I had an ST170, and like was said above, the gearbox was the worst part of the whole car (so much so, I decided to sell it and order an ST which I get on the 1st March). Far to clunky and about as long as a broom handle . If the ST revs at 3400 ish @ 70 then don't worry too much, the ST170 didnt' rev a great deal lower in 6th.

/edit oh, and I had a Skoda Octavia VRS and that had only had 5 gears, and it really didnt bother me that much. If anything the ST170 was annoying with 6 gears because you were out of first before you knew it - redlined far to quickly.

It depends if you enjoy spending a lot of time at the dealers? I wouldnt ever consider a french car (no offence babyboom) as they tend to be plasicified and fall to bits.

182s are going for just over 11k on www.moneysupermarket.com they still have a few brand new, old shape 182s left which i find very strange!?!?!

you should be able to pick up a standard brand new fiesta st for around 10k if you look hard enough.

i've found buymynewcar, which is chucking em out for £10,345 i think... although archer of ashby looks great!!

what do people think to this one??

It looks a bit too jacked up at the back.

lol...

does look nice!look like there another ST a blue one at the station and a focus ST at the back!

not keen on the alloys.

ah right i see what you're saying minnnt. Its fair enough i guess! Although i dont think the running costs will be quiet as high, my gf can get 40-50mpg out of hers no problem! But insurance and tax are still reasonably high i guess. Tax is £190 a year and its group 15.

Hope you enjoy the ST!!

its group 13e mate