Ford Ka: good or rubbish?
Discussion
My girlfriend has an 08 one (with stripes, a spoiler and tinted windows!) and it's ace fun to chuck about the twisty bits.
Something bigger would be nicer on a longer journey but we've been from Grimsby/Louth to Brighton, Holland, London in it without it being too much of a ball ache.
Something bigger would be nicer on a longer journey but we've been from Grimsby/Louth to Brighton, Holland, London in it without it being too much of a ball ache.
ymwoods said:
I hate the look of them. A big bubble on wheels.
WTF, you drive a 206! 
Alex97 said:
I've got to ask, why did she sack the au-pair?
Something about climbing into bed with her and her husband after a few drinks I think...Actually no, she was just really crap and immature, couldn't cook (despite saying she could), didn't integrate with the family and spent all her time shut away in her own room.
The pitfalls of au-pairs.
My wife chose ours; ugly, three stone overweight, vacant expression.
She was great, except she ate like a horse and farted a storm.
A very smelly storm too...
My experience of my Ka;
I got it at 3 miles, took it all the way until 20k. No problems at all. It was a fantastic drive through the twistys, no doubt about it. It just hopped from one corner to another. It was always very predictable, and whatever was happening at those front wheels, you knew. The engine might be underpowered, but it does ride well for a small car. Tyres were cheap, and it averaged about 40mpg even with the valves bouncing out the bonnet. Get one, go on an open country road and then tell me you didn't smile!
I got it at 3 miles, took it all the way until 20k. No problems at all. It was a fantastic drive through the twistys, no doubt about it. It just hopped from one corner to another. It was always very predictable, and whatever was happening at those front wheels, you knew. The engine might be underpowered, but it does ride well for a small car. Tyres were cheap, and it averaged about 40mpg even with the valves bouncing out the bonnet. Get one, go on an open country road and then tell me you didn't smile!
I've got a 2001 Fiesta with the same engine an yes, it's not a powerhouse by any stretch of the imagination, but it was fantastic even in deep snow last winter. I managed to climb hills that only 4x4s were getting up, leaving many a BMW stuck at the side of the road. The chassis is very well balanced and there is loads of feel and feedback in the steering, if you enter a corner faster than it is happy with it will let you know before it let's you go, if you know what I mean. Quite easy to control in a slide too, which is handy for the snow.
That said, mine does suffer in the winter from serious misting on the inside of the windscreen, I'm going to be treating it with some antifog stuff soon to prevent it from happening this winter. Once it spontaneously misted over on a clearway dual carriageway with no exits, had the fans working full blast to clear it. It also froze over on the inside once or twice when I had been in the car with wet shoes. I'm not sure why this happens in my car but not in most peoples' - maybe because I have rubber mats and not carpet?
That said, mine does suffer in the winter from serious misting on the inside of the windscreen, I'm going to be treating it with some antifog stuff soon to prevent it from happening this winter. Once it spontaneously misted over on a clearway dual carriageway with no exits, had the fans working full blast to clear it. It also froze over on the inside once or twice when I had been in the car with wet shoes. I'm not sure why this happens in my car but not in most peoples' - maybe because I have rubber mats and not carpet?
Mastodon2 said:
That said, mine does suffer in the winter from serious misting on the inside of the windscreen, I'm going to be treating it with some antifog stuff soon to prevent it from happening this winter. Once it spontaneously misted over on a clearway dual carriageway with no exits, had the fans working full blast to clear it. It also froze over on the inside once or twice when I had been in the car with wet shoes. I'm not sure why this happens in my car but not in most peoples' - maybe because I have rubber mats and not carpet?
Check if your fans are actually blowing any air when it randomly mists over. My girlfriends has just started doing this, it makes all the right noise but no air comes out. Seems to fix itself as quickly as it breaks itself 
Wife's got the Sportka. Quite a nice little pocket rocket - my lad would LURV to put a 2-litre Zetec in it...
Downsides? Yes - a few. Told by our local friendly garage on the first MOT to watch the sills, ie the inners to floor, so the wife since has always gone for the top car wash with chassis lube. Seems to be holding up OK from the recent MOT - sills still fine. We have crap speed humps in the village & she always seems to get them head-on - THUMP (shudder) had a broken front spring last service, but it had also rusted badly. The heater control packed in within a couple of years - initially it was the valve but now the panel has gone kaput so I have wired in an on/off switch for now; new panels are a bit dear - like some Fiestas with the same terrible rheostat for heat control, complete panel needed. Give me a good old cable any time. Floor pans must be pretty weak at the back, as no type approval for towing. But the Mk 2 (AKA Fiat 500!!) obviously stronger as next to us on the campsite a couple of weeks ago was a Mk 2 towing a Conway Challenger FC. Wife said not fair, hers has a 1600cc lump? Generally they are good little cars if one is aware of the need to watch the underbody and be careful over rough roads. Oh, and her first one, a 1.3, ate its steering - not the rack, but the column UJ. Went very stiff - they changed the rack, and at the same time found the UJ almost solid. The roadholding on all the KAs is superb - me & my lad were coming back from Evesham one day - he was driving - we went up Fish Hill in the outer lane round all the tight bends past Audis, BMWs and Mercs - wow......
Spares easy and inexpensive but recommend genuine parts, esp suspension joints etc.
That'll do for now.
Downsides? Yes - a few. Told by our local friendly garage on the first MOT to watch the sills, ie the inners to floor, so the wife since has always gone for the top car wash with chassis lube. Seems to be holding up OK from the recent MOT - sills still fine. We have crap speed humps in the village & she always seems to get them head-on - THUMP (shudder) had a broken front spring last service, but it had also rusted badly. The heater control packed in within a couple of years - initially it was the valve but now the panel has gone kaput so I have wired in an on/off switch for now; new panels are a bit dear - like some Fiestas with the same terrible rheostat for heat control, complete panel needed. Give me a good old cable any time. Floor pans must be pretty weak at the back, as no type approval for towing. But the Mk 2 (AKA Fiat 500!!) obviously stronger as next to us on the campsite a couple of weeks ago was a Mk 2 towing a Conway Challenger FC. Wife said not fair, hers has a 1600cc lump? Generally they are good little cars if one is aware of the need to watch the underbody and be careful over rough roads. Oh, and her first one, a 1.3, ate its steering - not the rack, but the column UJ. Went very stiff - they changed the rack, and at the same time found the UJ almost solid. The roadholding on all the KAs is superb - me & my lad were coming back from Evesham one day - he was driving - we went up Fish Hill in the outer lane round all the tight bends past Audis, BMWs and Mercs - wow......
Spares easy and inexpensive but recommend genuine parts, esp suspension joints etc.
That'll do for now.
The last two car my missus owned were Ka's... for her, a car is just a tool to get from A to B and she didn't care less about optional extras and showing off so a bargain basement Ka was fine. She picked up a brand new one in 2007 for £4995 on the road!
Overall they were superb really. On the plus side:
Overall they were superb really. On the plus side:
- 1.3 engine is utterly gutless at motorway speeds but even with 4 people in the car, it performs almost identically in town driving, pulling away from lights, etc.
- Quite comfy on a long drive - drove to Cornwall from the West Midlands and didn't get out the other side deaf or aching anywhere.
- Quite economical obviously!
- Seemingly very reliable. One warranty claim on the most recent Ka before we got rid of it... and the older one which she owned for about 6 years had a known fault with the power steering rack leaking which was very cheap to fix.
- Could fit a bike in the back with the back seats down!
- Handled quite well - chuckable little go-kart. Poor mans Mini
- Engine has a timing chain so no cambelt to worry about..
- Not exactly a large boot
- Quite noisy engine, utterly gutless on the motorway or for overtaking or anything.
I'm amazed at all the negative comments.
We owned one from 98 to 05 and it was great fun to drive, amazingly capable around city or country lanes. We test drove many small cars at the time and the KA stood out as being great fun to drive, you just grin and go, everywhere.
The plastic round corners totally change your view on a "big enough gap", you can't bump a corner because there are no corners! Once you get that fact you just go, almost anywhere.
It has a very small boot, five carrier bags or one small fold up pushchair and that's it. However we did squeeze us and the two kids in for some trips.
The styling is different, thank God as all other cars seem to be designed on a photocopier by someone that only ever drew one picture of weird angles. It grew on me over time. The latest KA looks a total mess as a result of this.
A great small car
We owned one from 98 to 05 and it was great fun to drive, amazingly capable around city or country lanes. We test drove many small cars at the time and the KA stood out as being great fun to drive, you just grin and go, everywhere.
The plastic round corners totally change your view on a "big enough gap", you can't bump a corner because there are no corners! Once you get that fact you just go, almost anywhere.
It has a very small boot, five carrier bags or one small fold up pushchair and that's it. However we did squeeze us and the two kids in for some trips.
The styling is different, thank God as all other cars seem to be designed on a photocopier by someone that only ever drew one picture of weird angles. It grew on me over time. The latest KA looks a total mess as a result of this.
A great small car
I guess it'd be the same as a higher spec Ka, only quicker. Can't really see how that'd be a bad thing! Bet it's quite a good laugh!
Gushing review from Clarkson from 2004 here...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/jeremy_cl...
And from Evo here:
http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evolongtermtests/4...
Gushing review from Clarkson from 2004 here...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/jeremy_cl...
And from Evo here:
http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evolongtermtests/4...
Edited by Chicane-UK on Sunday 3rd October 14:14
Chicane-UK said:
The last two car my missus owned were Ka's... for her, a car is just a tool to get from A to B and she didn't care less about optional extras and showing off so a bargain basement Ka was fine. She picked up a brand new one in 2007 for £4995 on the road!
I wish I'd done the same. At the time I thought they where just flogging dead horses, but looking at cheap new cars now there's still nothing that'll touch a KA for anything near that price. I had one as a courtesy car whilst my wife 206 was being repaired. The 206 felt like luxury afterwards it was that bad.
Loathsome cars; slow, uncomfortable, noisy and embarrassingly ugly. I drove probably 100 miles in it and it quickly became the worst car I'd ever driven. Even worse than the Yugo Yastava - at least that had comedy value.
Loathsome cars; slow, uncomfortable, noisy and embarrassingly ugly. I drove probably 100 miles in it and it quickly became the worst car I'd ever driven. Even worse than the Yugo Yastava - at least that had comedy value.
I love the way people slag off a car that cost £5k brand new for being basic, the original Ka was probably the most honest car on sale. It does what it says on the tin.
If I needed a cheap disposable car, I'd have one in a heartbeat. Simple mechanics, park it anywhere and not worry about it and its an entertaining drive to boot!
Get it bought.
If I needed a cheap disposable car, I'd have one in a heartbeat. Simple mechanics, park it anywhere and not worry about it and its an entertaining drive to boot!
Get it bought.
GF had a collection 1.3 and then a SportKa.
Both amazingly fun cars! Twisty tight roads are great!!!
Bought a A3 3.2 next and I seemed to loose alot of my fun drives!!
I would love one if I needed a cheapie. The Sportkas are very low geared so abit crap for m'way use and they seem to eat tyres (expensive tyres for a KA!!).
Both amazingly fun cars! Twisty tight roads are great!!!
Bought a A3 3.2 next and I seemed to loose alot of my fun drives!!
I would love one if I needed a cheapie. The Sportkas are very low geared so abit crap for m'way use and they seem to eat tyres (expensive tyres for a KA!!).
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