TopBanana

They're great handling little things aren't they? Got one as a courtesy car (nice touch Admiral ) but its actually great fun on the lanes. Rides well on the motorway too, even if it is a bit noisy.

s-man

Yup they punch well above their weight in the handling stakes I must say. Had one as a courtesy car myself recently and couldn't help but be impressed with the thing! Still reckon the interior and general build quality is shonky but I can see why people would buy one for the driving experience.

Can't help thinking that if Ford had been able to stick a decent diesel engine in it they would have had even more success with it cos the fuel econonmy whilst good isn't quite as good as it could/should be.

Good fun though no doubt about it...

TopBanana

The engine is an buzzy little thing I have to confess but compared to my Jag the economy isn't so bad But for me part of the fun of these cars is the low power - if you get a corner wrong it slows you right down!

Castrol

Cracking cars! We had a smashing Sportka - a Ford RS jnr...

Steve vRS

I reckon a stripped out, lowered Sport Ka could make an entertaining and cheap track car in a couple of years time.

Anyone know if you can get more power out of them easily?

Steve

RichB

just watch out for the front suspension arms, the bushes wear quicker than anything i've seen, the last one we had needed both replacing twice! in 3 years. The current one also is showing signs and its only a '51 with 30k on it - Crap IMHO
Good value cars - I'll grant you but we defo wont get another.

andy10

Agree with above. We keep one as a spare. Had its 1st mot and failed on the bushes then another 2000 miles till its next mot failed again. Plus plenty of other things as well both times including the air con pump on the way to an mot. It costs more to keep this bag of sh*te on the road than the other 2 put together. If you like them so much this one is for sale.

Castrol

Ours needed a new aerial to cure poor BBC Radio 5 Live reception - in 2 years. We'd have another.

TopBanana

Probably best to replace the engine completely - I wonder if a bike engine would fit?

DavidChief

I love them. Still the best supermini out there.

Daniel-S

RST engine would fit

DavidChief

The newer Ka's have better engines. Still nothing special but better than the ancient ones in the early models

tjjammo05

i know you can fit a 1.7 from a puma and a 2 litre. they are not to hard to either just got to change the engine mounts.

TopBanana

I'm not sure you'd want to go mad with the power though, maybe just a bit more and improve the delivery

p1doc

superb cars have one as second car as doing a lot of mileage this year-good handling cheap good economy 350 miles if driving slow 300 if caning it and does not need optimax!
martin
ps boiled brake fluid twice-was wife's car at time she was not too impressed with brake pedal to floor to work!

TopBanana

Only managed 240 miles myself. Well, it is a hire car...

Plums!

Excelent car we've had 2 the first was the classic Ka 2 but I was so impressed with it that I bought a SportKa!

Fantastic both of them.... I would defo buy another.

The only reason we sold ours was because we had a sprog and we needed 2 five door cars...

But amazing cars and the Sportka was the biggest babe magnet car I've ever had!

Just don't tell the wife!

Plums...

mightyyid

2 good reasons why not 1 - the added weight of a diesel would chnage the handling characteristics a lot, as I drove the test one that Ford did at Dunton and it was very different, and 2, the car was done to be cheap, which was why they used the old ohv 1.3 engine which was cheap and cheerful. As the model gained in kudos so they good afford to up the price and add other engines as it neared the end of its life span. But all in all, it's a great chassis and with some TLC and a bigger engine you can do a lot to it and continue to have fun. But a bigger engine does take away a lot of the fun of the car...