It's the front suspension unit, that stops the car from bouncing too much when you hit a bump or a pot hole, they cost around £40 each and it's best to replace both sides at the same time otherwise it can make the car handle badly and cause bad tyre wear, it should take around 2hrs to replace the struts, so that cost will depend on where you have the job done as a dealer will be more than an independant garage, and make sure that they do a wheel alignment afterwards or you will wear the front tyres out very quickly!!
nigel, July 2011