anything...
Then it came to my mind that from the very beginning the car was running on 98 fuel, so I decided to
switch to 95 just to check if the effect is still the same..And guess what? - it's gone! Even at really low temperatures (around -20) it starts OK. Well, to be honest, it still feels "not right", but at least I don't have
those embarrassing moments in the parking lot.
The effect is "solid and verified" - I tried switching 98<->95 fuel two times, and the result was exactly what I expected - misfire on 98.
This is really strange. First of all, the manual says "95 or higher" and, second, I never had that problem on my previous MY97, which " tasted" all kinds of fuel in her life. The lowest temperature I tried to start it was somehere below -30, with three year old battery, and it started on half turn!

So , the problem is getting more theoretical - of course, I can live with 95 fuel, it's not any kind of performance car after all, but then again, as we all know, fuel quality can be diffrent sometimes, especially in diffrent countries, and I travel a lot...

ECU, cam angle sensor, anything else? Any new ideas would be helpful - my dealer doesn't sound to have any :-)

Thanks!