2001 Ford Ka Collection from UK and Ireland - Comments

Someone dented the left rear panel between the fuel cap filler and the door. The dent was fairly minor, but if it had been any lower or larger it would've required the removal of the entire panel at great cost.

Otherwise, the Ka has been problem free!

The car handles brilliantly and is great to drive in (I'm a learner and yet it makes me seem good!)

Metallic paint scratches fairly easily.

Air conditioning makes the car extremely sluggish and has a major impact on fuel economy.

My only other gripe is that the power steering is very light and could do with being a touch less efficient!

The CD player is good, but I think two speakers in the rear would be beneficial as the car generates quite a lot of road noise and any music is drowned out for rear seat passengers.

We bought the car on import so we got a fully specified Ka Collection for the same price that you'd pay in the UK for the base version! I would fully recommend others taking this route as the savings are enormous!!

Update: I have now passed my driving test and I still love driving the Ka! The air con still seems to take most of the power out of the engine, and has made me stall on several occasions when the revs fall (and I may be a new driver, but I don't stall with the air con off!). Since the last review the Ka has been dented again, this time by someones door (I'm guessing, the dent is a vertical line so I assume this to be the case) the dent is fairly minor though so it probably won't be repaired. The only other problem is a kerbed alloy when trying to manoeuvere past an elderly driver who was parked across a junction, and didn't seem to appreciate the need to let anyone pass! (And they blame everything on the young). The Ka has also been serviced after reaching 10000 miles and this was done without any problems at a low cost, we were also allowed a courtesy Ka even though we hadn't bought out ka from that dealership.

I love my Ford Ka, it handles like it is on rails! The only problem I have with my new Ka is that it is impossible to replace to speakers in the front door without breaking at least one clip holding the door card in place. Why do Ford make it so hard? Other than that the Ka is the bees knees.

I agree with you the Ford KA collection is a great small car, but oh dear the metallic paintwork is far too fragile for a town car. A slight tap scratches it.

I have been given a Ka as a courtesy car while my Fiesta 1.25 Zetec Freestyle is repaired (following a recent collision with a deer).

I have driven the Ka about 8 miles so far, and already I am impressed. The handling of this car is amazing and much better than the Fiesta's. Fuel economy seems good so far. The Fiesta seems to burn more fuel than a 2.0 litre Zetec Focus, this has been confirmed to me by several Focus owners, and Ford seems reluctant to examine the car. Oh well, that's a different story. The stereo is good, the engine (1.3i in this case) is poky yet smooth and the interior is very comfortable. The paint does scratch easily (by the looks of it) and the bodywork looks and sounds a little 'tinny' when tapped. The overall image of the Ka is slightly asif it is aimed at, dare I say, lady drivers. Having driven it I would say this is not the case.

Overall, I like it. I am starting to wonder why I didn't get the Ka instead of the Fiesta. I look forward to giving it a more thorough roadtest over the next few days.

I've owned my KA Collection since it was three months old (it's now two years old) and I've travelled over 14,000 miles in it. No serious problems. Recently the air conditioning started to drip water into the passenger foot-well rather than outside the car - still waiting for Ford to solve that one. Other than that it's been trouble free. Agree with others comments about the metallic paint being delicate; I have the pepper red colour and it shows the slightest mark. Also the air conditioning seriously affects performance and fuel economy - still, it's been worth it during the recent hot weather! All in all a nice, reliable, fun little car. Would I have another one? Oh yes!

We still own our Ka (I'm the original poster), it's now getting on a bit, but has remained trouble free. The only problems we have had are discolouring Ka collection decals on the door frame and slight rust under the doors, other than that nothing yet. The side decals were replaced with ones different to the originals, apparently the original style ones couldn't be found so we now have the older style ones on the doors, but these have remained as new and haven't discoloured as the originals did.

All in all the Ka has been a great and we hope in the near future to upgrade to a StreetKa or a SportKa. Other family members are considering Ka's now thanks to our good experience and also after riding inside and being impressed!

More updates to come until the Ka departs!

I have had my Ford KA from new january 04 from just passing my test. I adore my KA it has great handiling, I havnt found the air con affecting my KA's performance, but does eat at the petrol.

The paintwork scratches so easy and is hard to fix.

Only thing I would say about my KA that would be a bad thing would be that after the first 16 month it has started to eat at my petrol even when air con is off LOVE my KA.

I have a 2004 luxury KA which I have just recently bought after trading in my much loved Red Collection named Henry. I must say that the improvements ford have made on the 2000 version are impressive and the engine now is much more responsive, the handling is just so much better with the power steering being not so light and responsive. For the one that bought the fiesta and wished they had gone for the KA, well just like most of us who own a KA you underestimated the little car, overall the best car I have ever driven.