Who knows about Ford Ka's

[Viney]

Personaly DD, for £800 you are not going to get a perfect car, but you need something that when it does go worng has a huge parts catalouge and are easy to come by and also cheap as chips to repair. The KA imho fits that bill 100%.

The New KA is very nice, although a little dear next to the Fiesta.

[fizzwheel]

When I was looking for a cheap runabout I wanted a Ka, I like them, but I couldnt find one in my budget, I did find a Fiesta that fitted the bill and that never gave me any trouble and I believe they share alot of running gear between the two cars.

dont worry, i wasnt recommending a french car, I hate them. just pointing out you might be able to find something with lower miles.

Although i think 100K is fine, as longs as you know its not gonna last forever. at least with an older car its easy to fix and doesnt need a computer.

[steveg]

Bought my son a old mk3 golf for 500 quid , had done 80 k , had for 18 months no problems / no bills ( fingers crossed) , seems really well built for a old car , alot better than my newer Vectra

Cheers Steve

[Skip]

Originally Posted by steveg

Bought my son a old mk3 golf for 500 quid , had done 80 k , had for 18 months no problems / no bills ( fingers crossed) , seems really well built for a old car , alot better than my newer Vectra

Cheers Steve

+1

Old german iron is where my money goes - I currently have a 1997 E36 BMW 316i Compact - 135k with FSH it drives like a dream and does 35mpg - £800 with a years MOT and 3 months tax I reckon was a steal - its black too which was a bonus!

[embee]

For a cheap runabout I'd always recommend Micras (the jelly mould one, injected 16V 1.0L engine is fine). You'll find decent sound examples for the same sort of money as the Fords, but IMHO they are a much better tool. Old Fiestas and Kas always sound like a bag o' nails to me.

Jelly mould Micras have chain driven cams so no belt to worry about, though a few did have chain tensioner problems but that was a short production run issue, around "T" reg I think.

Avoid earlier ones with the wider tyres and no power steering, way too heavy to haul around. Airbags from around '95 on.

This is the table for the 2005 J.D.Power survey (owners results) so reflects cars back to around 2002, as an indicator
http://www.whatcar.com/NonCar/1345545551.jpg

A quick look in Autotrader says £1k will easily get you up to year 2000 and 50k miles examples.

[dirtydog]

one of the main reasons we're looking at a Ka is the low insurance group, he's got a Pug 205 at the mo and the insurance is a killer as it's group 6 insurance and he's only 18

[Daywalker]

not a bad run about those ka's if its bog standard, with out central locking & electric windows there's less to go wrong. Also you're never to far away from a Ford spares counter good luck.

I've got an 02, its a bit rusty but has never once let me down. Apparently my McPherson struts will need attention soon, but it's been cheap as chips thus far, and costs me a tenner a week in petrol.

Most reliable car I've ever had. To be honest though- I wouldn't have thought mine would have been worth £1000- and it's done 15,000 miles. I'm sure you could get one cheaper.

If you can find a good one then thats a start DD.

Bushes are quite often a replacement every year or so on them. We had an over revving problem with the one we had (common on the 1300 engines, rewired ECU for £100 in the end). We sold it a few weeks back because the clutch slave cylinder had gone. £400 to replace amongst other work... But I reckon shopping about woulda got it down. Always check for rust on Ka's thats what the guy who bought it off us said, look all round below it etc. And also look around the tops of the suspension mounting, prone to cracking (ours did).

Like I say, if you can get a good one, go for it. I'd recommend a Corsa though.

BTW ours was a 97 P reg with EW, CL and PAS, these did not come as standard so look out for that.