Ford Ka 1.3i 

I bought my Ford KA at the end of May 2007 after a very lengthy search for a new car. I wanted something small and girly but with a decent sized engine. Following numerous test drives of practically every make of small car in the country the Ford KA came out top.

***Versions***

There are a few different versions of the KA, all with a 1.3i engine or the Sportka which comes with a 1.6i engine.

Ford KA Studio (from £7,095)
Ford KA Style (from £7,395)
Ford KA Style Climate (from £7,995)
Ford KA Style Climate Two-Tone (from £7,995)
Ford KA Zetec (from £7,995)
Ford KA Zetec Climate (from £8,595)
Ford KA Zetec Climate Two-Tone (from £8,595)
Ford KA Luxury (from £9,195)
Ford Sportka SE (from £9,995)

There's not a lot of difference between the different type of KA, the more basic ones come with a cassette player, the climate range has air conditioning, the zetec range is more sporty with a rear spoiler and alloy wheels, the two-tone range are trying to look like smart cars with the exterior painted in a two-tone style (hence the name obviously!) and the luxury has a leather interior which is why there is only a £3k difference between the top and bottom of the range models.

***Exterior styling***
The KA comes in 4 colours as standard (blue, yellow, red and white) and you can pay £350 to have one of 9 metallic colours. If you want to be really different you can opt for one of the three "Ka-ligraphy" graphics, which are basically a big tattoo for your car.

***Interior styling***
You get a choice of only 3 cloth trims (or leather interior if you get a KA Luxury). The trims are sage (green), aquarius (blue) and plum (purple).

***Features***
All KA's come with the following as standard:

ABS, Power steering, an imobilisers, electric windows and central locking.

As you move up the range you start to get extras like heated wing mirrors and heated windscreen.

***Optional Extras***
To be honest they don't give you a lot of options, but it is only a small car and doesn't need much doing to it.

You have a choice of the following:

Rear parking sensor - £250
Perimeter alarm - £150
Privacy glass - £50
Glass sliding sunroof - £500

***Fuel Consumption***
Urban - 33.6 mpg
Extra urban - 57.6 mpg

***My Opinion***
I love my KA and it is definitely the best car to drive out of cars that I have had previously. For a small car it feels very roomy and is extremely manouverable. I went for the Panther Black colour which my hubby managed to wangle for free and as there was a special offer on at the time I ended up with the top of the range Zetec Climate.

The Zetec Climate comes with 14" alloy wheels, heated quick clear windscreen, air conditioning and a rear roof spoiler.

Visibility is great (my hubby is a driving instructor and he says it's better than his driving school car for doing manoeuvers). At only 3.6m long and 1.8m wide it's a doddle to park and it's amazing what small spaces you can squeeze into. In contrast it feels very roomy on the inside and you don't feel like you're driving a particularly tiny car.

The dashboard is sleek and curvy and you can easily find all the controls. My only whinge is that the controls for the stereo are not on the steering column - but that's a minor quibble and only because my last car had it.

I never thought that I'd use the air conditioning (only comes as standard on the climate range) but when we briefly had that hot week of weather in early June 2007 it definitely came in handy. The difference in fuel consumption (which I expected to be enormous) was negligible so I'll definitely use it again if the weather ever turns sunny again.

All in all I would recommend this car to anyone from a 17 year old who has just passed their test to a pensioner who wants a small car to use for getting around. Although it's a bit girly, even blokes will enjoy driving one of the more sportier versions if they get it in a more "manly" colour.

Thanks for reading! Alexandra x