I'm planning to buy my first car and am quite interested in the Ford Ka's. I have a budget of £1000-£1400 max. Hopefully this should be enough for at least a 97 model. Please could you let me know of anything I should look-out for when buying a Ka of this age, and what sort of condition you would expect for this budget- mileage, bodywork etc? Would you recommend another type of car instead for a first time female driver with this budget, I would like something with a bit of power (1.2 or 1.3l)?
My wife had one of these from new and it was quite a nice car to drive (she still misses it) but there was problems with rust on the sills from about 3 years onwards that my Ford dealer said wasn't covered by the anti-corrosion warranty (no surprise there). We eventually sold it because of that.
The engines on the early ones like you are considering were prone to terminal camshaft wear. I wouldn't say that you shouldn't get one but certainly try and get one that's at least a 98 year and that has got a full service history. Get someone with a bit of knowledge to check it over for rust on the sills.
On the camshaft front - As I understand it Ford were looking for a lightweight engine for these cars and decided to use one designed by a bike manufacturer (kawasaki perhaps).
The engine are built for high-revving, lots of power, and light weight esp. at the top end for the bikes - and a shorter life than you would expect in a car, even when engine is de-tuned for torque rather than outright power..
Result is that some things such as not-quite-so robust bearings and camshaft mountings from part of the design
hence - earlier cam failure than you would expect...
I believe the engines on some small cars such as the Nissan Micra and Toyota (Starlet?) are more robust. You can get 1.2 or 1.3 versions of these. As a guide, my daughters K11 micra bought s/h a couple of years ago (1.0 engine) has been well looked-after mechanically, goes like a rocket and seems unburstable - and has 95k on the clock.(Shame about the throttle body though!)
Throttle bodies can be a problem on these cars - poor idling, stalling etc, are easily cured, but Nissan charge about £400 for the bits, tho you can get them for sub £300
My nephews girlfriend has a (Now rather battered) 1.3 version and nippy does not describe it! But they do look more comical than trendy.
If you look at a micra, look out for rough idling or stalling after about 30 mins use, when the engine is reaaly hot. Also check for the bodywork corroding under the sills between the rear wheel and the doors (2-door) or of course under the rear doors (4-door), and a well up-to-date service history - regular oil changes are a MUST on these engines. Theres a plate on the end of the engine on the drivers side - if there is oil coming from round it, or itlooks as if there's sealant, walk away - chances are there has been some problem with the cam chains which may have been fixed properly, but then may not.
No personal experience of Toyotas offering but they do seem to have a reputation for durability.
VW Polo's are good cars, nice to drive and bombproof bodywork, however the engine seemed a little sad on my wife's car at 90k. I've seen these in breakers yards completely done-in mechanically, , but with totally corrosion-free bodies and doors that open and shut like on the adverts!
Have a look at Parker's website, there's some info there on what to look out for on certain cars.
Heh - I think you are confused - any bike with an Endura E boat anchor in it would be too heavy. The Endura is a pushrod design - and very well established and reliable if maintained. The collaboration with a bike manufacturer was with the 1.7 and 1.25 engine and I think it was Yamaha. Also the new narrow angle V8.
Handling in it is fantastic, basically its like a little go-kart. She only travels about 3 miles each way to work each day, so a small car is ideal for her. Amazingly, for a car with no real boot, it also fitted a tub-armchair in remarkabley easily, something that I couldn't hope to achieve in my rather larger Omega.
Downside?, Hmmm, as above - rust on sills and petrol cap (Hmmm, has Derv been looking her over?), she had a problem ("it tried to kill me!") with the ICV (replaced for £80), minor niggles with earthing onto the boot electrics, sod to work on - engine bay too small (well, that's what I thought when i had a cavalier that I could work on), Haynes basically advice on just about any job starts with removing large parts of the bodywork / fixtures.
Oh, and with me in it (add 15 stone), then it scared the hell out of her pulling out onto a access-roundabout heading onto a motorway, with a bloody white tranny homing in on her and no power to pull away (the 1.3 Endura isn't quite enough to make it a truely fun, safe car).
Perhaps it's time that I asked you (OP) the question - what does she need the car for?, what sort of trips?, what sort of cargo?, is it for mainly solo use?, or does she have sprogs?, what sort of range per week?
Just like to say thankyou for all of your responses guys. :-)
I'll be taking all your advice onboard in my search for the perfect motor. I have to admit I have been slightly put-off the Ka, so unless I can find one with rust free sills, I mite look-out for something else, like the the Polo with a low mileage.
In response to Mike D's question: I will be using the car for mainly solo use, most probably commuting to and from work- 10miles each way, and shopping trips, occasional long journeys for visits etc. No
15stone loads to carry, unless I go really crazy in the shops!
Have you test-driven anything yet?, that you plan some (occasional) long journeys you might want to make sure that the car is comfortable (the Ka, certainly is, for a small car). You might find that the lack of boot space in the Ka is an issue for you, unless (like the girlfriend) you use the passenger footwell as a storage compartment.
For the price that you're looking to spend, and considering that this is your first car, consider the insurance that you're likely to pay, and get a few online quotes for the type of cars that you're looking for (the Ka, for example is group 2 - or group 3 for the Ka3, ISTR), make sure that buying a foreign car doesn't push up the premium too much.
Heh. This is true of many cars these days. The Ka is designed a little bit like Lego to be fair, even somebody who refused to try to fix anything unless it has a mouse, keyboard and / or stylus can take bumpers and wheel arch linings off (that would be me).
This is a driver issue really; you can't blame sluggish when not given enough juice off the line on the car. Ours pulls reasonably well off the line at the strip and I'm a good deal heavier than fifteen stone.
I can't think of any economy petrol four cylinder cars where this doesn't happen, either...
The thing is that it's a common problem and it is not expensive to fix. You can barter £600 off the price and get both sides done for under £200. :)
Ewww.
Heh; we drove to and from Italy in ours, we (sadly) frequent Ikea, indeedy we cover between 25,000 and 30,000 miles a year (plus international long haul drives). It was a remarkably quiet, refined drive back when launched and it's still competitive these days.
There is a persistent urban legend that the Ka was originally going to have a two-stroke engine, but my understanding is that it was just a concept car which got a good reaction so "escaped" into production. Someone at work has put the Yamaha 1.7 Puma engine into his Ka, though!
Incidentally, I had a K11 Micra for years. Cleaning the throttle body out annually with carburettor cleaner works wonders for the idle. To do the idle air valve you have to spray the stuff in with the engine running - try not to let it stall or it could backfire into your face!
Heh, it could be. Ford used a two stroke in the mark four Fiesta and several police forces trialed it. It wasn't reliable enough for them to put it into production (I recall somebody commenting that it was better than his other car, but we won't mention what that was, heh).
Do you work for a security company near Leeds or a manufacturing company on the west side of the Pennines?
I cannot help but feel that when the time comes for us to emigrate, and I'm selling this good condition, 180,000 mile Ka, and we're asked, "did you look after it?" and "has it been raced" the stories we'll have may put somebody off... or hook somebody on the koncept. :)
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