2003 Ford Ka 1.3 petrol from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Appalling reliability for a 1 year old car

Faults:

New Clutch at 15,000.

Bits of interior trim falling off all over the place.

Engine overheating at on and off intervals.

Constantly in the garage needing something or other fixed.

General Comments:

I don't actually own this car, but have driven about 2000 miles in it and known it quite well.

I drive it as a company car, along with many other employees who drive it as well.

Firstly, the good bits, good handling, good enough brakes when you shove them enough, but not a particularly confidence inspiring bite.

When it was brand new it was quite quick off the line up to about 40 mph.

It is now about a year old, and has had to have the clutch replaced at 15,000 miles!!! This is appalling for such a modern car, the new clutch is beginning to slip and it was only replaced 3000 miles ago.

The accelerator is stiff.

You now have to push the brake pedal in a good 1.5 inches before ANYTHING happens.

Engine is not as responsive as it was.

When I drove this car new I really liked it and wanted one for myself, but now it's a year old, and so many thing have gone wrong with it, and are wrong with it, I feel safer driving my 1986 Volvo 360GLT. This car might be 18 years old and have done 149,000 miles, but it pulls a LOT better than the 1 year old 18,000 mile KA. Great looking car Ford, pitty that its quality is so poor.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 18th October, 2004

18th Oct 2004, 20:14

Perhaps your co-workers are thrashing the crap out of it???

15th Nov 2004, 02:09

Company pool cars get wrecked no matter what they are. We used to run an E36 BMW 320i SE as a pool car and it was a total shed by the time it got to 80,000 miles, and had suffered numerous mechanical failures and bits of broken trim. Missed services because nobody took responsibility for it, and was often run with dangerously low oil levels. A car that was caned by everybody, yet cared for by nobody. Much like your Ka I suspect.

2003 Ford Ka 1.3i from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Cheap for the money, so many problems

Faults:

After purchasing this KA only last Wednesday already things are going wrong.

The 1st thing I noticed was the drivers side had a little rattle, but over the last couple of days this rattle is now even bigger and its very annoying.

In the last couple of days other parts of the car have started to rattle such as the boot now seems to rattle a bit (or parcel shelf)

The biggest of my worries though is that its started to make a ticking sort of noise when I pull off or go into reverse, but it doesn't happen all the time, but does seem more frequent now, it seems to be after the car has been on for a little bit and has had time to warm up. anyone got any ideas on what it could be causing this?

I have booked it in to the ford garage and it will be going in on Thursday, lets see if they can fix it. I'm just glad its all still under warranty. you don't usually buy a car that's got 5 miles on the clock and expect things to start going wrong.

General Comments:

The car itself isn't the fastest I've drove. I did drive a mark 3 Ford Fiesta, but felt it was getting on a bit and I wanted something a little more reliable, but like I said previously this hasn't been very reliable for me yet.

But overall it is fun to drive, and will go 70mph fine and smooth. not much storage space. boot is an ample size unless you have a big family.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 26th January, 2004

13th Apr 2004, 18:51

You don't say whether you bought your Ka new or second hand. If it's second hand I would be really interested to know the claimed mileage/previous owner - with a second hand car that has far more bearing on overall condition/rattles etc. than the model itself.

18th Apr 2004, 05:59

The car is quite clearly brand new, 5 miles on the clock?

I think that's brand new unless someone drove it to the shops the day they bought it and didn't like it!