Yes, I was working there and had an EU work/residency visa - I don't think they allow ED for people with resident visas anymore. The insurance was >$5K for the year. I did have a car-allowance from work though so it all worked out ok.

We put almost 15000 km on the car, mostly during the final summer we were there. It was a blast.

Canadian spec is the same as US spec (except for the metric speedo. of course).

You should push for the same deal that our US friends can get rather than the one I got. For me it seemed like either take-it-or-leave it and I didn't have a lot of time to decide so I just took the plunge.