Yup, I have a Ka, and it is a perfect, problem-free car . . . except for rust. It's only 4 years old, and already I'm a bit concerned, because I'd like to keep it for another 10 years, but I dread to think what it will be like in 10 years time.
What does one do with a newish car which has a rust problem?
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It will still be under the 6 years anti rust warranty :)
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Kas up to a certain age are not galvanised, all other Fords and most other cars are.
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SWMBO's 2001 Fiesta, 24,000 miles is a rust bucket.
It too has holes in the sills, which were an advisory on the last MOT, they were bubbles until I stuck a screwdriver through them.
The other areas of 'tin worm' are too numerous to mention.
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He-he! just had an amusing thought!, remember that scene in Jurassic Park where the cow is lowered by crane into the Raptor pen? after a bit of "jingling an jangling" the crane comes out empty! well swap "cow" for "Ka" and Raptor-pen For a bath of "Rust-eater" and the results would probably be the same!
Billy
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could it be patchy build? I am guessing the 2001 Fiesta is still built in Kent, only the 2002 models onwards are the Valencia built ones. As I said on my 10 year olf Fiesta which has done 62k there just isn't a spot of rust anywhere.
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Surely the root of the problem is that they're built to a price?
I'm not sure if it's still the case, but you used to be able to get Kas brand new for £5000.
What amuses me is that these cars, ten years down the line, are still fetching up to £1800. Extremely slow depreciation.
If you build a car in Western Europe, with good styling and to a price that low, something has to give somewhere, and in the Ka's case would seem to be poor rust protection.
I guess the real question is, is the Ka any worse for rusting than similarly-priced peers like the old Suzuki Swift, various cheap Korean/Malaysian cars etc?
Fords in general seem to be a little below average for rust protection but I'd hardly class them as rotboxes in the same way the Ka and Fiesta tend to be.
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Well it had very little development costs (though that would have been recovered by now anyway due to the vast number sold). The chasis is a simplified Fiesta MK4's, the engine is a modified Kent been around since 1959 and its very sparten. On the older ones you don't even get seat belt height adjusters for example.
You can also buy new Pandas for £5k but I doubt they will rust like the Ka does.
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>>various cheap Korean/Malaysian cars etc?
I have seen mostly Fords(Ka Fiestas) rust, none in the way of so called cheap Korean/Malaysian cars and IMO Fords are expensive for what they are....
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Try getting a cat convertor for a Kia, compare that to the cost of a Ford one. This what makes Ford so good, dirt cheap parts.
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Well you say that, but a chap down the road who owns an old Daewoo Lanos got a replacement cat for £100 fitted. Doesn't seem all that bad to me -- an equivalent Ford would be about £70 wouldn't it?
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Having said that, that could be down to the part being shared with a Vauxhall of course!!
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>>This what makes Ford so good
If so why complain about a spot of rust,also if they are so good are they selling off land rover and jag,plus fords have always been dirt cheap for parts but they should be as they go wrong so often....
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fords have always been dirt cheap for parts but they should be as they go wrong so often....
That's unfair -- I wouldn't touch an old 80s Ford with a ten foot pole (rust, poor starting, awful gearboxes, noisy), but the newer ones are pretty good.
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>>I wouldn't touch an old 80s Ford with a ten foot pole (rust, poor starting, awful gearboxes, noisy),
Give me a mk3-4 escort any day, easy to work on, wasn't much you couldn't do yourself and no rust for years much better than the K a
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People seem to think that car washing is so yesterday, therefore any ka that has had the old wash and brush up invariably is rust free apart from the leading edges of the bonnet slam and the b post bottom corner (;-) )
These rotten ka"s are ex company thrash mobiles or belong to tracy the part time hairdresser
The colour is a bit of a giveaway boring colours =unlooked after cars
Good colours (metallics) =looked after cars by reasonably clean people in clean houses
Obviously there will be a few exceptions in the equation so if ive pigeon-holed you wrongly then please dont get too upset and the apology is all mine
ok?
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could it be patchy build? I am guessing the 2001 Fiesta is still built in Kent, only the 2002 models onwards are the Valencia built ones. As I said on my 10 year olf Fiesta which has done 62k there just isn't a spot of rust anywhere.
Now I'm baffled - I didn't think Fords had been built in the UK for a long time - is the plany in Kent a new one?
I don't know about recent Fiesta/Ka production - had a '80 Fiesta, built in Spain, which flexed so much because the panels were so thin, no wonder it rusted - made it's predecessors, Escorts mk 1/2, look solid!
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They were built in Essex not Kent sorry, I know the Escort was last built in Mersyside in 2000, and I am pretty sure the last UK made Fiesta was 2002. My Fiesta is built in the UK and thats a 97 one. Valencia also made RHD ones so the only way to find out is on the VIN.
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apart from . . . the b post bottom corner (;-) )
Surely you mean "the b post bottom corner (:-( )"
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Surely you mean "the b post bottom corner (:-( )"
no deffo a ;-) as it puts women with their arms folded off these at the block as they unfurl their arms and point with their jelly beans the small rust encroachment to their husbands/boyfriends and say er lurk at the rust and so the car comes cheper for me
so its a thumbs up for the built in price decider by ford.......
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These rotten ka"s are ex company thrash mobiles or belong to tracy the part time hairdresser
Utterly wrongthere ding dongme old mate. No Ka's are bought as company thrash mobiles. Margins are too tiht for fleet discount
Rattle you are too young to really know what Lancia was all about. I have never seen a three year old ka with its engine fallen out due to rust. It was common on lancia beta's
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< Ex RF, Ex TVM >
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>>thrash mobiles
Don't these have lawnmower engines in them ;)
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Don't these have lawnmower engines in them ;)
Judging by the sound of the OHV Kas, they do too! ;-)
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My girlfriends Ka is suffering with rust. Its a 51 plate so not that old.
Rust in the sills, round petrol cap, bottoms of doors, base of windscreen pillar and also under the bonnet the crossmember is nearly an MOT failure at the joints.
Shes getting rid of it this month as she thinks its the biggest heap shes ever owned.
Very few cars of that age are rusting with that level of seriousness these days. Unforgivable.
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"Utterly wrongthere ding dongme old mate. No Ka's are bought as company thrash mobiles. Margins are too tiht for fleet discount"
You are probably right about discount AE, on my list I could have got:
- Ka Studio 1.3 for about £163pm from my allowance of £367, i.e. the extra £200ish would be paid after tax to me.
- 1.6 SportKa was £243 but
- Fiesta 1.25 Studio was only £183
The Fiesta just about withstood the rear impact of an HGV in Italy last year whilst on holiday mind.
But a basic Toyota Aygo is around £157.
But then again my Mondeo on a 53 plate (built 9th October 2004 - and not sat in a field as it is a Euro IV build when they came out) has rusting rear doors!
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My Mondeo was of course October 2003. Still rusting though and lease company don't care.
Why not claim on warranty? Fords need an annual paint/body check (and stamp in service book) to keep the warranty. Lease companies save the £10 per car per year. When you have 130,000+ cars it makes a saving.
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Lots of Fords seem to rust, Focus's seem to have problems on the rear hatch. The only other brand that comes to mind regarding rust with modern cars is Mercedes, I've seen some 6-7 year old ones that look like they've been shot at, rust spots all over.
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