Ford Ka No Ta (Ford Ka in general)

Member Name: Mrlovepantsuk

Product:	Ford Ka in general
Date:	30/01/07 (1095 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Comfortable seats, at good cruising

Disadvantages: Poor visability, not much luggage room

As we had no car we had to hire a car to go to Torquay on holiday. The cheapest one available to us was the Ford Ka at £160 for the week. I wasn`t too happy when I found out what car I was getting as I think they look odd and ugly and I have always seen them as a bit of a "girls" car but I had been a passenger in one before and found them quite comfortable so I was willing to give it a chance. I think one of the factors that make them ugly are the contrasting black bumpers but on this car they were the same colour as the rest of the body so it didn`t look too bad.

At 6`1" I had to push the drivers seat as far back as it would go and still found it a little bit cramped for my legs. Because the seat was pushed right back there wasn`t much room on the back seat for a six year old let alone an adult to sit so it was a good job that it was only the two of us going away.

Driving I found the car not too bad while cruising in fith gear and I only had to lightly touch the accelerator to accelerate and the power steering was great. The problems came while trying to engage reverse gear, it was stiff to move in the first place but the big problem came when reaching biting point. Every time it was reached and the handbrake was released the car stalled, I put this down to inexperience but my girlfriend had the same problem too, the problem was solved by accelerating a little bit more than actually needed.

The pedals are also too close together, many a time did I hear a strange revving nosie when I pressed the brake pedal, I had inadvertantly got my foot on both the brake and accelerator pedals at the same time which could have been quite dangerous. There wasn`t much room on the other side of the clutch either to rest your foot, so maybe it really was a girls car.

I found visability a big problem too, whilst negotiating bends. Due to the size and shape of the front roof post oncoming traffic seemed to disappear which was quite scarey at times. The other visability problem was on the motorway, after checking the mirrors before overtaking I tried looking over my shoulder to double check I could hardly see any thing through the back and side windows so just had to rely on the mirrors.

Reversing was strange too as I couldn`t really see the back of the car because of it`s shape so I may have left a bit of extra room behind me than I actually needed to.

The interior is quite nice though and the other controls are easily at hand and are simple to use. The CD player is quite good although I think if there were any problems with it the whole panel would have to be changed and probably be expensive.

There isn`t too much luggage space in the boot although from the outside it does look quite big.I managed to get one medium and one small suitcase in it plus a couple of carrier bags of shopping in it, having said that you can push the back seat forward to make room but that compromises passenger room.

Overall I would have to say the Ford Ka is not for me, unless of course someone bought me one as any car is better than no car at all.

The Ford Ka retails at £5,795 new from Brooklyn Ford.

Summary: Not too bad to drive if you are five foot tall with no luggage

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