Ford Ka 1.3 Reviews

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Ford Ka 1.3
★★★★☆
3.9
75.0% of users recommend this
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Latest Reviews

“Cheap and realiable !”

★★★★★

written by emilywhigham on 18/02/2014

The ford ka is my first car as I am a young driver and its a fantastic little car. It is really cheap to insure, I've had it for 5 months and it's never let me down, it is reliable and a great first car. The only negative side about it is the space, but that does not bother me at all. It gets me from A to B without any problems and that's the main thing.

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“economical my foot”

★★★☆☆

written by on 05/04/2012

i was given this car as a courtasy car whilst mine was being repaired. pros: good steering, doddle to park, cons: not enough back legroom, and i've had to put fuel in vertually everyday becaus i am unsure when i have to hand it back at best i'm getting 40mpg my 1995 1.7td vectra wasn't that bad even when she was sick (still getting 50mpg) i commute on motorways every weekday 60mile round trip doing 60mph. i also find that the seating position hurts my knees would not recommed it for people with Arthritis in their knees.

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“Cheap runaround”

★★★★☆

written by ReviewMasterMind on 03/06/2011

I've had my Ford KA for around 6 months now. I commute every day; roughly 60 miles, so fuel consumption and practicality were important features for me. I only needed a small car, and only use it to drive to work and back, so looks aren't that important for me. The KA is surprisingly comfortable, almost feels like a cushioned go-kart. I have the 1.3 Style, bottom of the range, so it doesn't have all the nice little finishing touches and shiny buttons. It does have electric front windows though! It sits comfortably at 70 on the motorway, and handles pretty well nipping around town. Fuel consumption is ok to good. I'll certainly be saving money on services and spares. Overall, really quite happy with this little car. Certainly not a head turner but meets my needs perfectly. Would suit a great first car too! A negative? Road noise is loud, even above 30mph.

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“My Ford Ka was the first car I cought all with my own...”

★★★☆☆

written by on 05/12/2009

My Ford Ka was the first car I cought all with my own money and it was my pride and joy. In the two months I owned it it started every time, caused me no trouble whatsoever and was great with the fuel (I could drive 300 miles or so on one tank of fuel - about £35 at the time). The best part of the car was its parking. I'm rubbish at paralel parking, but could park this nippy little car with ease.

The reason I would not recomend it was that I was involved in an accident where a ford focus drove into the back of me when I had to stop for a car in front of me on the motorway. I was VERY glad there were no passengers in the back as they would have been injured in that crash, yet the two passengers in the front had a few muscular problems only.

The car is great for round town driving when there is only a couple or a single person driving it, but please do not get this car if you have kids who will be in the back seat.

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“excellent, fun, cheap to run”

★★★★★

written by hacka1010 on 23/11/2009

excellent, fun, cheap to run

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“The Ford Ka 1.3 is a good city car, cheap on fuel and...”

★★★★☆

written by mus5ahs on 12/05/2009

The Ford Ka 1.3 is a good city car, cheap on fuel and insurance but when something goes wrong it is sometimes expensive to repair, for example, the altenator went on mine and because the way the engine was built the garage had to completly dismantle the engine to get to it. There is a specific altenator for the car also so ends up quite expensive to replace.

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“What I wanted a nippy city car. The Ford Ka 1.3 feels...”

★★★★★

written by jfbell on 14/04/2009

What I wanted a nippy city car. The Ford Ka 1.3 feels sporty and comfortable.

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“The Ford Ka does have it's ups and downs, but...”

★★★★☆

written by Becen on 08/10/2008

The Ford Ka does have it's ups and downs, but basically it's a great car that is cheap to run and fix! The car wont let you down on insurance.

The Ford Ka 3 comes with A/C and alloy wheels as standard compared to the Ka and Ka 2. I would personally recommend every to go for the Ka 3 due to the extras you get as A/C is in high demand these days and when it's a good thing to have when selling a car on.

The Ka does have it's problems which are generally common among all Ka's, but not really extreme. Such as over revving and stalling at junctions (easily fixed with a clean and WD40) and the black bumpers losing their colour and will need topping up often with back to black.

All in all it's a great car that won't let you down.

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“My wife wanted a Ka and we've had it from new for 4...”

★★★★☆

written by northwest on 30/09/2008

My wife wanted a Ka and we've had it from new for 4 years. I have a big car and the Ka is like driving a dodgem. Great for local use and tight parking. It seems to go well and on the motorway and never ceases to surprise that it's stable and comfortable at well above the legal speed. We've had 4 in ours and it seemed roomy enough and went well. If there are 2 in it the seats go back and there's ample room. The boot is very small so you need to drop the rear seats for a largish case. We use ours for moving garden stuff about and it is usually adequate. I think it's quite a design statement and having test driven most of the alternatives before buying it we decided it had the best all round match to my wifes need, her being a long term 'green' but still wanting a car. I've read that the brakes aren't as good as many cars and because my own car has stop dead brakes the Ka does appear more difficult to stop. The domed plastic glove compartment on the dashboard is the worst thing I've seen in a car and we never touch it. There is another compartment though in the back. Also the radio is a strange design, although it does work well enough. We got polish on the bare black plastic bumpers and it made a number of light coloured marks that we can't get off. The windscreen washer pump stopped working after 4 years and I got a second hand one and changed it myself for £10. A new one is £50 with £20 to fit. One of the appeals of Fords is that there are plenty of spares and people around who know about them. It's only done 13,000 miles and has never caused any worries. Ours is the most basic model but has the later more powerful 1.3 engine. When we bought it there was nothing to compete with the price of £5300 inc metallic. We previously had a Metro which we thought was pretty good but when we got this we thought it seemed a different league.

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“I've had my "52" Ford Ka for 5 years and hardly spent...”

★★★★☆

written by Davie Bertram on 17/06/2008

I've had my "52" Ford Ka for 5 years and hardly spent a penny on it. It is the most reliable car I have ever owned, and has started every single time first time, even on the coldest mornings. I've just traded it in for a Vauxhall Zafira (which has a lot to live up to). I'm gutted at losing a perfectly good working car, but with the kids getting bigger the two doors and luggage space was becoming a nightmare. I would recomend this car to couples or young familys that don't need much luggage space. The car is quite nippy around town and can more than hold it's own on the motorway, sitting quite smoothly and quietly at 90mph, although it can take a while to get to that especially if you hit a slight incline. My average yearly mileage is about 5 to 6000 miles so maybe the low mileage is the reason for no mechanical faults, although I've paid RAC for 5 years it has been wasted but beter safe than sorry, as they say. Also I have never seen a Ka broken down at the road side or being towed. Hope this helps you. Happy Ka'ing.

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“For starters I don't strictly own a Ford Ka 1.3, (I...”

★★★★☆

written by jazzRS360 on 24/02/2007

For starters I don't strictly own a Ford Ka 1.3, (I drive a Skoda Octavia vRS) my son does, and being a little petrol-head he purchased it with the sole purpose of modifying it into a little street-racer. Teens will be teens. However, I'll review it in standard form before he went all crazy on it.

I've always had a soft spot for city cars. They seem to be designed to do one job, and be good at it. Many people taint them as cheap super-minis, but I feel that they serve a different purpose. While the new wave of Clios, Grande Puntos and the like are trying to be baby Golfs, city cars are basic small cars period. And fair dues for their honesty. Being so basic its easy to roll your sleeves up and tune them up to your taste, although in the wrong hands this can equate to a noisy little machine. Not always though...

The basic Ka 1.3 looks pleasant enough in metallic panther black, with basic wheel trims and black plastic bumpers. Those bumpers I quite like for the sole reason that they show the car for what it is - basic but cheery transport. The design has been around since the late nineties but as so many of them have been sold, Ford didn't really feel the need to make many changes. The Ka has a pretty basic interior, with a (somewhat feeble) attempt at a trendy centre console. The plastics are average for a car of this size (I've seen Fiats that fair a lot worse) and although there is a distinct lack of switches and dials, remember we are dealing with a basic, honest little machine. The after-market Sony system which came with the car works well - the standard door speakers are actually as good as that found in my 15k Skoda, and the bass is reasonably impressive also (although since a 1300 watt Vibe Sub has gone into the boot, the sound quality has changed). The boot itself isn't anything big, so when the subwoofer is stuffed in there, I guess you're not missing out that much.

Out on the road the Ka really starts to shine. The steering is light and precise, making tricky city traffic scenarios way easier than they should be. The engine, a 1300cc Duratec (which replaced the Endura unit in 2002) is decent enough - it emits a willing growl when you push on, even with just 69bhp, although at high revs it runs out of puff. The car weighs little more than a packet of crisps, so 70 ponies is enough to keep it skipping along heartily. A top whack of 104mph is enough to keep those newer Aygos and Pandas staring at your behind and not the other way round once you're on the motorway. The handling is fine although I can't help but feeling that the standard wheels should be binned in favour of some 15 inch alloys, which would really help the cornering. The brakes are not so impressive though - and on the basic version without ABS, they lack any proper bite and can be a handful in the wet.

Economy is alright at 45mpg combined, although compared to newer rivals the Ka is starting to look a tad thirsty.

Overall it is easy to see how Ford got it so right back in the late nineties when the Ka was launched. The styling has stood the test of time and it drives very well. Being well priced means that once the youth get their hands on a modern one it and start to do their thing, well you can only sit back and hope they don't stop it doing what it was made to do.

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“My partner has owned hers from new and to date it has...”

★★★★☆

written by Reviewer100 on 14/11/2006

My partner has owned hers from new and to date it has been a reliable little car doing 10k miles a year. Insurance is low for a 1.3, perhaps helped by the lack of 5-seats (just 4) and by not at all being a boy racers car. For a non-sporty car the handling is great. Steering is light but the brakes feel dead. Dashboard is very plasticky but durable whilst the body seems more hardy than a French city car. It keeps up well on a motorway and is comfortable in bumper to bumper commuter traffic. A colleague had one and did 600 to 1,000 miles a week in his with no problems. Some parts of the car could have been made much easier to maintain. A Ford mechanic took half an hour to incorrectly fit the drivers-side headlamp, cutting his hand several times in the process. It took me a little longer to fit it right, but still suffered a few bruises in the process. Why so difficult??? The spare tyre takes ages to screw out. Remember this is supposed to be readily accessible for changing in an emergency. Overall a good first car and a cheap reliable runabout. Would suit students who may live in city centres, but will need to travel long distances back home once a month or so. Could do with an update to make it as appealing as its rivals.

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