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Opinions on Ford Ka as first car please!

I know nothing about cars at all but it seems that ford ka is cheap to buy, run and insure! I'm looking at a 2006-2008 one so any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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Reply 1

Y333EEE

Original post by Charlottehall96

Its a pretty dreadful car if you ask me, even by first car standards. It's got a noisy unrefined engine, plus even the ones that are the age you're looking at, you'll have a job finding one that's not starting to rust around the Filling Cap. Go for a Polo or an Ibiza a couple years older, but if you go for the 6n2 polo make sure its got a good gearbox as they're known weak points on those cars. Also just avoid ANYTHING French as yes, it looks good and you seemingly get a lot of car for the money, but they are very badly made!

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 2

Alfissti

Original post by Charlottehall96

Most of the cheap ones will be too tired a car to buy.

There are other cars out there that are just as cheap to buy and insure.

The biggest issue with it is it isn't that comfortable to drive and it does have issues with rusting which can be expensive to put right.

Reply 3

JC.

Very basic and by todays standards very simple mechanically.
That means it's cheap when things go wrong.
Cheap to buy
Cheap to run
Cheap to maintain.
Frugal
Cheap on insurance.

Downside?
It's well known that they like to rot. UNLESS you're buying a convertible - totally different car and none of the rust issues.
Very basic. You get a heater a radio and all of the air inside the thing. :wink:

If you want something cheap and cheerful, so long as you buy the right one and spend a bit of time underneath diligently applying underseal they aren't a bad buy actually.

I also happen to think the good ones will start going up in value - in the future they are going to become very rare cars due to in no small part just how badly they corrode!

Would I buy one? It may surprise a lot of folk on here to learn that I have actually owned one. All be it as a 1 week stop gap car between interesting things! :wink:

If I was really stuck for cash and I needed a cheap runaround I'd certainly consider one.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 4

Camoxide

Many better cars you could have...

Why an 06-08 one anyway? It's basically the same 1996 car anyway which was pretty basic it when it came out.

Why not get an Aygo/C1/107 ?

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 5

Djent

Volkswagen Fox. It's in group 1 insurance, road tax is only around £135 a year and it has good mpg plus it's rather spacious inside

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Reply 6

1201261

Original post by Charlottehall96

I have a Ford KA but it is my second car, and I really like it. Mine is a 03 plate though, so I don't know what the 06-08 are like, but I've had no problems with mine so far :smile:

Reply 7

Camoxide

Original post by Butterfly92

I have a Ford KA but it is my second car, and I really like it. Mine is a 03 plate though, so I don't know what the 06-08 are like, but I've had no problems with mine so far :smile:

Almost exactly the same as the 1996 ones. (except the engine which they updated in 2001)

Reply 8

Unsworth

Can't beat my dark blue 09 Citroen C1. Lowest insurance group, £20 tax for the year, amazing fuel consumption, drives completely fine. Had it for 2 years now, survived my awful driving when learning aged 17, driven around 15'000 miles and never had a single breakdown/issue with it!

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Reply 9

Emma:-)

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Original post by Charlottehall96

I wouldnt touch one with a barge pole

Reply 10

Perky Kangaroo

I, as a guy, have a KA 2 from 1997. I couldn't have got a better car for the price, I find it great to drive and generally a nice car.

They are known for rust but on my 17 year old KA I only have a little on the fuel tank flap.

I would also look at Toyota Yaris, Citroen C1, Seat Ibiza and maybe a Focus.

Reply 11

Stripes23

Honestly, having had one for my first car I wouldn't really recommend it. I've had mine for just over a year and I'm in the process of getting rid of it now because it's rusting really badly. Mine's a 52 plate so a bit older than what you're looking at but I'd still be very careful. There seems to be a bit of luck involved. Two friends of mine have Ka's that are older than mine and they're not having any issues as far as I know. Mine however has rust in the brakes, which is particularly worrying and just generally everywhere on the underside of the car. On the bright side, they are very good on fuel consumption and for how small the engine is, they're pretty nippy. The above posters have suggested some other good cars so I won't bother because I'd just be repeating myself, but I would seriously suggest looking at a different car.

Reply 12

outlaw-torn

I've recently bought a 2007 Ka, and I'm really enjoying driving it. Very cheap to run, cheap to insure and cheap to fix anything that goes wrong.

Not had any problems with it so far, but mine only had 1 owner before me and it hasn't done many miles so I guess there's still time for something to go wrong :tongue:

Reply 13

TanMan

If you aren't planning to carry anyone then i suppose you should go for a smart fourtwo, although everyone hates this car. It does it's job with fuel economy which a full fuel tank at £36 gets around 250 miles. engine size being 1.0l and you don't have to pay a single penny to the road tax!

The only downside of a smart fourtwo is that you can only carry one passenger, limited boot space and since most fourtwos are semi automatics, you feel the gear change which may be slightly rough!