Hi all. I am looking for a ford ka for a little runaround, 98% for around town, but wish to know if low milage ones, say below 30,000 miles are usually reliable, say from 2001 models on. What problems do they seem to suffer from, if any, and any info i can get on this. I have seen one with 29,500 on the clock Y reg looks very nice and he wants £2000 for it. would this be a bargain or not. Finally, (Sorry to bable on) Is a duratec engine that is in some models o.k. Any comment, good or bad please, Thank-you all, Graham.
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See:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/index.php?url=/carbycar/index...m
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Hi,
Just thought i'd pop a quick reply in here as my misses has one of these.
She has a W reg (2000 with about 56k on the clock) basic Ka which she's owned from new and apart from the normal wear and tear issues you get with every car, she's not had a single problem with it.
Which is even more remarkable considering she's crashed it quite badly after only owning it for 3 months and has only ever had it serviced properly twice. The only time it ever gets oil is when I put it in, before i realised she wasn?t putting any in it hadn't had oil for several months and was virtually bone dry.
The handling of the car is very good for a budget run about. The engine, as I understand it, is of a very old design (dating back to the ford Anglia I believe) personally I find it a bit rough around the edges, but the performance isnt too bad at all considering the power its pushing out. Again... considering the lack of maintenance her's has had it seems to be as tough as old boots.
Hope this helps.
Chris.
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Check out HJ's summary. It should be helpful. It's an old engine, but decent enough. My 5 year old one is cheap to run and maintain, and reliable, though fuel economy has dropped by about 5mpg since new. I would be concerned that a 6 year old one with 30,000 on the clock would have been used for lots of short runs which does for an engine. Also I'm not sure how long these budget cars are designed to last. My Ka is quite noisy and on long motorway journeys my ears are ringing at the end. But it is very stable at speed, and can easily do 90 without feeling unsafe. The rubber seals on the doors are flimsy, but that is about the only problem.
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My wife has a 2001 Ford Ka which she's owned since it was 6 months old. It goes into the Ford dealership once a year for a service and that's been it. No breakdowns, nothing's fallen off, never failed to start. It gets extensively used during the winter when I've periodically dug it out from a layer of frozen snow and driven off in it. The only obvious signs of wear are the Ford badges which have lost the blue colour (seems normal on Fords after about 5 years) and a bit of fraying on the driver's seat and carpet. Downsides are tiny rear view mirrors and the rounded shape and blindspots making it more difficult to park than a car this size should be, oh and it's not particularly economical on petrol.
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We had three in our family, one after the other - never any problems and they are a hoot to drive. Very nippy around town and more relaxed than you'd expect on a motorway at 75-80 mph.
Get one with a full service history - I believe that the sparking plugs can get rusted in on older Kas.
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I've had a few Ka's as courtesy cars when my other Fords have been in for servicing and they're pretty good for what they are.
If you can run to one, the 70bhp Duratec engine is well worth having - its more powerful and refined than the old pushrod engine. I had an 06 plate base model last week and the engine was quite happy at 90mph with no shake or rattle, albeit the front end felt worrying light above 80. I did 95 miles in it and it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it might have been on a motorway run.
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I have owned or driven all types of Ka and they have all been excellent;I bought originally as a town type runabout and found myself using it for allsorts of journeys.I currently have a Sportka and can understand why EVO magazine picked it as the outstanding supermini.The old pushrod motor whilst not the most refined does go on for ever.The Rocam that has replaced it has chain drive to the cam and hydraulic tappets so does not need much maintenance.
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My sister has a 1998 (pushrod engine) example with 60,000 miles on the clock. She uses it for a daily 60 mile commute and it's been very good.
We had seized spark plugs which is a common problem, and can be a major pain (head off) to fix.
Other than that, it's needed a battery and an exhaust manifold / cat (integral with front downpipe!!). Runs well, is great fun to drive in the style of the original Mini (modest power but quite torquey, chuckable handling, great steering) and costs peanuts to run and maintain.
Despite simple (primitive) mechanicals, it can be a pig to work on due to restricted under bonnet space. Getting the battery out is a challenge worthy of a Mensa exam, and don't get me started on changing headlight bulbs!! Routine stuff (oil, filters, tappets) isn't a problem. Maintenance is not helped though by every single fastener under the bonnet seeming to corrode and disintegrate in front of your eyes.
Good simple cheap car though and much more fun than the competition. The old tech engine was deliberately tuned for midrange power and although it's a bit breathless out on the open road, it's brilliant in town, making point-and-squirt motoring effortless. On B-roads, the chassis is a joy, and unless you really push it, it can even do motorways surprisingly well.
One of my absolute favourite small cars alongside the old Mini and the Pug 205.
Cheers
DP
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buy one
take all the comments posted on board
i would prefer a basic pushrod for cheapness (and you only have £2000 anyway)
try and buy a specced model
eg leccy windows/colour coded bumpers etc
go for a good colour like silver
this way if you look after it it will still be worth what you paid for it 18 months later if you buy privatly and
shrewdly
get some mats as well
dammed noisy tinny things
wife wont have one
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Hi all, Thanks so much to every-one for all the useful information and comments on this subject. Many Thanks. Graham.
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If you buy one without colour-coded bumpers,each piece is in 3 sections and each piece is less than £25.
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Cheers jc2 for the info. Graham.
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Main problem with them is the rot. Check the sills very carefully.
Other than that they're essentially just a repackaged version of the same car Ford were putting out for the best part of 40 years, so they're thoroughly debugged.
I wouldn't have one (I wouldn't touch any old Ford engine, too many bad experiences with the old pushrods refusing to start as they get older) but they're a very cheap car to run it has to be said.
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They are probably the worst small car on sale in the UK for rust.
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I have never had problems with rust on any of the ones I've owned;I was in France on a campsite with a car I'd owned for sometime(not a Ka) and someone watched me drive on and came over and said"I've heard those are not very good cars"-I said"let me finish putting up my tent and then we'll have a drive".When we came back he agreed it was a good car-I asked if he had ever owned one-He said no, it was his neighbour who told him.I asked the obvious question and was told"no he didn't own one either".
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I looked 3-4 years ao at several for oldest son. Nice to drive... but galloping rust on 2 I saw. Pretty obvious on neglected ones.. a glance under the sillls at either side and under boot is enough to see if it has red termites.
Watch for misfires : several I saw (mid 1998-999 vintage) were dodgy in that respect.
madf
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We had a 2001 Ka Luxury for 18mths (bought 1 year old with 7000 miles), we sold it with 33,000 miles. No problems at all.
OTOH, my SiL had a 2003 Ka Luxury from new and sold it recently with about 60,000 miles on it. She had 3 (yes three) new steering racks fitted. I reckon that was part poor design, and part poor driving style as my SiL hasn't the foggiest what mechanical sympathy even means... ;)
She sold it in the end, because out of warranty the Ford dealer was estimating around £800 to fit a new steering rack, and then they steered her (forgive the pun) in the direction of the showroom at the nice new ones...
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I owned one for over 3 years, very reliable motor it was, it went to the garage less in those three years then my current Fiesta did in 3 months!!
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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Are the higher end version such as the Luxury Ka quiet inside? The base model is very noisy inside on the motorway.
Mine seems to have no problems with rust. Maybe they've improved the protection?
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IMO, the Luxury models are noisy at motorway speeds. Tinny too. If you want refinement, look elsewhere. The Fiesta with the right engine/gearbox combination is a much better bet for fast, long distance cruises.
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My daughter called them the Easter Egg Car, because the rounded boot section looks just like a Cadburys egg nestling in its cardboard box. We always imagine that when you open the door there would be a cascade of smarties and chocolate coins.
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Hi all. once again thanks to you all for your thoughts and useful comments on this, most helpful, Cheers, graham.
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The Auto Express has just published their driver survey involving 30,000 drivers reporting on the 100 most popular cars. The Ka was ranked 96 th overall (53rd for reliability and 92nd for build quality). It had the distinction of last place (100 th!) for braking. Six of the top ten were Japanese. IMO a survey is more valuable than individual experiences.
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i keep reading this about bad brakes on ka"s and no offence lakelad to you personally but the idea that ka"s have bad brakes is press book journalism on a wed afternoon
bad maintained brakes because they dont get maintained yes
bad brakes when maintained? absolutely not
they are fiesta brakes on a 700 kg tin frame,more than up to the job discs front /drums on rear .
how many of these cars are serviced at all ?
not a lot of them,im afraid
they are so reliable little rot boxes that they always end up with the husband borrowing them off wifes when their own bling motors fail to go
see it so often
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The same survey had the new Laguna 99th out of 100 for reliability; is this because they are not being properly serviced. I think not. We are not talking about journalism as such but a survey with a very large sample. No offence, bell boy, but I think that a survey of this size has considerable validity.
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Actually, as far as bad brakes go, I would agree that they ARE poor. SWMBOs Ka had very poor brakes, even at 7000 miles when we got it. We changed them for Ford branded pads and they actually got worse!
Nothing to do with poor maintenance, they really are rubbish brakes on the Ka.
And, for the record it was always serviced bang on time... by a Ford dealer no less ;)
Of the 20 odd cars we've owned in the last 10 years, the Ka had the worst brakes by a long margin, so in this case I think the survey is right.
SiL also reported poor braking in her Ka, from brand new.
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Hello
Test drove an 06 ka style yesterday with granddaughter.
Brakes were actually quite powerful they took my by suprise.
Cas has full service history (albeit one service)
She then signed up for a zetec climate on pcp she was impressed.
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(iam not a mechanic)
Martin Winters
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KA brakes seem to be an annual topic.
Here's my (unchanged) opinion from march last year.
"The brakes on the 4 KAs I've driven have been quite
variable in feel.
All were less than 2 years old at the time of use.
2 were quite keen - almost over servo-ed.
2 needed more of a push than I was comfortable with.
In both cases one had ABS and the other didn't.
The sharp ones were working cars, and the others were
demonstrators/used awaiting sale.
Either there are some significant differences in the
brake specifications, or they're better for being used."
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The brakes on my then Ka were ok i never had an issue with them, they didn't have ABS though.
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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I've owned several-driven many more.My current one(Sportka) has outstanding brakes-I've never had one with bad brakes-as someone else said they're basically Fiesta parts.
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The brakes are fine. I've done quite a few emergency stops in mine to avoid vehicles that ignore the Highway Code. (Wrong way down one way street etc.)
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