Hello all...

Paid a visit to my local dealer today, just to see if there was anything new on the FST.

He mentioned that he had been to a Blue Oval day. It must have been there, where some boffin stated 230BHP for the FRS...even the guy I spoke to today had serious doubts about that.

Two interesting things came out of our discussion. One was that the FST on display at the British Motor Show was not the production model. This may be old news but I was not aware of it. Another comment was the launch date....to which I jumped in with Nov/Dec...to which he came back with that they had heard Oct....but he stated that he could not see that happening.

In a nutshell he said going off past experience with the launch of a new car, that if I thought of Jan 2005 and got it before then I should be a happy chap.

One final thing was the interest in this car was very positive and that Ford should most certainly be shifting quite a few. Makes you wonder why they are bothering with the Zetec-S?

Your comments/views are certainly appreciated here.

Gazza...

Thanks for the info.

The Zetec-S will be cheaper to insure. For young drivers insurance makes all the difference. The original Zetec S sold quite a lot for the same reasons.

I think both will be popular, but the Zetec S is ultimately a sporty version of the Zetec. It's not really as thorough a job as the ST.

I have on good authority that ST deliveries will be starting in November or perhaps slightly earlier. There may have been a delay but everything suggests Q4 2004 rather than Q1 2005.

I spoke to my local dealer who said he had also been on the trip to see the ST.

He wasn't sure about price but guessed it would be between 13k and 14K. He also didn't know about the release date but said he would put the 1st of October in his diary to give me a call.

At first I thought/hoped this was an unoffical way of telling me when it was released but after getting a voice message on my mobile an hour later saying probably New Year instead.

I was hoping to change my car before Xmas too. Bummer.

There will be a 1.6 16V petrol at 100bhp

and

the TDCI 1.6 at 90bhp

There is a point to the Zetec-S, it will be an affordable car for the younger generation and let face it, having a 90-100bhp first or second car aint bad at all. It will be a smart little car with nice features.