Dunno how interested you all are, but here are some figures i dug up when looking into buying my ST

Ford Fiesta ST (05 on)
2.0 ST 3d

Rates effective from 13 March 2008
Date of Registration 1 Nov 2005 –
6 Months £93.50
12 Months £170.00
Band E
CO2 (g/km) 177


Rates effective from April 2009
6 Months £112.75
12 Months £205.00
Band I
CO2 (g/km) 177


Rates effective from April 2010
6 Months £115.50
12 Months £210.00
First Year £300.00
Band I
CO2 (g/km) 177

first year?!? whats that all about?

It's one of the so-called "green" measures that were in the last budget. From April 2010 cars in the higher road tax bands will have a showroom tax in the form of having to pay to a higher rate of road tax for their first year of registration.

900 for rx8 for 1st year....ouch

But you wont be able to buy a "new" ST in 2010?!?

or is this just a generic "band I" thing?!

To be fair - with the increased cost of fuel, these changes represent a very small proportion of the cost of motoring.

its not as if this money for "road tax" is going to be spent on our shoddy road network is it - or even new roads to ease congestion. Instead, it will be wasted on all these headline grabbing new schemes that never work which the government seems to be oh so fond of.