I recently picked up two VM Intercepts because, well, they were on sale and for $40 for the phones, it was hard to pass up. Not knowing anything much of the phone before I purchased, I was still surprised on how slow the phone responded at times.
Finally got tired of it and the first thing I did was check to see if the phone was compatible with any of the ROMs I had used previously. It wasn't. So I decided I had to at least try something.
The phone, first off, was a pain to root. I kept getting partial roots. Finally after Googling for a few hours I came across the InterceptRoot.APK and it worked like a charm. Has a built-in backup utility, too. After it finished rooting the phone I installed Titanium Backup and uninstalled the majority of the pre-installed Virgin Mobile Bloatware apps. The only two I have left are "Activate" and "My Account" -- obviously didn't remove any of the actual Android required apps, just the Virgin Mobile specifics. And yes, they were safe to remove, had no issues afterwards.
But man, after removing all the bloatware, the phone runs a good 35% faster. I'd say go for it.
I lost the link I downloaded the rooter at, but if you need it I can upload it and PM it to you.