Hi,
Im looking at renewing my car by September.. but can't make my mind up - so anyone got any views!?

I currently have a Puma, which is great fun to drive and is kinda quick. MPG is quite good - about 250 miles from £25 fill up.

I'm of course thinking about an ST.. td one, and it was great fun and felt better round some of the narkier corners etc etc than the Puma however.......

I do something like 26,000 per year so MPG is important. So I also td the Zetec S TDCi. Looks pretty much the same although I think the wheels look a bit... in need of changing. MPG is of course being a diesel much better, but its SO GOD DAMN NOISY - was ok above sort of 40mph, but below that speed it sounded like Woody the Woodpecker was under the bonnet having a bad day.. Ages back I td the SRi Corsa diesel at that was much quieter and the Ford is meant to have special technology to listen to itself - well all I can say it must be deaf from all the chugging!

Getting back to the point - I can't decide - do I go for the Woody the Woodpecker Zetec S and get about 55/60 MPG or do I go for the 200 miles from £25 fill up ST!? The ST would mean an extra £50 a month on petrol over and above what I spend on the Puma so.... but then the ST is so good to look at, much better than the Zetec S and Christ.. has anyone seen the inside of the Zetec S - I think the same person who designed the wheels did the interior - its SO boring and dull!

Insurance and Tyres aint a problem as its a company car (wahey..)

What do ya reckon.. I think I sort of made my mind up, but need some swaying either way.....

Also - any other SUSSEX based ST owners on here?

Welcome to the Forum Chris,

You cannot really compare the Zetec S with the ... you either want diesel for MPG or you have to throw your MPG measurement out the window, spend alot more and enjoy every minute with the

£25 to 200miles sounds a little bit ambitious... Some are faring a slightly bit worse than that.

Its your decision overall Chris but the overall view you will get from asking members here is going to be bluntly... get the

Good Luck with your decision, make sure u work ur finances out and account for the extra MPG... if your tyres are free, your laughing... they are £125 a piece!!!

Talking bout tyres Scotty just replace the ones on the SportKa, cost me £310 for 4x 195/45/16 Coninental Contact Sports, was well chuffed same make but 215/45/17 ST170 cost me nearly £400 for 2!!!!!!!!!!!

Fiesta ST as a company car? How cool is that?

The fuel economy isn't that bad either. Ok, I do a lot of driving in town and traffic in stuff so its not at its best, but when I do get out on the motorway or whatever its fine. I guess if you do 26,000 miles a year then most of it is probably out on the open road so you'll get much better economy.

As FiestaRS has rightly predicted, I say go for it!

Well yeh, a company ST is an appealing thing... as I said, no servicing, insurance or tyres, so I can rub the tyres out as quick (well sort of) as I like... but an extra £75 a month on fuel is a lot..... but then again, the ST is gonna be fun...

Ive made my mind up about 5 times now, and changed it again with the hour! HELP lol

OK LOOK EVERYONE, IM 99.89999% SOLD ON GETTING ONE..... - COS HEY WHAT CAN YOU BUT THESE DAYS FOR £75 A MONTH.... OTHER THAN MORE PETROL!

ENCOURAGE ME! LOL

(SORRY FOR shouting!)

BUY IT!!!!! U know you want to!!

I do know I want to.. your right! lol.

I'm now 99.99%...... just a few more "yes's"'ll do it!! lol

COME ON.. I mean , you don't really want me driving a God damn Zetec S do you! lol

do it

I do 2k a mth (24k a yr) and don't have anyone to pay for my tyres, and I'm getting a ST

Chris .... Gooo on you know you want too

Ok replies to: fiesta king fisher.. (jeeeesus couldnt u have chose a shorter name lol) - yeah well I guess its what ur used to... lol - but yeh I'll have double fun rubbin my FREE pZERO Nero tyres out.. on the company... lol

Im gettin' one...

and: NICKY 13 v k p y b or whatever... im gone.. im sold. sorted. lol

much better. Lou..... so, sorry for being confused, but ur a guy or girl? lol

We should have a m/ f indicator lol= this is 2nd conv about if peeps r guys or girls lol

Where ESSEX r ya. in in Sunny Sussex...

I'm a girl... Lou - short for Louise

I live in Herefordshire, but my bf lives in Essex.... very near to Brentwood

lol, ok I get the hint about mentioning your bf! lol. I was just askin'!! lol

no idea where brentwood is. but im near BRIGHTON and before you ask - NO I'm not friggin' gay! lol.

no hint there hehe. Just people may think it's wierd why I have 2 places in my location part lol...

Brentwood = just off either jct 28/29 of the M25

long way......

I take it - as no one has answered yes, but that ur not going to the BTCC at Brands on sunday?

nah. Would have been nice to have gone tho!

u been before? brands is such a good circuit to watch on (indy) bottom of hailwood hill up to druids. cool.. espec' in the btcc - they best the f out of e/other!

come along... its only 19 squid..........

nah never been !!! Not bad price!! Doubt I can this weekend, cos we're collecting my st (hopefully) on the sat. so will more than likely be based in Herefordshire this weekend, so a bit far to get to from here!

well i think its more on the gate but.. would have been cool to meet up with a few ST'ers..

Ah well, Im sure u'll have fun in your new ST! lol - what colour etc r u gettin?

If ur intersted, BTCC comes back to Brands in October (3 rounds)..

cool. will have to look into that then!!

I'm getting blue; white side stripes, reflex pack, and esp

U coming to any shows this year? (ford fair etc)

i was gonna go for blue, but as i said in another post - i saw a red one = no stipes in eastbourne n it looked the dogs so.... plus save 350 on met paint..
Id like the stripes but its a company car and I seriously doubt my company would like me doin' business in a fully striped car lol...

id like to come to shows, but not heard of any goin' on etc - not really been into goin to shows much before - just proper (like BTCC) race meets etc. where is ford fair being held n where?

R u gonna go to motorshow, now moved from NEC to london?

Ford Fair - Silverstone race circuit - think it's Sat 6th August. Quite good, as u can take your car on the track (if you book before) and watch the RS's etc going round all day

When is the motorshow happening?

*tsk tsk* Come along to Ford Fair! Even if you havent got your ST by then (its on near beginning of August at Silverstone) come along and see us cool people ( Lou) at the RSSTOC.com stand

thanks ladies.. I might jus' do that... ive had a bad experience of silverstone though - 1st time had a crash on a roundabout near by ont he a43 then next time got flashed by a god damn truevelo camera.... JEEEEEEUSSS! lol.

yeh, so 06/08, cool, do u need tix in advance and if so, where from ?

oh and the london (british motorshow) is something like mid July. although thats my bday, so ill be doing racing at brands hatch that middle weekend!! cooollllll....

if ur gonna go to motorshow though let me know and we can hook up.

email me - cj555uk@lycos.com

nope don't need tickets in advance... bit cheaper if you do though I think... If you get Fast Ford mag, there's all the info in there. (They organise it)

yeah they need to come see us cool people pinky

i'll have a look then.. email me nearer the time too thou ok

i dont suppose ur one of those gorgeous girlies wearing little black hotpants and white tops r ya! lol.. he he he

ermmmmmmmmmmmmmm sorry to dissapoint... but.... how do I put this....

NO

lol

he he. lol
no worries. im sure ur jus' as good. lol

i found the website for the ford fair - "http://www.fordfair.co.uk" - I'll note it and see if im free, but looks good, espec' if i have a st by then.. though i think mine might be a little after 07/08/05...

As you've ordered ESP - u might know.. can you, as you could in the ST170, turn the ESP off? like with a button (how else lol)

good. try and come to Ford Fair I'll be there, but in my mk3 (www.fiestakingfisher.co.uk)

and yes, u can turn the esp off... it's a button in the same row as the heated front and rear screen buttons

cool ill look out for ya then. er.. u got a pic - although I guess ill c ya index plate...

lol, fiesta 1.0 4 spd.. to 2.0 zetec... quite a change lol.
Looks good actually, i aint into SUPER mod-ed cars that look over the top, but urs is sort of subtle but cool. looks good. how much u spent on it?

the LOU 15E plates will only be on if I get some more velcro lol. Otherwise u should notice my webby on the front screen of my car. I'll be with the fiestaturbo.com stand, but sure I'll wander over to all the ST's at some point

oh and spent on it... well... urm.... lots.. lol/// £9-10k

Have got a mag feature out of it tho hehe

wow 9 to 10k - that , to a newbie to mod-ing is a chronic amt of moola... but hey.. it looks good.

cool. ok well i expect we will chat on here b4 then near the time so ill look out 4 ya. BUY SOME VELCRO lol

So then Chris, are you decided on whether to get the ST yet, or are you too busy flirting with the ladies?!

Lou - your Mk3 looks pretty sweet. What rims are they?

LoL yeh, (to both), decided on a RED ST, prob with no stripes as its a company car and I dont think my company would approve of a stripey car! lol.

Good man. Red with no stripes is definitely the way forward. Besides, we need some more people in the red camp, we were getting slaughtered by blue in the poll that's up somewhere on here.

yep RED RED RED lol

Parksey - you going to the touring cars at Brands? I posted a message but no bugger seems to be going!

I'm undecided at the moment. I went to the Thruxton meeting on the May Day bank holiday and that was cool, I've always been "in" to the BTCC even if it isn't quite so good nowadays as it used to be back in the 90s when it had loads of manufacturer support. I'm trying to save some money to go to the Goodwood Festival of Speed at the end of the month though, so will probably give Brands a miss. Are you going to Goodwood, bearing in mind you probably only live down the road?

I wasnt really that into the BTCC back in the 90's - not properly anyway.. I certainly think this season, without some of the regualars of last season is a bit less good - like Thompson, HUFF and Chilton has only done a couple of meets so far this season - he was looking at going into DTM (germany). Went to Donngington the 1st race, Thruzton and recently to Silverstone for the GT and WTCC - that was good.

Yeh def going to Brands, its my fave track - bottom of hailwood hill is best I reckon. Then for my bday Im gonna go do the driving round the track thing there, so that should be cool.

Not sure about Goodwood SoS, went years ago, but it hasnt really appealed since - might do though. - R u gonna bother with the brit motorshow at docklands late july? i went to nec last year and saw the ST and RS concpet, was pretty cool but they (ford) did some muppetty thunderbirds thing and went way over the top on it.

Yeah, I was quite into touring cars a while ago when manufacturers like Ford, Volvo, BMW, Peugeot, Alfa etc all had works teams rather than just what, Honda, Vauxhall and Seat these days? I see old favourites like Plato and Thompson are still knocking around and its always good to see some of the up and coming youngsters. Its far better racing action than you'd ever get in F1 too. I've never been to the Festival of Speed before. Its one of those things I keep meaning to do but its often been the same weekend as Glastonbury so that's always taken precedence. I couldn't get Glasto tickets this year so thought I'd give the Festival of Speed a go instead.

I was at the motorshow last year, the Tracey Island Ford set was a bit much, although it was my first glimpse of the ST and I fell in love with it there and then (well, I fell in love with the RS but when they announced they weren't gonna make it I switched my attention to the ST lol). Me and a few mates normally go as one of them works for Mini so we can get hospitality passes and stuff.

blag us a spare hospitality pass lol

yeh, i like chilton, (honda civic type r), he's got a lot of potential, Plato's doin ok this year but not had a win yet - Dan Eaves and Matt Neal have been rather stealing the victories - that integra goes like a rocketship..

The hospitality passes are worthwhile, although it only really granted access to the Mini (Owners) area. We did get backstage on their stunt show though, and met the legend that is Russ Swift. You can normally blag some sort of pass from most manufacturers, tbh, particularly if you own one of their cars. My dad used to always get them from Mazda in the first few years that he owned his MX5. Its cool, because it saves paying a fiver for a burger and Coke at one of the stalls!

Chilton is the guy with Lego Star Wars sponsorship isn't he? His Type-R is cool. I think the BTCC is building up for a comeback, the coverage on terrestrial TV is getting better each year and the spectator attendance at Thruxton was certainly better than in recent years (although that was probably more to do with the weather). Its about time though, it makes for entertaining viewing and is certainly far more "real world" than F1 is ever gonna be. I'm also determined to go to some of the WRC stages when it comes to the UK later on in the year. That's something else I've never been to.

Yeh lego boy.. that him! Ifhe gets a good start, he flies! the coverage on tv is getting better, the motors tv coverage is pants though, but itv cover SOME of the races. I def noticed more people at race meets this year than last year - and yeh its much better than F1, you're almost always guaranteed a smash! - in fact - at Thruxton I was standing right by the barrier where Gavin Smith (astra) spun on race three and he came carerring right at the barrier and me (i started to move to the side as he was coming at the barrier - not that itd go thru but...)

Yeh id love to go to the gb rally in wales. gf isnt keen though - she'd complain about the cold and waiting about! none of my mates really like the rallying for some reason, i guess its sort of acquired taste - and you do hve to wait about alot. when are the stages set for this year? is it sept time??

I have beeen to the GB rally in wales, Ive got some pictures somewhere. I loved it, I had never been to a proper rally before this and it was just out of this world really, totally loved it, I just couldnt get over how high the car went off the road *hehe* It was freezing, but plenty of layers did the jobby, There is abit of waiting around, but every once in a while a rally car will come wizzing past,I only went up for the day. Saw the day and night stages.

cool, yeh, must arrange to go this year.. do you know when it is?

Its the 15th to 18th of September this year

cool, ill be able to go, before going back to college!
u guys (scotty n u) goin? or was last yr a one off?
whats it like finding the various stages, is it well signed up and stuff?

Yeh its all done really well..All the stages are annonced over tannoy and are listed on nearly every tree or post possible!
It was a few years back when i went..I'll try and find the photos and some videos!
I went with my brother last but if i could sweet talk Scotty then maybe we'd be up for it this year! I feel abit of a Meet coming on

as long as its posted well! i dont wanna get lost in wales ha ha.
Yeh, I dont reckon I'll have my ST by then but it can be one of my last trips out in the Puma!

we should see if anyone else is going then all meet up. Parksey was threatening to go this year so..

It could be worked to be a good meet..I know Scott is moving to portsmouth in late September, but im not sure on the dates!
If not then i'll be going up with my bro again

Well if Scotty is going to be in Portsmouth, thats only an hour from me, so we could meet up from there or something?
Where u liev again? - oh - derby..

yeh well Parksey is sort of local to me also so could be a convoy (if he's going too that is)

Derby Derby But from september i'll be swanning all over the country
I'll sweet talk Scotty on his Dinner break
If we can get a few interested it could be really good

cos in september.... you pass ur test or?

yeh cool, let us know.

c ya later

Maybe abit after September with my test, but mainly cus I'll be visiting Scott in Pomepy.
Have a guuuud day

Yeah, I'd likely be up for a meet/convoy to a couple of WRC stages or something. Its right near my birthday as well!

sounds like a plan might be developing!
I'll do a post so others can see = see who else is interested

oh Parksey.. one thing.. : WHO THE HELL IS BARRY SCOTT, ISNT HE THE IDIOT FROM THAT ADVERT FOR CILIT (careful how you spell that lol) BANG!? Or ?

Indeed he is Chris but thats the thing... who the heck is he? He says "Hiiii! I'm Barry Scott!" (think of that guy who does "Hiii! I'm Ed Winchester!" from The Fast Show *lol*) as if we're supposed to know who he is

Well his Mum must know who he is (doesnt she!? lol)

Yeh, well I havent bought any cilit bang, I don't need special cleaning agents to get rid of bathroom scum. I have a girlfriend (HA HA)

No, im joking OF COURSE... I couldn't resist a little joke to rial the ladies!! lol. No - the girlfriend has a pot of the cilit stuff he he

Yep, Barry Scott is that guy off of the Cilit Bang adverts. Who is he, for crying out loud? Its like Pink says, he comes on your telly all like "Hi, I'm Barry Scott" like you're meant to know he is! I swear he's a presenter on one of those home shopping channels or something, but I've never seen him. I liken him more to Troy McClure from The Simpsons. "Hi, I'm Barry Scott, you might remember me from such other infomercials as..."

I've just noticed something else, how come I've now only got 3 stars? I swear I had 5 the other day...

Thats weird..Ive just rated you again giving you 5 stars but its not changed

I thought it had something do with ratings, I tried to rate myself but couldn't. Maybe somebody has a vendetta against me and keeps rating me as 1 star or something!

Awwww

Ive only got 4 now

What's going on? Have we been naughty or something?!

Hang on a minutes.. maybe I havent read instructions but HOW DO YOU GET STARS!?

Chris - you click on someone's username as it appears on the left and you'll see a thing to "rate this member" or something and choose the number of stars.

Parksey & Nicky - I smell a mod/admin fiddling with the stars!!

Ah.... right I see. I assume you can't rate your own profile lol!

I see infact someone has been good enough to max me up, so thanks whoever that was! lol

ahhhhhhhhhhhh

hey.. hang on a minute... when I looked at this forum before I left work I had 5 stars and now Im relegated to only 3!!! CHEEK! lol

Ive got a feeling i know who it is

not a certain mr scotty... (?) he's been awfully quiet today! lol

Noo i dont think its him, Although it could be, He was supposed to be at work though

You've got a pm

av I.. hang ill check em

RIGHT. Ive been hassling the Director at my work to tell me when I can order my car! lol. just waitin on a reply now!! yiiippppeee (itd better be a good reply! lol)