Essexman's mixed bag of motors- LTI fairway driver 95 page4

[HMC]

I'm temped to get hold of a cheap one as a runabout. Im talking about the first generation ones (97-08 ish). Have you had one or had experience of fixing them? What should I look out for, and if you think i'm mad what would you suggest as an alternative.

[beko1987]

Im sure i heard somewhere that they rust. Other than that, usual ford stuff probably goes wrong.

 

The ones i always see at work are driven by women who care not one shit about cars so they must be resiliant...

[D Spares & Tyres]

Rot. everywhere!

 

Rear axle bushes

 

Front bottom arms may well be fucked but they are pennies so don`t worry

 

Power steering leaks

 

Good cars though if you can keep the rust at bay. I have one coming in next week, a tidy low mileage 53 plate but with no tax or test. prob bit far from you though

[Rusty_Rocket]

Yeah, as Bek says- driven by people who continually try to kill them.

Mrs Rocket had a Ka when I met her.  It was truly awful in every possible way but, by god, did it stand up to abuse & neglect well.  Think, plugs so rusty they had turned to dust, oil that wouldn't come out of the sump without use of a screwdriver, a complete lack of coolant, etc etc.

 

They are cheap but you'll always be chasing the rot.

[fordperv]

Check for rust in the areas that are between the numberplates, nice simple cars though

[320touring]

They are proper giggle worthy to drive, and sip fuel. I've hooned one Glasgow to Gibralter no bother, but that was in 2005.

 

However, they do rust exceptionally badly.

 

Tbh a fiesta is almost as much fun, more practical and less likely to be rotton

[Lord Sterling]

Rot, particularly around the filler cap area. Gear synchro can feel sloppy with age and shit owners. Gear change should feel slick not hard to change into gear. Keys are shit, check keys fit and turn every lock, particularly boot lock. Try before you buy.

 

Fun to drive, particularly with a 1.3.

 

Alternatives: K11 Micra - Solid things that run forever. Early mk2 Fiesta Ghia - like the KA but with a bit more practicality.

[Jerzy Woking]

Never known anyone of my friends daughters to kill them with their excellent driving skills! All those I saw were really rusty, but a great car apart from that. Oh, and a couple had the heater matrix leak badly.

[JohnK]

I loved the SportKa I had recently. Drove like a little go-kart and was just an ideal little motor to live with really. Would have another!

 

Common problems are heater control valves - resulting in no hearing, but a two minute job to replace and not expensive. Rot is the major bugbear unfortunately.

 

I would recommend one. I have limited experience of the basic 1.3, but I would try one ...

[Bren]

The steel used in the bodywork is like rice paper - patching a floorpan is one thing, a repair panel for the filler cap can leave the side of the car looking like a shipping container due to distortion - bodyshops bond the things now.

 

Also alternator replacement on some models costs ££££ due to it being a PITA to access.

 

The first car to be treated as white goods.

[twosmoke300]

Don't do it . I'm sure even the plastic rusts on them . Every single part is built to the minimum cost .

[Matt]

I've heard before that the early ones actually hold up better than late ones with regards to rot.

[DVee8]

 

[Cavcraft]

 What should I look out for,

 

 

Something else. Anything. Anything at all. Even a VW Golf Mk3 with an Iveco engine.

[Rusty_Rocket]

Regarding the handling, the one 'er indoors' had was, umm interesting.

 

When I first drove it, I couldn't believe how much it pulled in all directions on a straight road.  To earn early relationship brownie points, I changed both front lower arms for new.  That stopped the wandering but then revealed the most horrendous oversteer at totally random occasions.  Everything underneath checked out ok, it went through a further two MoT's but I could never trust the thing.

When Mrs Rusty then proceeded to spin the bugger 180degrees entering a roundabout, we decided it was 'goodnight Vienna' and the hateful little thing went over the 'bridge.

[AlabamaShrimp]

As has been said they rust like a git but they are really nice to drive, like a fiesta but a lot more sticky on corners.

 

Get one but please don't call it a K A

[hairnet]

fiesta.

 

mk5.

 

less rot more practical same price

[tooSavvy]

 

Oohh! Don't try poking the hole surrounded by brown blisters?

 

Good Tip

 

 

TS

[Skut]

I found the 2003 one I inherited to be generally a tough little machine. It rode well for a small car and cornered flatly. Like one of the posters above however it was occasionally prone to sudden OMG oversteer under certain circumstances like moving the steering wheel.

 

The engines don't really like to rev which limits the fun abit. The power steering feels a little artificial until your really going for it. Gearchange was great and easily refined enough for long distance use.

 

And yeah rot. Lots of that.

[Bren]

I know what I would like to poke

[Bren]

I actually saw a 2008 ka with rust around the filler like the one in the pic.

[Richard]

That's seven years old, my Escort needed sills and a second new battery tray by that age.

[UltraWomble]

The ones i always see at work are driven by women who care not one shit about cars so they must be resiliant...

Rust and neglect. I mourn the loss of grease nipples.

 

I went to the banger races at Warton last weekend, the miniBangers races were a pretty even split between K11 Micras and Ford Ka's.

They took some hefty punishment before dying in most cases ( both types of car). Me and the lad went to look at a few of the post race ones and TBH they were all rusty as fuck under the Dulux paint jobs, Rear mounting points, sills and round the wing near the filler cap area. All in every one, kippered.

 

With the Micras most of them were sills and front crossmembers which were rusted to fuck. No scratch that they ALL had fucked front cross members.

 

So yeah, if you can find one that isnt rusty then they should be robust - I only saw one Ka that died when the engine (devoid of fluids) let go.

[Jim Bell]

 

 

Dyslexics endorse Ford Kes.

[richardmorris]

A friend has just got rid of her ka, due to rot. It went for £120 on eBay to a local (eAstbourne) college for them to play with. Due to MS she is now giving up driving ( the lifts I gave her to 2cv events over the years, you'd think she'd given up years ago!).

 

I drove one in 1999 in France after my cx Pallas got murdered. A despicable excuse for a car is my recollection. Although I wasn't in the best of moods at the time and had a severe bruise from right shoulder to left hip that made driving painful.

[Timewaster]

I like a Ka. Although all the ones I have driven were newish, being hire or courtesy cars.

 

Mechanical resilience 10/10

Grin factor 7/10

Embarrassment factor 5/10

Rust resistance 1/10

 

Buy one cheap and bridge it the day after the MoT.

Buy another cheap one and so on.....

[Doctormop]

In 2011 I gave 550 for an 04 reg ka studio as it was much newer than anything I'd owned previously but sounded like a 1961 Ford Anglia!

Gave me not much trouble, rusted everywhere, handed like a go kart but never bettered 39mpg, come to think of it the last two points may not be unconnected, might be worth considering an early yaris instead, never heard a bad word about them.

[EssDeeWon]

Aren't these all driven by 20 something birds whose idea of car maintenance is putting petrol in the thing and hanging shit from the rear view mirror? Maybe that's just 98.567% of the ones in Essex then. 

[Ghosty]

I can imagine the equivalent of Philibusmo welding a SportKa up in 15-20 years' time.

 

Speaking of SportKas, if you HAVE to get a Ka you might as well get one of those, they're cheap enough.

[Timewaster]

Oh, as mentioned elsewhere, don't expect to get the spark plugs out.

 

They rust as bad as the sills.