Listen to all the off topic nonsense on this thread! Couldn't believe it when I came on and saw 43 new posts...

Tyson - for what its worth, if I bought mine again then I'd definitely get white with full blue stripes, it just looks awesome in the metal and you don't see too many white ones on the road. Failing that, I'd recommend red, its the best colour to go for if you don't want any stripes and looks good with them too.

An extended test drive will be difficult to get, I'm 26 and all I got was a 15 minute accompanied drive around a pre-determined route. Don't take this the wrong way but dealers generally won't be too keen on letting "youngsters" out on their own for a half/whole day in the car... Best bet is to go to a few local dealers so you can drive different cars on different routes. When I drove the demo car at my local dealer it had 3k+ miles on it so was nice and loose.

As far as the power is concerned, the redline is at 6,250 and peak power comes in about 6,000rpm so you do have to rev it to get it going. Peak torque is about 4,000rpm so also quite high, but there's adequate acceleration from about 2,500rpm in pretty much any gear. Having taken it on track, the performance is massively impressive provided you keep it above 5,000rpm. Its refined when you're just pottering about town though, you never find yourself in the wrong gear and getting overtaken by buses, cyclists, grannys in Nissans, etc.

As for the inevitable Clio comparisons... The Clio is easily the quicker, more thrilling car. If you want a car purely for thrashing down back roads and going on track then get the Clio. If you need a daily driver which is 9/10ths as good as the Clio when you want it to be but a million times more refined, practical, comfortable, better made, better looking, and cheaper to run then get the Fiesta.