1998 Ford Ka 1 from UK and Ireland - Comments

My car is used as a driving school car from 8am to 7pm, 5 days a week. I use it for domestic and pleasure use after those times, and of course all weekend.

I've had the car 18 months and have covered over 48,000 miles with no problems at all. I've had to replace the battery and both front tyres, due to excessive wear, but no more than I'd expect considering what I use the car for. However I am experiencing detonation, bad plugs? We'll see...

Good all round car, happiest zipping around town although more than able to storm the motorway with the rest.

Front seats could be more supportive, both the backrest and the base, as sitting in the Ka all day, every day highlights the very small seats. This causes back ache and aching legs.

Remembering though my Ka has not seen a dealership and receives only routine servicing every 10k from myself, I cannot fault it.... lets hope it stays that way for another 50k...

The engine detonation you mention isn't uncommon. to be honest the 1.3 engine in the Ka is a disaster and it seems that at some time or another every ka, from 9K to 110K, will get camshaft trouble.

Plugs are a likelihood, apparently leaving them for more than 10K at a time means you run the risk of them rusting in, which is a costly job to have repaired involving drilling them out and then alloy welding the threads!

Interesting comment about seats causing backache. My Father is on his second KA (base model). He loves them. I have to say I love driving it from time to time. It's like a go-kart. The main problem are the seats. Even on short journeys I find the seats very hard and the seat back is rock hard and pushes into the small of your back. I would hate to live with it on a daily basis.

Having said that there is plenty of room for a tall driver (I'm 6' 4"). It's good fun. Looks good from the front, but ugly from the back. Very good value. The base model totally lacks any equipment you would expect from modern cars, but there's less to go wrong and it's easy enough to live with.