Fiesta ST

[super_fly]

Im thinking about getting a new fiesta st, i've got a zetec at the moment, but want to upgrade. any advice??

[nighthawk]

Best advice

Go and road test it, and not for just the 10 minutes either,

See if you can arrange a demo for an hour or so to really get a feel for it.

IMHo it's a great car, but could do with a tad more power from it's 2.0 lump. Handling is nice.

[Cuba Libre]

Take an extended test drive. Preferably without the dealer so you can get a feel of its performance, braking and handling. Definately one of the best "hot hatches" if not the best at the moment. (Top Gear recently put it 1st in a group test, including the Clio 182). I recently took mine on a track day, and overtook a Monaro VXR, a car that costs 3 times as much, and has way more power. But the guy had poor brakes, had to virtually tip-toe round the corners, and then plant his foot on the straights to try and catch up. After chatting to him afterwards, decided he must be one poor driver! Though in his defense, he was only about 5ft tall, so may have had trouble reaching the pedals or seeing over the dashboard.
Anyway, I digress, take a test drive.

[plfrench]

There's talk of Ford releasing some official performance upgrades for the ST. I know Autocar and Evo are both running them on the long-term fleet at the moment and seem happy with them.

Paul.

[Podie]

There's not a lot of difference between the ST170 (Focus) version and the Fiesta unit

I found they can scrabble a bit on full bore acceleration, but they are a hoot to drive...

[plfrench]

It was on fifth gear last night in their track shoot out against the Mitsubishi Colt CZT. The Fiesta blew it away mainly due to the handling, and Tiff seemed pretty impressed. Only 0.8s slower than the Focus RS round the Anglesey track.

I'd go for a Performance Blue one with the side stripes but not the roof and Bonnet stripes!

Paul.