Faults:

The power steering has became stiff and the steering rack started making a grinding noise; apparently this is a common problem with Ford Fiesta's; the system doesn't seem to be losing any fluid, so not sure how or why the problem has arisen. Reading some of the reviews on this site, it would suggest I'm now looking at having to replace the steering rack or power steering pump, if not both?!!

General Comments:

The car is otherwise a very nice car.

Quite quick, and otherwise reliable and nice to drive.

Faults:

Nothing as of yet. The only niggle I have is the dash tends to squeak a little, and the back seats have a quiet rattle when going over bumpy roads.

General Comments:

When I first got the car, I was over the moon. I always wanted one of these. I had a mk6 1.4 before, and always wanted the extra power.

The car is quick in its own right; 0-60 in around 7.9, with a top speed of around 130mph.

However in order to get the best from it, you have to rev the nuts outta the engine. Peak torque comes in at around 4500rpm, with peak bhp at around 6000rpm.

Basically, it's great fun when thrashing around the twisty roads; handling is superb, but in the real world, all that revving can become tiresome. Plus when you do give it some beans, say goodbye to your mpg; I average at the min around 27mpg.

In conclusion, I do really love the car, my only niggle again is lack off low down grunt and fuel economy. I am going to get an upgrade package in about a week's time, consisting off: 60mm throttle body, K&N 57i filter, Milltek 4-1 manifold, Milltek flexi, Milltek cat back and a Bluefin remap, which should see around a 35bhp gain, but will empty my wallet of £1200.

Faults:

Power steering failure at 38000 miles; fortunately just inside the 3 year warranty, so repaired free.

Now the bad news; just four weeks later, appears to have gone again i.e. loss of fluid, noisy when steering wheel turned on part or full lock, so back to the dealer.

Have had a number of Fords over the years, but not any more. From reading the comments on this site, it appears to be a fairly common problem that Ford have failed to rectify.

General Comments:

Great pity, as otherwise no problems.

Faults:

When I first got the car, there was an annoying squeaking sound when driving along any road that was not totally smooth and flat. (In other words, most roads!)

This was traced to the handbrake cable rubbing against the heatshield under the car.

There is also an occasional "clonk" sound from the rear suspension when I pull out of my driveway in the morning. I have not yet had this checked out.

General Comments:

Even though I knew this car is more about handling that straight line performance, I am still a little disappointed in the performance.

There is a fairly even spread of torque all the way up the rev range. And, even though you have to rev it quite hard to get decent performance, there is no point at which it really comes alive. Some people say things like "it flies above 5000rpm" or whatever. But, to me, any increase in acceleration at higher revs is minimal.

On the motorway, I find that I have to drop to 4th or even 3rd gear quite often. Otherwise, I've no chance of changing lanes when it's busy. The trouble is, that wastes time, so you either miss opportunities, or end up driving along in lower gears for a while...

It's noisy on the motorway. It really needs a 6th gear, because the engine is spinning quite fast at motorway speeds. The exhaust can be boomy on the motorway, especially when going up hill. Fortunately, the radio has the option to increase the volume with speed!

It uses quite a bit of fuel, considering that it's not all that fast. I could leave my old Zetec-S in 5th all the time on the motorway, and get 40mpg average. With the ST, because you have to rev it hard, I only get 32mpg on the same 30 mile commute. If I drive it really slowly, I can get about 35mpg on the same trip. But then what's the point?

The clutch action is fairly abrupt. It takes more effort to drive smoothly and quickly than any other car I've owned. In fact, sometimes I believe that the biting point on the clutch varies slightly - perhaps there's a problem with the hydraulic clutch?! This is made worse by the fact that the throttle response is jerky for the first couple of minutes after a cold start...

The suspension is a little too firm for typical roads. I could drive faster in my old Zetec-S on many country lanes, because it was not affected by poor roads surfaces anything like as much as the ST.

There is a lot of grip, and the standard Pirelli P Zero Nero tyres seem quite good in most conditions. However, they have poor traction in snow, as confirmed by reviews elsewhere on the web.

The handling is very good. The car is nicely balanced and throttle adjustable in the middle of a bend.

The steering can sometimes feel a little vague on turn in, which can make you unsure of how much grip is available. This often means I don't fully exploit the car, just to play it safe. That can be frustrating. (I did not have this with my old Zetec-S.)

The seatbelts are set quite far back - it takes some getting used to.

There is a decent amount of rear leg room for a car of this size.

I like the look of the car. In particular, the large alloy wheels really set it apart from other Fiestas.

I considered the Clio 182 instead, but after owning a Clio 1.8 RSi, 1.8 16v and Williams in the past, I was wary of reliability problems.

Have a look at Evo magazine's reviews and long term tests. I think they're almost spot-on.

Overall, you feel like you're driving something a bit special, not something average.

I hope this review does not appear too negative, as I really do like the ST overall. Of course, if it had 30bhp more power, more low-end torque and a 6th gear, it would be fantastic.