A nifty first car (Ford Ka in general)

Name: Kezz360

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Product:	Ford Ka in general
Date:	13/07/07 (853 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small, easy to drive, cheap to run

Disadvantages: Funny looking

I've had my trusty Silver Ford KA 'V' Reg for just over a year and a half now. It's my first car and I have to say it's a very very nice and easy car to drive.

When I was looking to buy my first car, I was very particular with my model, colour and year!! I got my dad looking out for any cars coming into his work place (he's workshop manager at a dealership) and told him if there was a clio, corsa or a peugeot 206 in either silver, black or blue..save it for me. So a ford KA never even crossed my mind, because to be honest, i'm not keen on the shape of them! But then one day, I got a phonecall from my dad telling me a silver KA had come in, one previous owner, 30,000 miles on the clock, spick and span, 1999 plate and for a price of about £2,000. I ummed and arrrghd about it as like i said, I wasn't too keen on the shape. After sitting and thinking, i thought, for god sake Kezz, it's your first car, you're on a budget, just get it!!! So I did :). Proud owner of a silver Ford KA.

My features include:

Power Steering
Heated back windscreen
Airbags
3 door
Cassette player
Carpet Mats
Petrol
Manual
Right-Hand drive

I was very glad about the fact it had power steering, even though my dad had said it wouldn't have made much difference if it didn't have power steering as it's such a small car, it wouldn't have felt heavy at all when manouvering.

So anyway, after buying it I couoldn't wait to try it out on the road! I hadn't passed my driving test at the time, so once i got my insurance sorted, i went on the road as a 'Learner' with my dad, so below is how i found the car :)

WAS IT EASY TO DRIVE?
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Admittedly it was abit weird to get used to as I was used to driving my instructors car which was a 6-speed mini! The thing i needed to get used to was the clutch balance and the gas...the amount of times i gave it too many revs was unbelievable! I eventually got the hang of it, and i found it a doddle to drive! The power steering is great, a real must have in any car. I also like the way the seats are designed...they are really comfortable! I have enough leg room plus more to drive too!

IT LOOKS SO SMALL, IS IT SMALL INSIDE?
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Surprisingly, the inside of the car is quite spacious...well in the front anyway. You have quite alot of leg room considering the car itself looks like a little bubble on wheels. The back of the car isn't so spacious, but i hardly ever have passengers anyway! The boot is abit small too...I can only really fit in a massive supermarket shop, and even then I sometimes struggle with my shopping bags....trying to squeeze them all in! I did go away to Wales afew months ago though, for a long weekend, and managed to pack alot of stuff into the boot.

IS IT RELIABLE?
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I haven't had any trouble with mine yet to be honest, and i've had it for just over 18 months. However, saying that, when I had travelled to Wales, and drove all around Wales, and then made my way back home after 3 days (by the way, I live in Warrington, and i went to Prestatyn), I got stuck in my gridlock traffic on the way back, and when I was crawling, my car started to make unusal revving sounds when i put my clutch the floor...without giving it any gas! I was paniking thinking i was going to break down in the middle of the M56!! Then, my steering started to sound....scracthy...if that makes any sense! It sounded like there was grit around my wheel whenever i turned. Luckily I made it back home okay and I immediately asked my dad to have a look (good thing about having a technician in the family!!). He took it out for a test drive, came back and said it was still doing it, so he'll have a look at it.

The next day, he had a thorough look at my car and he managed to fix my clutch (don't ask me how!). He said the steering should fix itself, if it didn't he would take it into work and have a proper look. Luckily he was right and it did just fix itself. Aside from this little issue, it has been 100%reliable.

ARE THEY CHEAP TO INSURE?
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Well, they are if you're older than 17 with some no claims discount! At the time, when I was 17, I found it such a struggle to find a cheap price for insurance. I tried those 'women only' insurance companies, and they were looking at charging me between £1500 and £3000 per year. This is just too much of a steep for me...I mean, luckily, I was working full time, but my wage at the time just couldn't foot that bill. I tried some of the major insurance companies, such as 'Direct Line' and 'Norwich Union'. Direct Line gave me a great quote, just over a grand, but Norwich Union, well, £3500 per year? No thanks. So I gave a Churchill a chance, and they were asking for just under a grand, fully comprehensive....the cheapest quote I had found after looking around 25 different companies!

Just out of interest, we wanted to see how much my mum would pay if it was insured in her name, and it worked out at like £200 per year....so, if you're a young driver, expect to (pardon my expression) get your pants ripped down by insurance companies. However, this car is one of the cheapest to insure at whatever age you are.

ARE THEY EXPENSIVE TO BUY?
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I bought mine for £2000, but now-a-days, if you want a brand new one, top of the range, they can be about £5000 or even £7000. Second hand, you'd probably pay between £1500 and £4000 maybe.

HOW MUCH IS IT FOR A FULL TANK OF PETROL?
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Ahh, this is where it gets cheaps! They are very economic cars. You can probablt put in about £27 for a full tank of petrol, and you'll get a hell of alot of miles out of the car! I mean, here is an example of how good it was for me...the weekend I went to Wales, I put a full tank of petrol into my car the day before we left. We reset my counter and calculated how many miles I did over 3 days going to Wales, driving around where we stayed, and then driving back. In total I did about 200 miles and was still left with just short of a quater of a tank! For £27 that aint bad.

SO WHATS THE SPEED LIKE?
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There are probably some people out there who want to know how quick it goes, or how quick it is off the mark. My dad managed to get it's top speed up to just over 100mph....yes it's not quick, but is only a 1.3! I'm not much a speed demon when I drive, I drive quite safe, so i've never hit a speed like that! It does 0-60mph in about 13.4 seconds...sorry boy/girl racers...maybe this car aint for you, unless you bomb it up!

DOES IT HAVE ANY AWARDS?
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Why yes it does as a matter of fact. Below is a list of awards the Ford KA has received in recent years.

- Rated one of the cheapest superminis to run in 2003
- 10th most reliable car in 2005
- Currently the 22nd most reliable
- Belgium:
1997 European Award of Automotive Design United
States: Gold Award, Industrial Designers Society of
America's 1997 Industrial Design Excellence Awards
- Britain:
1996 Autocar Magazine Car of the Year;
1997 Best Small Car of the Year for What Car? and
AutoExpress magazines.
Sunday Telegraph voted Ka its favorite car of 1996.
- Croatia:
1996 Car of the Year Design Award
- Italy:
Automobilia Most Beautiful Car in the World
- Netherlands:
Autoweek Dutch Car of the Year 1997
- Japan:
Car Styling Magazine Golden Marker for innovative
design
[source - autoworld.com]

FINAL VERDICT?
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An absolutely perfect first car for anyone. It's cheap to run, cheap insurance, reliable and small and nifty. I gave it a 4 as it's been superb to me, but personally I am not keen on the shape of it, and I didn't like what it did to me on my way back from Wales...but apart from that, it's perfect :)

Summary: A charasmatic car for any driver

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