My 106 1.1i courtesy car i have now is cool :)
Very roomy inside! Pretty quick too, would eat a Ka in a straight line, and in twisty roads with a decent driver a 106 would escape a Ka...
Interior is nice, its a base base base base model tho so its has no electrics, no rev counter, and a tape player. But then, even the best Ka's don't have a Rev counter...
The difference being that the TS lump was an advanced design with decent tolerances to begin with ;-)
Anyime Porky :) (anytime in the next 10 days till i give it back, when i get the 405 back you have no hope)
Prove it Fatty. :P
Paul Giverin made the world a better place for us by saying..
Hmm, my 164 isn't showing any signs of rust (bar a stonechip on the bonnet). I wonder how long it'll take to conform to the aged stereotype of anything Italian must rust?. Come a long way since the Alfasud y'know...
They drive better than anything else in the group though. As a "petrolhead" you should really appreciate the Ka for being fun to drive. As an Alfa 33 owner, you should appreciate their ability to rust, too :-p
Dan405 made the world a better place for us by saying..
Have you done the reverse handbrake trick in it yet?
oh, and if it's got a sunroof, mind your head.
I'll let Dervman go. I'm not going anywhere need Lincolnshire (too many bloody cameras on straight roads).
How's that work then (I presume you reverse, handbrake and the front lifts up? Can it be held like that?), and can it be done in a Mini (the proper kind)?
Or do they.
I found the Ka very 'woman proof' to drive. Very 'safe', but nothing that would excite me at all.
IMHO, they're not as much fun as a small Pug or Fiat. They're a bit lifeless in comparison - nowhere near as tail-happy.
Ooooh...... I'll have you know that our 33 is a series 3 galvanised model.
Even the Cinq. was galvanised - it's an absolute disgrace that any Ka should be showing relatively advanced levels of rust at such a young age
- but it seems that it's par for the course for the older ones now.
I've only ever driven 'sporty' Puntos and found the overall package of handling and revvy little engines much more of a fun all-rounder than the Ka - which I find pretty stodgy and slow.
The 106 is probably the best handling 'city' sized car even today. OK, it's a bit cheap and tacky inside, but the chassis and decent engines make up for this.
Anyway - if you'd bought a Punto, you wouldn't have rusty arches now ;-)
The Punto makes the Ka seem lifeless? It's AWFUL. I've not driven a 106, bar the diesel one I drove when I was learning, not exactly comparable.
The one that's comparable to the Ka is the 1.25 8v IMO, roughly the same straight line performance. The engine is pretty nice, I agree, but the electric PAS is awful, and if you're willing to slide one of those you're a braver man than me. Absolutely no feedback about what the front wheels are doing, and a lot of body roll. And the seats are awful with even less support than the Ka ones which makes driving hard a real pain because you have to hang onto the steering wheel.
Did you drive the electric power steering Punto or one before with presumably normal hydraulic PAS?
I don't, fortunately :P.
I've driven both MkI and MkII Punto Sportings and a Mk1 Turbo.
The 1.2 8v is pretty much the base engine in a Punto, anything resembling a decent spec. has the 1.2 16v in either 75bhp or 85bhp form.
Bear in mind that when the MkI Punto was on sale, a 1.2 16v 75bhp ELX could be picked up for a similar price as a Ka 2 or Ka 3 - it's a bit of a no-brainer decision. Even a new Sporting can be picked up for a lot less than £8k if you shop around. That's serious value for money for what it is.
I didn't have an issue with the electric PAS, but I've driven PAS cars for the last 5 years and can pretty much adapt to any steering set-up. Yes, it's a bit light with the electric PAS, but I didn't find it particularly remote. The old hydraulic PAS was, however, a better set-up.
Yet.....
Amen to that...
Is this the reverse and yank the handbrake on bunny hop? Gonna have to try that :)
I beleive the phrase i used was "17 year old girl proof" :) It understeers at anything (or at least my friends that i drove for about 10 minutes did).
Massively true.
The fact any car which was bought in the last 5 years rusts AT ALL is a disgrace. My 405 is nigh on 11 years old, is keep outside and doesn't have so much as a rust mark on it.
Dan405 made the world a better place for us by saying..
that's the mother..
I once managed to get from Liverpool to Newmarket in a Ka2 [1], at absofukinglutely top whack (107 A/c off, 100 ac/on.. indicated of course)
214 miles, in a smidgen over 2 hours and 25 minutes. My licence survived, amazingly..[2] It used a tank of juice (was spluttering on the way to the petrol station in Nkt), and I don't think I touched the brakes once on the A14..faster, faster... *then* they get tail happy.
a Pug 106 can be more fun, but in a Ka you can do long trips without going deaf. Clios (not 172) are really not much fun at all, and a terrible driving position Puntos are great, as long as it's a Sporting or Turbo. Rest are soggier than last weeks cornflakes.
Oh you poor sod, that means it'll last even longer.. Shoot it NOW!
True. Rusty Fords are unusual, but the Ka appears to be built out of old Vauxhall Vivas.
[1] Hired, Dutch registered, Left Hand Drive [2] probably because it of [1]
You're not trying hard enough.
Lifeless? Not as much fun?
Small Fiats are sloppy floppy. Small Peugeots are sloppy floppy. The Ka is considerably tauter. It doesn't bite you back if you do something stupid, but if you want ass-out sliding you can get it, but the tolerance levels and limits are exceptionally high.
"You must unlearn what you have already learnt."
The older models are better in this respect.
My Cinquecento was rusting right in the middle of the tailgate.
The Ka doesn't have an oil consumption problem . . .
. . . but the wrong badge so you appear to have closed your mind about it. :(
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