The learner driver Ford Ka

It's time..... It's that crucial moment in my life when i get to oversee the purchase of the child's first car and help her take those initial baby steps to becoming an independent motorised human being!!!

After spending hours running quote after quote on comparison sites, logging the average costs with provisional and full licence on an incredibly boring spreadsheet - organised by model and trim level (colour coordinated of course), I finally narrowed down the cars to a choice of 3.
Nissan pixo, ford ka (MK2) and a Peugeot 107

What amazed me about the insurance was how much moving up a single trim level affects the quote. Like £300 moving from access to active in a 107. Seriously, totally mad.
And yes, the price of insurance on a sub £1500 shed for a new driver with a full licence is just eye watering. I won't say how much it is, but it's wayyyyyy more than the car is worth.

Back on to the car choice.
Went to see a nissan pixo, happy that this is based on a Suzuki alto but built in India. Apparently they're pretty unbreakable.
Ermmmmmmm. It's like they poured a single mold of the hardest ugliest plastic possible and the glued on 4 wheels and some seats inside. It is HORRENDOUS. I think the little tuktuk I whizzed about in Africa last summer was better built and had better interior plastics. Not deterred I carried on with a test drive - with one little part of my mind happy it was bloody appalling to look at and sit in - after all your first car should be proper shocking! But no, it was awful. Yeah I know, I'm coming from an XC90 and a Tesla model Y - but I drove a defender for 18 years previously so I know what uncomfortable and noisy is! The pixo was just horrible. Truly hateful. I learnt to drive in an 850cc mini, which compared to this was like a limo. Honestly I cannot believe anyone would walk in to a showroom and actually buy one of these new!!!
I just couldn't do it, it's out

Peugeot 107. I like the way they look and the interiors are nice, plus they get decent reviews, so off I trundle to go look at one. Ah, big problem.... I don't fit.
Now that might not seem important as it's going to be girl-childs car, but she is nearly as tall as me and has 36" legs. No way she will fit them lanky legs in and be able to safely operate the pedals in any comfort. So sadly that's another off the list.

That leaves the Ka. Reading the reviews, this is a joint venture with the fiat 500 and uses the fiat 1.2 fire engine. It's a little bigger than the fiat inside and much cheaper to buy and insure. Presumably because its a boring ford and not a wanna be influencer handbag fashion car
Found a nice example on AT and went for a poke about. Firstly I fit in it! Interior was ooo-kay I suppose - but massive leap above the pixo - and it drove quite nicely. Was amazed at how smooth it was on a crappy bit of south Leeds dual carriage way and seemed to have enough poke to not get itself in to trouble pulling out of junctions.
But this one was short on mot and the trader was reluctant to stick a new one on it and had apparently misplaced the service history listed in the advert. So I walked away, thinking this is going to be an absolute ball-ache dealing with shi-sters selling at this price point, punting on absolute tut they picked up at trade auctions outbidding the scrap man by a fiver......

Found another one, quite local as well. This one ticked all the boxes. Billy basic spec - KEEP FIT WINDOWS!!!! - that horrible ford light red / pink which I hope a decent cut and wax will restore and a full service history plus 11 months MOT. Mot history checked out well with just the odd advisory for tyres.
Went to see it and it's a blinder, perfectly accurate advert, even down to the tiny dent on the bonnet and cracked osr tail light. Other than that the bodywork is remarkably straight, my magnet stuck everywhere with no evidence of crash damage or filler and underneath was completely rust free. Even the wheel arches and boot floor were perfect. I know! I thought all fords came with rust pre-installed. Drove well, no clunks or bangs and it has recent-ish receipts for a clutch and some brake work.
The guy was a gent and to seal the deal even offered to replace the front tyres, which were a little low and mismatched.
So I am now the proud owner of a billy basic 2010 ford ka with 68k on the clock.

I'm picking it up on Saturday and taking it straight to a chap I know for a quick spit and polish inside and out before surprising girl-child with her 17th birthday present!
Nope, she has no idea I've been doing this and I hope she will be pleased.

Whether our relationship survives me trying to teach her drive is another matter, or how well this sheddy ford ka holds up to a 17 year old learner driver with the coordination of a pissed baby elephant.... Well that's what this thread will hopefully cover over the coming months.

Wish me (and the poor ford ka) luck on our upcoming adventures

Picture from the advert

Pictures once it's home to follow this weekend!

Yes i read that too - although i havent driven a fiat 500 so cant directly compare. But it was remarkably non bouncy or crashy! It actually rode like a much bigger/heavier car.

Couple of upgrades have taken place before i have even got the thing home. Being the billy-basic model it doesnt even have bluetooth pairing. So to fix that i have bought a little bluetooth dongle that plugs in to the Aux-in port and is usb powered. so subsequently bought a 12v cig lighter USB charger as well.
Turns on and off with the ignition and automatically reconnects with the last paired device if its in range. Does music streaming and hands free calling.
Whilst not something i will let Nicks90-Child use during driving lessons, it is something i will use when i use this to potter about to the shops etc until she finally passes her test and 100% takes ownership of the car.
good price (£14) and seems to fit the bill nicely. Will feed back if its any good tomorrow after i have tested it on the drive home. Will also be interested to see how appalling the stereo and speakers are :-( (might be another upgrade)

And it's home!
Garage did the bits needed / agreed as promised and after settling the remaining amount I was underway in less than 15 minutes.

Weather was rubbish, so the clean had to wait and instead we went straight to the "ta-daaa, here's your birthday present" bit.

Needless to say I am the best dad in the universe!
Whilst she was sat playing with the (limited) number of buttons and stalks I took a couple of photos. Still can't get over how straight it is for a 14 year old motor!

I then had a brainwave and realised the local rugby club has a massive open plan gravel overflow car park. So as I wanted to take her out for a spin anyway (needed some beers for the 6 nations) I surprised her for the second time by pulling into said gravel car park and telling her to swap places with me and get driving!!!
Bearing in mind she has never driven before, never looked at any tiktoks or YouTube videos or even done any theory, she was straight at it and only stalled twice when setting off. We must have done 20-30 stop and starts with various figure eights around that car park and going from 1st-2nd and then to a stop again.
She never stopped smiling the whole time.

Proud dad
I would like to think it was the amazing way I told her how to set off and clutch control, but I think it was more the fact it's such an easy car to drive with a nice smooth progressive clutch and fairly decent amount of torque at low revs....

Some piccies, really is straight and that cill is the worst of the two...




The Bluetooth dongle thing works perfectly, the stereo is rubbish and the speakers are crap. But they will do for now. As she's metal head, I don't think it will be long before they are blown though.

nicks90-child has now completed a preliminary exterior wash and wax and given the inside a good clean. didnt realise the trim and gearknob were an offwhite/cream, as it was a sort of yellow-y cream when i picked it up


took it out for a blast up the motorway - always give a 'new' second hand car a Spanish tune up - mainly to see how horrendous it is at 70mph. You know what, it was actually rather pleasant. Surefooted even passing a hgv and stable directionally. Was very impressed, well done mr Ford!

However a couple of little niggles have come to light.

1) handbrake ratchet is not brilliant. maybe every other pull, the ratchet doesnt hold and it pings straight back down again. So i will need to have a look at that and see if its something that can be adjusted or if it needs a new ratchet handbrake mechanism. When the handle does stay up, handbrake is very effective though.
2) rear left brake light has stopped working. Changed the bulb and its still the same. However up in the top corner of the boot where the wires go through, there appears to be some electricians tape around the wires under the rubber cover/grommit. Whats the bet previously a wire has worn through on that hole and had a bodge repair and needs looking at properly.
3) at 30mph in 4th, or 20mph in 3rd, so about 1200 rpm, at a constant speed on a flat road, it feels like its hunting / surging ever so slightly. Will need to plug my obd reader in and see if its showing any errors. If it isnt, i think a MAF clean and cheeck for air leaks on the induction side will be needed.

Other than that, seems like a good un

What's that?
Seriously!

My usual method is jet wash the crap out of it to get all the loose muck and grit off, snow foam, rub down with a big floppy mit (rinsing mit in clean water after each body panel, and then jet wash it all off.
Chamois leather dry and then apply whatever wax I happen to have.

Now you're going to tell me fords self combust if washed like that....

Hmmm, good point
Never thought of that. I think I might get some quotes with the start date of her test. Obvs she's not even started lessons properly or booked a test, but it might be worth me taking a punt when she does book her test and sort the insurance out for that date. Looking at the waiting times for a test round here, she'll have at least 3 months between booking and actually sitting it, so plenty of time to do quotes and take out insurance

I can always cancel the insurance and lose the £50 admin fee if she fails...

Girl-child replaced the handbrake today, only assistance needed was some dad-strength to crack the 2 bolts off initially.
She's now growing over confident, "I didn't need an instruction manual.... It was dead easy....handbrake was adjusted perfectly first time.... I can fettle cars easy....." Blah lah lah
So next job for her is to do an engine service. Just oil and filters, but let's see how she gets on when the job gets a bit greasier and it might ruin her manicure.
But, I refuse to let her become a driver and car owner without knowing basic car maintenance and being familiar with how it all works.

Been proper lazy and the only thing I've done is polish the front screen and treat it to some nice fuel and a long run.
Misfire / surging feeling is now much reduced after two trips (200 miles) to the office and the windscreen is actually clear!!!

But to pay me back for my laziness, it's developed a squeak from the front right when going over speed bumps. Could be a control arm or an anti roll bar bush, but I'm definitely going to take a look this weekend

In other news, driving lessons with mini nicks90 has begun. She's had 4 'proper' lessons with an instructor, so I've been taking her out around Wakefield and Dewsbury nearly every day for extra experience.
Two points to note, driving instructors are pussies. So far he has taught her basic driving, left turns at a junction, right turns at a junction and thats about it. No roundabouts, no reversing, cross roads etc..
FFS, Istr that when I learnt to drive it was just in and get on and listen carefully as you go along to the instructor

Point 2, she can drive. She can listen and takes instructions well. 'we're coming to a roundabout, look right and if a cars coming from the right stop at the line. If a car isn't coming from the right, boot it and take the 2nd exit'. Bosh, she's off! Hahaha. So in my lessons, she's done left and right turns off the main road, left and right turns at T junctions, roundabouts (both mini and large and main motorway roundabouts), box junctions, the usual residential roads with cars parked on both sides and incoming traffic, and mostly all around 5-6pm in rush hour traffic. Hehehehe

She's said each time she's nervous as hell, I can tell when she gets very nervous though - as she saws at the wheel, but she's improving massively each time we go out. The more experience she has of driving in those conditions the quicker she will learn and the more confident she will become. Plus her hazard awareness is great, much better than I was at her age and she drives much less aggressively than I did/do

Rear brake light is fixed!!!

I did nothing. It just started to work all on its own.
I love this car, it fixes itself