19th Apr 2006, 07:04
In my opinion the Ford KA is a great little run-about car, it doesn't excel in any department, but unless you bought it with your eyes closed, you can't have too many complaints with it.
26th Sep 2006, 15:46
Apart from cost, the reason Ford stuck with the old 1.3 litre 8 valve pushrod engine is because it pulls much better at low to medium revs than a modern 16 valve design of similar capacity. Sure, it might be a bit breathless on faster roads, but used as intended (local / town running about) it actually works better than the "revvier" modern engines in its rivals which feel flat unless worked hard.
The Ka fills its design brief perfectly. Cheap, low maintenance, an engine with far more pull at town speeds and revs than most similar sized rivals, low parts/servicing costs, and good fuel economy. Change the oil and set the tappets every 6,000 miles and you'll get 150k+ out of this engine without any hassles at all.
28th Feb 2007, 06:05
Of course this car will have limited headroom in the back - have you seen the size of it??! If you want a car with more head room then don't get a KA - simple. It's a small car designed for city driving, not a luxury BMW or Merc with more space inside than you know what to do with. A car that small just won't have a lot of head room - common sense really.
18th Apr 2006, 15:18
I totally agree with the last persons comments. This car is meant to be a cheap runabout. You can't expect BMW quality for ford money. This is NOT a poor persons car, I spent nearly £10000 on my KA so its not the type of money people give away.
Power Steering is meant to hiss when you put the car into full lock, I have a focus and that makes a hell of a noise when its put onto full lock, it depends what type of pump is fitted to the car. As for excessive road noise, my wife has a luxury KA and we can't say that its noisier than any other small car. If the bearings are going go back to the garage that sold you the car.
How can you say that ford will loose a lot of returning customers? This car is one of the most popular ford models of all time. Selling nearly 2 million cars since it was introduced in 1996 and sales are still going strong, that can't be said for any other model that is nearly 10 years old and not a bit of the design as changed.
How is it poor value for money unless you were conned into spending a ridicoulouly large amount on a car that isn't worth it, hardly the cars fault. You obviously bought one of the bottom of the range KA's where only a cassette was fitted, if you're not happy with that why did you buy the car or why didn't you pay the extra to get one with a CD player in it. How could you expect buying a little car like that and wanting it to have a powerful engine and headroom, you should have at least researched or sat in the car first.
You've gone and bought a bottom of the range car with ridiculously high expectations. It does exactly what it says on the tin. Its solidly built, cheap, nippy, reliable and fantastic value for money. If you want to see a badly built and designed car, go and buy a proton or kia.