I love my ST, best car I have owned and driven so far and I have driven lots, especially Scoobs.
Fuel is the big killer in them, but depends if that bothers you. I average around 19-20mpg on a normal week.
In std form I would agree with Matteeboy (shock horror), the engine does feel slow and takes some time to get going, I was very disapointed with mine when I got it as it felt slower than my 205 that it replaced. BUTTTTTTTTTTTTT, get it remapped and it's a whole different league of performance, just unreal.
I had mine lowered yesterday using Ford approved Eibach's and it just looks superb, as well as improving the body roll that they suffer from and making the already superb handling even better. Plus, the ride comfort has actually improved over std!!!
They are an excellent car IMO, cheap to run (bar the fuel), blinding looks IMO, especially compared to a WRX which lets face it is flipping ugly. 
Mine has near to 280bhp ish and has never suffered from any form of torque steer, unlike my old 200bhp 205 which had a bit. Some ST do seem to suffer from it, but mine hasn't and I don't hang about in it either.
People who say that 4WD is "required" are just talking nonsense, if you are driving fast enough to make the difference between FWD and AWD matter then you are driving too fast to be on a road.
As a family car they are excellent. Mine is just a weekend car as we have a Civic 2.2 as the family mule, but we all prefer the ST and my little lad loves it, plus he has a better view out the side window. 
