Well after only 4 months of owning an ST I'm getting rid of it, kind of!! The short version of the story is....... I ordered a new facelift ST in May 06, collected it in July 06, complete with dent in wheel arch, scratches over whole car and paint blows. Not a happy bunny, but Ford straight away offered to order a new one in as a replacement. Went to collect the new one friday just gone and it is just as bad as the first one (minus the dent) Really not a happy bunny. Dealership have now come back to me with the suggestion of a refund as they don't seem to be able to supply an ST in sellable condition!! Really disapointed with the quality of Ford's now, the paintwork is terrible and their answer to sort it out is to polish out the problem areas so the paint work is even thinner than it already is!! So I am now thinking about buying a SEAT Ibiza FR. Really annoyed as I love the ST, it's such a nice looking car

Sorry to hear that your getting rid of your ST. I guess the dealership is only as good as the car they can supply. The first one I would put down to a one off, but the second time its supplied in that condition its unacceptable. Good luck in what you decide!

Yeh that's cr*p!!
When I received mine I also had scratches on it and they polished them out, they seem to be less visible now but still, it shouldn't have to be done on a car that comes out of the showroom.....

Guess they were having a bad day at the factory when they were rolling out these STs.

Same problem with mine can see small scratches around the car but do have to be very close to see it, but do have cr@p paint on the car as well! and they gave me the same answer polish the car and it be fine!

Thats a real shame to hear that you are not satisfied with the , I would have done the same though.

When I picked my focus up I had the door re-sprayed as there was a really bad paint blemish there but apart from that it was fine.

I hope that you will be happy with the Ibiza FR... they are nice, but I don't like the alloys as the middles stick right out... don't know why they decided to do that.

Ibiza FR are far from be the best hot hatch, handling not very good, dull to drive and not faster than a ST. DOn't very like the FR cost is just look like any other Ibiza! but if is what U want go for it!

Sorry to hear about the hassle that you have experienced in a way i dont blame you for what you have done but the ST is still the better car drove both of them and its ST all the way but totaly respect your decision though. Hope you have better luck with the seat good luck and keep us informed

I've not really got much choice on any other cars. I can't afford to get the Cupra or anything else like that, I don't like the Polo GTI, it looks really boring.
I want ford to do the repairs on the car but they refuse to respray it as it would be two expensive and I don't really want poly filler used to fill a dent on a new car as they wont replace the panel.
If anyone has any other suggestions about other cars that are of a similar standard (and price) to the ST I would be really grateful for ideas. I need to do something pretty quick though as I can't go for to long without a car.

mmmmmm its a tricky one, but before I decided on the ST I looked at the following:

Skoda Fabia vRS - fast enough, economical but dull/cheap interior. I was quoted around 12K for a new one of these in metallic black with 3 years free servicing...... the only reason I didn't get it was the ST looks better and has a better spec for the same money (I hear the paint quality on the ST is poor though? )

Citroen C2 VTS - fast little car, cheap as chips but tiny (also 20,000mile service intervals!!!) No boot unless you give up your rear seats but then how often do you use these? The front doesn't feel cramped at all. You can pick these up for less than £10k

Suzuki Swift Sport - Loads of fun to drive, feels faster than the ST but isn't, cool looking interior, but seats aren't as good as the ST and £11,500 asking price is high for what it is (you can get ST's for under £11k and suzuki wont budge on price yet as its a new model). Shame becasue these are funky little cars

Fiat grande punto sporting - didn't drive this, but expect performance to be like skoda. Looks cool but let down by cheapo interior. Nice basic level spec too. Didn't get around to haggling prices

Or........ You can probably pick up clio 172/182s cheap now that the 197 is released.... fast as hell but insurance cost will be higher than the ST.

Hope this helps

I've been put off buying a new car with the ST i've got What with the inferior build quality, bellends at Ford customer services, lack of enthusiasm to repair faults (i had one for 9 months, and still have 1 fault 16 months) add that to the depriciation in value..... its not worth it.

You can get a pretty decent used car and buy a warranty for cheap.

That is helpful, thank you!! I have looked at the clios, but I cannot insure them, I have a claim on my insurance from last year so insurance companies don't like me!! The C2 is too small and the Fiat is too small an engine but I will go and have a look at the suzuki, I hadn't thought of that one.

Cheers

The fiat is a 1.9TDI pushing out 130bhp with loads of low end torque.... more than ample for day to day driving

I know for sure that the Skoda engine is very flexible with regard to remapping which is not detectable by insurance companies; the skoda garange even suggested I get this work done; £300 should see you remapped to about 180bhp without much loss in economy. All that for group 9 insurance The main reason I didn't want to buy the car was the interior; the black and white seats will get dirty quickly and didn't hug as well as the ST seats... I'd say for my dad they'd be ideal

The suzuki is cool but it is still smaller than the fiesta and does miss out on certain features like split rear seat and like the c2 is a 4 seater only.
My view is the Swift is bigger than the C2 but not enough to pay an extra £1.5k and still be slower! Also expect long delivery times; the swift is topping every supermini poll and the sport is bound to be popular. I just didn't want to pay £11.5k for one.... fact is that I got my ST almost fully loaded for 12.5k so yeah it cost more but i got much more for it.

I don't envy you at all.... when I was looking it took me a month of test drives and working out insurance vs fun calculations etc and ended up with the fiesta ST..... if you have ruled this out then IMHO you are settling for a lesser car That said; when I have a bad retail experience its enough for me to never give them any money ever again.

Oh...... and the Corsa VXR is due soon.... how long can you wait?

I went into vauxhall and the corsa comes out next april. Need to really put down a deposit on something this weekend so the corsa's a no-no. The ST is still my fav but after two c**p cars arriving from the factory and the dealers refusal to repair either of them I'm left with no choice but to settle with something else, and I've got my heart set on having a brand new car. My last car was second hand and as great as it was it's nice to know your the first person to have it and you know whats been done to it. (Sounds silly I know)
I've had a look at the fiat but I'm not overley keen on the front of it, it dosen't look that sporty. I've been spoilt after having the ST as there are no cars quite as pretty at it

Without meaning to plug a thread here I notice that your in Surrey. How far would you be willing to travel to get another ST if you really want one. I know a guy that works at Peter Stirland in Hungerford Berkshire and I can absolutely garantee that you would have a no problems with him. If want to give it a go then the number is 01488 683678 and ask for Steve. He should do a good deal and if there were any prblems with the car then you wouldnt have any problems getting them fixed. Might be worth a go.