1997 Ford Ka 2 review from UK and Ireland

Both sills required fairly extensive welding in order to pass the MOT.

New front brake discs and pads fitted due to corrosion. Prior to purchase, the car had been standing for the best part of a year, which probably contributed to that problem.

Slight rust on both sills below the rear edge of each door. The paint is bubbling around the filler flap and rear wiper.

Loose connection on the blower motor module. Pulling the plug out and re-fitting it does the trick!

My wife is learning to drive. We settled on a Ka because it is small, reasonably cheap to run and cheap to tax and insure. It is also one of the few cars small enough to fit on our drive, and still leave room for my Mondeo!

We looked at several Kas before buying this one, and most the same age as this seem to suffer with most of the faults mentioned above.

Comfort & practicality:

The ride is surprisingly good for a small car.

You tend to rub shoulders with the front seat passenger, but it is a very small car after all. The front seats can get a little uncomfortable after half an hour or so.

As you would expect, there is not much leg room in the back, although it is fine for kids.

As you would expect, the boot is tiny, but you can get a few bags of shopping in.

Very little storage space in the front. The glove box is barely big enough for a pair of gloves! There is a useful storage compartment on the right hand side in the back.

Performance:

Not a fast car by any stretch of the imagination, but nippy enough around town. The engine doesn't like to be revved hard, but there isn't really the need because it 'power band' (relative term!) is quite low down. Good progress can be made by keeping the engine 'on song', and making good use of the gear box.

It will quite happily cruise at 70mph, but runs out of steam at anything above that. But not too shabby for an engine design which is about 40 years old!

It is returning around 34mpg around town, which is probably not as good as more modern small cars.

Handling:

Great - just like a little go-kart! Not a vast amount of grip from the relatively skinny tyres, but plenty of feel. Very chuckable.

Equipment:

This is the '2' version, so has power steering, electric windows, rear head restraints and 'seat pack' - which as far as I can tell adds luggage nets to the backs of the front seats, and height adjustment to the driver's seat.

Build quality:

Not brilliant. Typical ten year old Ford really, but quite adequate for this type of car.

Summary:

A small, no nonsense, cheap to run, easy to drive car. I wouldn't like to drive it a long distance, but I have my Mondeo for that. But it makes an excellent local runabout.