The Good, The Bad and the Ugly presents to you the Ford Ka 1996 – 2008
If ever there was a small car that outstayed its welcome, it was the Ford Ka.
OK, so I might have been a bit mean to Ford’s city hopeful because when launched, it really wasn’t that bad. Oh hell, we all loved it and it sold by the millions. Ford made a lot of money from it.
Handling of the little chunkster was quite entertaining too. It had the ability to be thrown around the streets with aplomb, helped greatly by Issigonis’s design philosophy of having a wheel on each corner. He was, in case you didn’t know, the father of the great Austin Mini.
Fitted with a decrepit old petrol engine in a youth insurance hating 1.3cc capacity, meant that the young struggled to get insured on them for a reasonable price and this meant that many of them didn’t end up in ditches. The leisurely performance of the first-generation models also contributed to this. It was vile. The 1.3 Endura engine that followed allowed for the handling to be easily enjoyed.
That aside, the Ka was quite cute in its first incarnation. It was a hit with everyone. For 3 brief years later in its career, you could even get one with 2 seats, a fabric roof and to top it off, it was endorsed by queen Kylie Minogue. You couldn’t get much cuter or gayer if you tried. And you didn’t need to try hard. The Street Ka screamed rainbows and lollipops.
The interior followed the funk found on the outside. You could get a sort of glovebox for it that looked like a ladies’ clutch bag. Speaking of bags, the design of the dashboard had not one straight line on it. As car design went back then, it was fresh and modern. Admittedly, however, it did resemble a rhino’s ball bag.
That cuteness also had a plus side. Fitted with massive bits of plastic, it effectively made it a city dodgem. You could drive it at shopping trolleys, walls and even other cars and you still wouldn’t damage the plastic. It was special plastic. Overly engineered They contained a substance to prevent damage from UV rays. They literally outlive the car and cockroaches. Anyway, all this added to never needing to worry about the paintwork. Sort of anyway.
What you did need to worry about however was the rear end dissolving quicker than an Alka-seltzer. With the newest ones available being over 10 years old now, chances are the rear wheel arches would have let go and front sub-frame mounting areas rapidly followed suit.
As a secondhand proposition, they really are bloody awful now. Rust being the main killer of many followed by those pesky young kids finally driving them into trees.
K A or Ka which is short for khazi, was another word for toilet. Trouble is, despite most having been flushed down the pan, they are entertaining to drive. Gave good mileage to a drop of petrol and they are easy to both fix and bodge or both and for that alone, I’m saying it’s a good car. If you can find one that is.