the 17's are fine for ride, my local roads are a joke, probably the worst in the country and it's bareable and the trade off for the much better looks is well worth it imo,
I've not got ESP (decided CC would be more useful in the long run) though i've not heard of anyone commenting on excesive interference from the system.
I've got the 1.6crtdi and it's a fantastic engine, plenty of grunt when needed, and economical when conditions allow.
Also consider the folding mirrors, for £50 they really are a nice little extra.
As robin said, the 5door is much more practical than the 3 door if you need to transport anything other than yourself on a regular basis (and looks better proportioned imho)
Issues: (that i've had/heard about)
* condesation in the rear light cluster, (hardly major but you'd've thought they'd've sorted that out by now
* The 1.6crtdi takes a fair while to warm up the interior of a morning, about 8-10 minutes of driving before it starts to feel warm in the cabin, and if the windscreen and windows are fogged up then it takes them about 7 minutes or so of gentle revving/idling to get them clear in the morning for me.
* The boot handle/seat
badge, gets sticky in cold weather, a few squirts of wd40 sorts it out. Occasioanlly it'll take two attempts at opening the boot to get it open properly (i think i'm the only person with this issue though?)
* Squeaky steering column on very bouncy roads, intermittant issue, mines settled down again.
* The front drivers side washer jets aren't aligned as well as they could be.
Other comments/thoughts:
The seats in the Sport are fantastic, i'd've liked adjustable lumbar support but it's no biggy, as they really do keep you in place.
There isn't very much "go" in the engine at all below 1500rpm, it'll pootle round town but if i try extra hard to avoid getting the turbo on boost i've noticed i do accelerate much slower than other cars (conversely, let the turbo work and it'll leave most other cars in it's class for dead)
The handling is fantastic, there's bucketloads of grip (i've not found the point that it lets go yet) it's sharp to turn in, and it feels engaging (that said, on the test drive when i took it easy it felt a little bit soft at distant from the road, which it does if you're being sedate with it, but give it some stick and it comes alive)
The boot is huge, and if you put the seats down (note here: if you want the back seats flat, you have to put the front seats right forward and take the rear headrests off, which is a bit uncomfy if your 6ft odd like me) but it does mean you can get a 31" CRT TV in the back, complete with matching stand, and surround soundspeakers as well as other odds and ends.
The sound system is impressive, i like my sound quality and i'm in no rush to upgrade the system.
It looks miles better than any of the alternatives, (corsa, punto, fiesta, polo, mazda2, clio) and is much less common to boot.
