Ford KA

"Jon Patrick" <jonrpatrick RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns97CED1C0824B6jonrpatrickhotmailco@216.77.188.18...
> "fitzpatd" <fitzpatd24 RemoveThis @eircom.net> wrote in
> news:490cf20b422f6919e94352401e4c7684@localhost.talkaboutautos.com:
>
> > Is there any known problems with the ford ka??? Im thinking of buying
> > one.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> >
>
> It's not exactly on topic, but a good place for a rant.
> This is, once again, an area Ford is missing the boat. toyota, honda,
> nissan are all bringing sub-compacts (Ka size) to the US at exactly the
> right time. GM has their Aveo, and the other asian manufacturers have
their
> Accents, etc. already here.
> Ford has the cook Ka in europe, but couldn't be bothered to have the
> foresite in the past 10 years to design it to come to the US. Once again,
> they may enter that segment, but it will be following, not leading.
> JP (who would seriously consider a Ka if they'd bring it.)

We've got them in Australia and they dont sell...too gutless I suspect.

Jason
 >> Stay informed about: Ford KA 

"fitzpatd" <fitzpatd24.DeleteThis@eircom.net> wrote in message
news:490cf20b422f6919e94352401e4c7684@localhost.talkaboutautos.com...
> Is there any known problems with the ford ka??? Im thinking of buying
> one.
>
> Thanks

I have plenty of experience of having a Ford KA...I bought one for my
daughter mainly because it was cheap on insuranace and still had a
trustworthy pushrod type engine. I did not want her to have an overhead cam
vehicle until they get the rate of premature failures of the belt down (mine
failed at 23000miles and a £2k repair bill). It seemed good value at the
time but a bigger money pit I have yet to find.
It was a one previous lady owner job, however she had skidded on a bend and
had hit the kerb hard enough to bend the wheel rim. I transpired that this
also damaged the steering rack, and 3 steering racks later (at a phenomenal
price) we sold the car with another leaking steering rack.
Additionally the vehicle we had was not underbody protected ( I thought it
came as standard). By 40000 miles rust had eaten through the wing at the top
and rust was starting on the sill.
Little things annoyed my daughter too... like the way the rear wiper worked
intermittently..this was caused by the fact that the tailgate was not
separately earthed and got its earth connection through its hinges. I found
that the only way to keep this going reliably was to use coppergrease on the
hinges.
Other things that wear are the anti roll bushes and the shockers.
For a diy'er even changing of the oil filter requires the vehicle to be
placed on axle stands since the filter is located on the rear of the engine
body, impossible to get at without jacking it right up.

I do not like to be too dismissive, but in my opinion the KA is vastly
underengineered to the point where breakdowns are inevitable. I would never
buy another.

My daughter has now changed to Renault Clio...looks much better engineered!
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