1998 Ford Ka from UK and Ireland - Comments

Just a note to anyone who wishes to comment on the Ka. Please drive one of these before you comment, saying that it is poor at handling obviously shows you have never set foot in one. Just try searching for the Ford Ka on Google and you will find that it is renowned for its good handling, it grips the road and dives into every corner, unlike most small cars. And saying that it is a basic car... you get what you pay for (what do you expect for £6775 OTR)

I have just purchased a second hand R reg '98 KA, (it's a vast upgrade from my first car G reg micra). so far I am chuffed. however some of the comments do worry me. I suppose with any car there is a element of risk. fingers crossed my little KA will be everything as good as the owners club promise and not rust like the others say...

I love my KA, I have driven 3 other Ford models and this is the best so far. I would buy another one, but to be fair the boot is pretty amusing I can't go away for a week only a weekend or I have no room for my luggage, but I knew this when I bought it! I can only buy 5 bags of shopping too!They are nippy and so easy to park if you can't get into a gap just pick it up and put it in!! Plus I also have a great excuse about not being able to take all the kids out with me as I haven't got enough room for 5! As I say I love it.

I know its not a new car, but we have a 1997 KA as a 3rd car. Owning Peugeots we are used to unreliability, but the our KA has actually spent more time off the road.

The heater valve has failed meaning only cold air, the fans only come on on highest speed (probably burnt out speed circuit) and worst of all the radiator fan will not come on.

Its not getting any voltage, but has a good earth, plus the fan motor has burnt out - I think something very odd has been going on with the electrics.

Mechanically the lower arm bushes were next to non-existent at 70k miles and the top mounts bushes suffered significant wear. Not what I would expect from a small light car.

There is a fair amount of rust coming through at the back of the doors - compared to all the other previous cars I have had it's a disgrace.

I can agree with the handling comments to a given degree, but as usual believe that those commenting are misusing the word.

The KA handles OK - the PAS is too light at times and the feedback from steering and brakes is poor. The car however is fun to drive, has fairly good grip considering the skinny tyres and is very chuckable and forgiving.

It however is not a patch on the handling say from any Peugeot I have driven, but it is safer.

To anyone that wants to buy one I would strongly recommend you look towards the Peugeot 106 as you'll have as much fun without the common faults (which some big KA fans for some reason cannot admit to)

I have a 2002 Luxury KA that my mother owned from new and I was given last year and as my first car it had been fantastic. It handles really well and is fun to drive (although not so fun on the motorway where wind noise does become a problem). The design might be 10 years old, but it still stands out. Thinking about upgrading to a 1.6 model, having owned one of know about the flaws and with that info am still happy to own another.

There's probably little point making any kind of negative remark about the Ka, it's obvious there are people here who think "it can't be crap because I've got one"

No, it's not you, they ARE quite gob smackingly ugly. Not since the halcion days of the '70s when British Leyland lead the field in hideous automotive design, with the Allegro and Princess, has such ugliness been seen.

However, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and as a young persons or shopping/town car, there's nothing wrong with it. I just think the Fiesta makes a more practical choice if you are set on buying Ford. Hell, a mk3 cortina makes more practical sense AND it looks good.

We bought a 1998 Ka2 in January of this year, and had to replace the full exhaust (including the manifold which had cracked), and the sump... both due to corrosion problems.

However, the price of the car reflected these faults.

Since then, it's covered over 4k of trouble-free miles, bringing the total mileage to 135k from new, and on the original engine which, amazingly for an Kent derived OHV, doesn't smoke or burn any oil.

Excellent headlights, responsive positive controls and fantastic handling (even better with wider rims) and a generally nice place to be which only tends to remind you of the engines shortcomings when you're trying to climb steep hills at motorways speeds - torque lower down the rev range however, is more than adequate.

Even though it's now 9 years old and has covered a fair amount of miles, it's still in very good shape, and drives very well.

Everything still works, as well...

It's ridiculously cheap to insure, and normally returns 38mpg on a mixture of not particularly light footed journeys, with 45 to 50mpg on longer runs.

Two rust spots - it's a Ford, and was bought with this in mind.

The lack of a third rear belt can at times be a problem, and yes, the upper aperture of the boot space is both ridiculous and frustrating at times, but if you're looking for a cheap reliable runabout that's nice to drive and easy to live with, I'd recommend one of these, not least if the alternative being considered is a mid 90s Corsa, which are *really* horrid to drive by comparison.

Our KA Lux covers over 1500 miles a month with grace. It is easy to park. All Ka models handle well, the parts are reasonably priced and I don't have much of a bad word to say about them.

So far we have had to replace the power steering rack (as this failed after 36,000 miles).

The indicator and wiper stalks needed changing; a £90 part at 37,000 miles, and then I found that the indicator relay was also faulty; this was £18!

Ford serviced our KA and re-adjusted the tappets. If anyone thinks these cars are noisy (ours was before this) get the tappets adjusted by Ford; it really made it quiet. Ford main dealers only charge about £170 for a full service. Remember, the KA has no cam belt to replace so this brings servicing costs right down.

It is also great that you can have the service done at a Ford garage without spending a fortune. Last time I went to Renault for a service on our Clio, the service manager told me it was £75 per hour for labor!!!

Previous to this we had a KA1 and the ICV (idle control valve) was faulty, a (non ford) mechanic cleaned it then charged us £80, only for the problem to re-occur!!! Don't pay this sort of money, get a Haynes manual and change the part (or clean it) yourself it is not difficult, as I have now realised.

One thing I should mention is the issue with rust. Both of our KA's have some rust. The KA1 was bad on both sills and around the fuel filler (also a common spot on Fiesta's) As it has been said we are starting to get rust under the chrome kick plates on both sills.

All in all though I don't hold any of these little probs against our little KA, it's a pain when anything goes wrong with a car, but you can do a lot worse than a KA.

Hi.

My g/f has a r reg Ka. She loves it. Some slight engine problems, but they can be fixed. When driving for a while it only chucks out hot air, and this time of the year, it is a nightmare. Has anybody else come across this problem?

I used to own a ford KA and had nothing but problems from the very beginning. My nan did give it to me tho! The clutch went for her 3 times! and just after she gave it me it went again! to explain my problems in a short way.. The wishbone snapped while I was driving - I nearly died.. the drive shaft (i think its called) had a major problem because the seal split and dried up.. the fuses were often blowing, the engine was noisy, the windscreen jets blocked up and were a pain to get to - to clear all the slime out of it, The passenger electric window took forever to move (you had to pull it at the same time) and the boot catch worked when it wanted to. The indicator light bulbs constantly were blowing and to finish it off I also didn't like the pedals being so close together. Appart from all that, I quite liked the gearbox and the power steering, the speakers that came with it were fairly decent. Now... a few months ago my girlfriend bought a ford KA even tho I stressed to her how much I thought she shouldn't, and about 2 weeks ago she passed her driving test. Now that's she's been driving it everyday (rather than a couple of times a week), problems have started occuring already.. At first the backscreen wiper didn't work, so she got it replaced (2 weeks ago), and now (today) the windscreen wiper/jet pump fuse keeps blowing everytime you put a new one in so its either the motor or the switch which is causing a problem. Sorry to be such a hater to the KA, but to all you lovers out there - I can't see why anyone would love such an ugly looking problematic vehicle - and that's from my experience. - Ian.

Well let me tell you, I have owned a KA for 8 yrs and in this time I have experienced the majority of the complaints in this forum. But I can also tell you that most of them are very cheap and easy to repair even for someone like me with no knowledge of working on cars!!!

Apart from the usual tyres and exhausts, you will not find a cheaper, more reliable car for this kind of money.

Problem 1 - engine cuts out or revs drop at junctions, traffic lights etc. Check that no breather pipes are split/holed. If these are OK, then it is very likely to be the engine idle valve - £22 on E-Bay, 10 minute job.

Problem 2 - heater blows cold air. Replace heater valve - £20 on E-Bay, 30-40 minute job. One mechanic once told me it would cost over £400 as he would have to strip the dash out to get to the heater matrix - what a buffoon.

Problem 3 - rear wiper works now and then.

Clean all brass boot contacts with emery cloth - costs nothing, 10 minute job.