Who knows about Ford Ka's

i have one.

have a look at the rubber seal in the boot. lift it up at the bottom where the lock on the boot lid locates an have a look at the metal sill. mine has 60k and this is rotten.
check the door sills (lift the carpet at the edge in the footwell) and check the arches for rust.

under the bonnet. take a good look around the spark plugs. on mine they rust on the engine block and are a pig to remove. when my sister had it the garage botched the removal and crap got in the cylinder heads... was expensive.

fine tooth comb through the service history, i would expect it to have had the cam belt done and proabably a new exhaust by now. if the cam belt hasnt been done would check the service intervals on them cos if memory serves it is an expensive job.

on the whole they are cheap to run and quite a laugh to drive. not sure about 100k miles though...

[johnnyrod]

Viney obviously has the inside line, I'd generally say that an old Ford is asking for trouble. By this age though it will depend a lot on how well it has been looked after. I'd go for an old Micra or something like that, plenty around and not usually ragged. Protons are dirt cheap too, they're Mistubishi copies, engines made in the same factory.

Originally Posted by johnnyrod

Viney obviously has the inside line, I'd generally say that an old Ford is asking for trouble. By this age though it will depend a lot on how well it has been looked after. I'd go for an old Micra or something like that, plenty around and not usually ragged. Protons are dirt cheap too, they're Mistubishi copies, engines made in the same factory.

i bet old fords have a higher survival rate than protons!

We've got a 2000 model coming up to 94000 on the clock, serviced regularly, the only thing we've had to replace were the front shock boots, otherwise cheap to run, insure and economical, we would definately have another when this one expires although no sign of that happening yet, (i hope).

Daryl.

[Viney]

Originally Posted by jamesrichardson

i bet old fords have a higher survival rate than protons!

Agreed, certianly engine wise though it would give the ford a run for its money

[Gazza77]

My first car was a 96 Fiesta with the 1300 Ford engine that also powers the Ka. Was mechanically bulletproof for me; the cambelt wasn't particularly expensive to replace but it would be if you skipped it and it snapped...

My girlfried has a Y reg one that I have to drive all the time, I have done about 30,000 miles in it. It is currently on 70,000 miles and I have to say, the engine still starts everytime, and sounds and performs perfectly fine. I do have a mountain of other issues with it, like the front suspension seems to be constantly broken. It used to squeak going over bumps, then had various things replaced, now it still clonks and I also suspect the gearbox is loose or something as it clonks when I put in in gear and rattles a bit like the whole thing is loose in the chassis. I also can't hear music above 80 cos it is made of tin and really wind noisy. It also has no power above about 50 at all. But on the good side it is cheap to run (I get 300 miles out of about 30 litres of petrol) and it is easy to drive and park etc. Another problem I had that was apparently fairly common is the heating broke. The valve that opens and lets the hot water circulate was stuck closed so all I had was cold air in the winter! So test the heating. When it was replaced the actual nozzles snapped off too, so they have been known to snap and drain your car of radiator fluid mid trip according to the garage

All in all, I berate it a lot, but it was and is cheap, and I throw it around a lot. If you want a cheap car with a faultless engine but all manor of other niggly faults, get one.

Oh and it truly is a girls car. I am the only man driving one, I have been looking for 3 whole years for other men in one and can't find any. And I even have stupid soft toys in the windows and pink everything cos my gf insists .

[dirtydog]

Originally Posted by injury_ian

not sure of your budget, but it is a buyers market,

Budget is only £800

Originally Posted by the_lone_wolf

i'd expect a 100k+ mile ka to stop fairly frequently, most likely with electrical problems if the two fords i've owned are anything to go by...

I'm on my 6th Ford now and have had no electrical problems with any of them

Originally Posted by jamesrichardson

for that budget you can get other cars with less mileage. my GF got a saxo (as much as i dislike french cars) for 700 with 56K and FSH.

Really don't like the french stuff have had a couple or Renaults and a Peugeot and they were both a PITA and expensive to run.

Originally Posted by Viney

The early ones should have a 1300 cross flow which is about as bulit proof engine as you can get. It was fitted in nearly every car that ford made from about 1960 up until the KA. The early ones were carbbed and the latter fuel injection. My mate jase's missus KA has 94000 on the clock in 3 years with no real trouble. They can get a bit tapety. If its the early model, then this can be adjusted i believe like a proper old car. If latter, then Hydrulic tappets, will proabably need to be replaced.

Also, the speaker connections to the doors have a habit of breaking, and thats an £90 loom to replace!

I would check the 'lots of bills' to see whats actually been going on.

It's a 1997 we're looking at so it's an early one.

Originally Posted by johnnyrod

Viney obviously has the inside line, I'd generally say that an old Ford is asking for trouble. By this age though it will depend a lot on how well it has been looked after. I'd go for an old Micra or something like that, plenty around and not usually ragged. Protons are dirt cheap too, they're Mistubishi copies, engines made in the same factory.

A bloke i used to work with had a proton and had nothing but trouble with it and always had trouble finding the parts for it

[the_lone_wolf]

Originally Posted by dirtydog

I'm on my 6th Ford now and have had no electrical problems with any of them

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistics

[dirtydog]

Originally Posted by the_lone_wolf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistics

I understand statistics thanks