1998 Ford Ka review from UK and Ireland

Cassette player failed.

Rust developed at the welding around the rear door.

Rear wiper unreliable.

Engine management failure causing the engine to race of it's own accord and the car to fail to slow down on engine braking.

A miserly equipped poorly built expensive little car with no room in it for anything apart from a, rather small, ladies handbag. These cars handle very well and are quite fun to drive, although the early models without even power steering are so badly equipped the cost is hard to justify.

As a second town car there is a lot to be said for the KA, although for shopping purposes the boot is small and the load space impractical. I feel this is a car designed on looks over practicality, which is a shame. The basic design of the car means the the engine compartment is too small for any work to be carried out. I suspect even a small failure would mean out with the engine to fix it. The nice curve of the body coupled with no low level protection means that the sills and lower part of the doors are usually peppered with stone chips.

I wasn't happy with my KA, which I have since replaced. Whilst the drive was quite nice round town as our only car it was totally impractical. My KA started to rust after 8 months. I know that Fords build quality has been questioned but these Indonesian assembled Fords seem to have shockingly poor bodywork finish. I also experienced a problem with the engine management that caused the engine to rev on it's own. When this happened the revs would never drop below 2500 meaning that taking your foot off the throttle approaching a junction had no effect! Stopping and restarting the engine would cure this. A call to the dealer told me this was impossible and simply couldn't happen... Hmmm Head, sand... you get the picture.