Ford Ka 1.3 Zetec TDCi: On the Drive

Part 5 of our test of the Ford KA 1.3 Zetec TDCi - Claire's Drive

Claire tests the Ford KA 1.3 Zetec

Claire on the Ford KA 1.3 Zetec TDCi

Being a 21 year old woman, you would have thought the new Ford KA would be right up my street. .But to be honest I wasn’t overly impressed at first.

I thought the back was a little ugly, and it just looked like someone had squashed a Fiesta and stuck a KA badge on it! But after a while it started growing on me. It does look cute, and the different colour trims you can have do make it look stylish and fun. It looks and feels like a car aimed very much at the younger driver – and so it should. There are enough cars aimed at old fogies. Nice to have one aimed at my age group.

The diesel engine was a bit noisy at idle, but was fine once it got moving. And it did pull well from about 2,000 revs, but you had to make it work a bit to keep it lively. Handling wasn’t bad, but unless you kept your foot well down on quick bends it did run wide.

It’s not a big car, so you wouldn’t expect there to be endless storage spaces, but it does have a very handy passenger under seat storage box, which is good for hiding valuables in when you leave the car. It is also deceptively roomy in the front – looking at the KA from the outside you’d find it hard to believe it actually feels like a big car inside. But the back’s not exactly huge. You could fit a couple of kids in if needed, but you wouldn’t want to put friends in the back for too long. But they will fit if needs be – I tried!

I think the KA is good value for money, with the basic Ford KA starting at £7,995. But you don’t get any of the goodies you do on this Zetec version. That will cost you a couple of thousand more, and when you start adding in extras like iPod connectors and some of the funky paint jobs and interior trim options, the price does start to rocket.

But the spec on this Zetec model is a good one. You get lots of toys and the trim is decent quality. Our KA had optional bigger wheels, which looked nice but I’m not convinced they helped the handling or roadholding.

All in all I was won over. I think it’s a good car – easy to drive, easy to park, and fairly nippy for a 1.3. But it’s not going to last as long as the old KA. It looks modern and funky now, but my guess is it will age much quicker than the original KA.

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