Ford have agreed to come to some sort of arrangement with me to replace my 2002 Zetec S that has a serious paintwork problem. Has anyone been in this position before, any advice?
Will The ST be readily available from November?

Never heard of anything like this. Must be serious for the car to be replaced.

It apprears there has been a serious problem with the Mk5 Zetec-S, corrosion on the door pillar at the bottom has ment alot of owners have taken them back for major repairs. A mate of mine had his ZS replaced for a focus.

Also there seems to be a fault with the air bag, on zsoc I've seen a post where over 12 people have said after their crash (some very serious) the air bag did not go off.

moviesuk - the paint on the spolier thing was also on the Mk4's too! crazy.

doh, to answer your question... production begins November, so you are probably unlikely to see an ST on sale until Jan 2005, slight possibility Dec, but I doubt, even then the first batch will only be in red. dont know when the next batch production begins or what colours will be available at that time.