New Car - ST220

Well have been out in it today in the dry and its pretty awesome, not chuckable but does take corners well very planted, and the acceleration aint half bad.

Its obviously a big step up from my astra and as some of you have said not what you would buy, I have only been driving a year which kind of limited what I could insure, and it fulfils my needs perfectly as I wanted something to drive to work (25miles round trip) but also something I can drive around country to see uni mates/relatives in comfort. Whilst having some fun on the weekends. Its also big enough to chuck my mountain bike in the back which I wanted.

thepharcyde said:
Shame you did not hold off for xenons.
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Tis ok I can add the projector lights and kit at a later date if I feel the necessity.

Anyway here are some pictures, due to driving it around and having to clean up my astra for the new buyer I only had time to do a quick wash and used the new autoglym aqua wax which I was realy impressed with. just give it a quick dry off and then just wax on. Its good if you want a quick finish thats for sure.

Anyway the pics

st2201.JPG


st2202.JPG


st2203.JPG


http://www.paulinportsmouth.co.uk/pics/st2204.JPG

http://www.paulinportsmouth.co.uk/pics/st2205.JPG

http://www.paulinportsmouth.co.uk/pics/st2206.JPG

http://www.paulinportsmouth.co.uk/pics/st2207.JPG

http://www.paulinportsmouth.co.uk/pics/st2208.JPG

http://www.paulinportsmouth.co.uk/pics/st2209.JPG

http://www.paulinportsmouth.co.uk/pics/st22010.JPG
 
Tom|Nbk said:
Prepare to get raped if you go to Ford. Sets pop up on Ebay now and then though.
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HA ye i know i would probably get just the projector headlights and then an aftermarket kit that comes recommended on st owners which improves on the original xenons.
 
Yea that would be the better option, but wait for it

for just the projector headlamps from Ford for my Focus. Ford wanted £360 but not for both no. That is EACH. God knows how much they want for the Mondeos
 
Tom|Nbk said:
Yea that would be the better option, but wait for it

for just the projector headlamps from ford for my Focus Ford wanted £360 but not for both no. That is EACH. God knows how much they want for the Mondeos
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Rofl will keep an eye out for rear ended mashed ones then. Fingers crossed there was a whole set that just went on ebay but didnt have the cash to pay if I had won.
 
[TW]Fox;11285388 said:
Whereas what you drive looks so exciting I can't even remember what it is :)
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Possibly because I've never directly told you? :rolleyes: And if your asking, niether of my cars are remotely exciting. Doesn't stop me having an opinion.

DannyDan said:
Surely that applies to lots of good cars, e.g. Accord Type-R/ Civic Type-R look like normal Accord/Civics. People talk about them because theyre fun to drive.
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To be fair, I'm probably being too harsh. The car I particularly covet looks horrifically boring in its base model so I'll gently open this glass door. :)
 
Have you any thoughts on road tax after yesterdays budget. Come 2009-20010 car tax year, tax for this car goes up to £400 +. I was seriously considering one of these, as previously band G only applied to 2006 + cars. Thats gone now :(
 
MrLOL said:
Have you any thoughts on road tax after yesterdays budget. Come 2009-20010 car tax year, tax for this car goes up to £400 +. I was seriously considering one of these, as previously band G only applied to 2006 + cars. Thats gone now :(
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So?

£200 a year more. Oh well. Not as if its a bank breaker if you've already budgetted to keep a 220bhp car on the road is it? Less than half a set of tyres.
 
MrLOL said:
Have you any thoughts on road tax after yesterdays budget. Come 2009-20010 car tax year, tax for this car goes up to £400 +. I was seriously considering one of these, as previously band G only applied to 2006 + cars. Thats gone now :(
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I agree its not something that can be ignored - this is just the start. Come 2010 the cost will have been increased in future budgets.

Over 5 years at the proposed rate thats an extra £1000 - just to drive on the road. Out of two cars I've flagged up as purchases one of them is 02, the other 00. The 00 has just gone up a notch for this reason alone.

This tax system is horribly ill thought out.
 
MrLOL said:
Have you any thoughts on road tax after yesterdays budget. Come 2009-20010 car tax year, tax for this car goes up to £400 +. I was seriously considering one of these, as previously band G only applied to 2006 + cars. Thats gone now :(
Click to expand...

Not too fussed, I probably wont own it by then, but if thats what I have to pay to drive thats what I have to pay. I'm not incredibly happy about it increasing though. As fox says its not a big increase compared to say tyres.
 
One week on....

Well I have owned my 220 for just over a week and have covered approx 700 miles in this time ( I only do about that in a month usually).

Basically it has been brilliant.

I travelled to southend to see a few uni chums and compared to my old astra it was heaven, I just chucked cruise on and sat back in comfort, got there fully refreshed rather than tired and with a bit of a numb bum from the astra seats. Fuel economy was 30mpg there and back which included sitting in stop start traffic for about an hour or so and some blasts, especially through the dartford tunnel. The thing is just glorious.

I have noticed a few squeaks and rattles one from my drivers seat but that goes away after a minute or two of driving which is strange and a couple from the boot area, but I have located these to loose trim and have fingers crossed fixed those. Other than that the build quality is second to none, everything seems bolted down properly with very few gaps and nice soft touch plastics on a fair amount of the dash.

Have also ordered a pair of goodyear eagle f1's as my front tyres are poor at best being some yokohama thingy. So will get those on within the next few days and hopefully if the weekend is dry some country drives will be going on to truly test out the cars handling, which so far has been sublime even in the wet weather we have mostly been having so far.

The only gripe I have with the car is the auto wipers. They are awful and dont turn on early enough unless you're travelling at motorway speeds which is a bit annoying. Other than that the car has performed flawlessly and puts a grin on my face everytime I drive it and will hopefully provide me with many more happy miles of motoring.
 
How you getting on with the ST now?

After wrapping the S2K round a lampost I might be after something a bit more suited for the driving I do which is mainly motorway and buy something tasty as a weekend toy in a few years.

Been looking on Autotrader/pistonheads and the prices of these seem pretty good for the age and amount of car you get for the money :)

Do the rear seats fold down? If so would you get a bicycle in the back?

Neil.
 
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