Argh, my car, she is broked.

Mockingbird · 12 Dec 2013 at 13:11

Hello wise car-knowing forum folks.

I'm here looking for some buyer's advice (which I'm sure you get a lot).

My current car is an 05 plate Ford Ka super-basic jobbie. Picked it up for £500 off ebay when I was very skint a couple of years ago.

Obviously, buying a car that cheap and from ebay, I didn't have high expectations of it lasting forever, but in the last month or so I've had to replace the clutch, and a wheel bearing, plus the idle valve. Today it's gone in and needs the MAP sensor and one other sensor replacing (had a crazy random idle speed that was causing throttle surges - not the safest thing so I've just had to sack up and pay for it). This makes about a grand in repairs in the last month, and I'm fed up with it.

I'm going to try and part exchange it and get something similarly cheap, but younger and more reliable. Basically I'm looking for something to get me to and from work, to and from the gym and occasionally go on longer trips (e.g. take it on holiday to Cornwall etc).

What I liked:
Economic (fuel-wise), park it anywhere, cheapish tax, cheapish insurance, good enough acceleration to join motorways/dual carriageways without terror. I fit in it and can drive it comfortably (I'm 6'2" which is not THAT tall, but a surprising number of cars put my eyeline above the top of the windscreen, or when you run the seat back have the door pillar in the front half of your sight line etc)

What I didn't like:
It's a tin shell, and therefore it gets loud fast at non-town speeds.
No comforts at all. Manual windows, manual locks, scrape the windscreen (inside and out) if it's cold.
I managed to spin it once on a motorway slip road - full 360. The Mrs won't forget it.
It done broke.

What I wasn't that bothered about:
Top speed - I'm not racing it. As long as I can maintain **70** cough cough on a motorway it's fine.
It's a girl's/hairdresser's car - as mentioned, I'm 6'2" and I fit in it just fine. A lot of people seem to think it's worth pointing out a man my size getting in a Ka but I'm on the "amused" rather than "embarassed" side of that one, so not really bothered. Street cred/macho points very low on the list.

So - let's say I've got a budget of ~£1500 after part exchange. What should I be looking for?

Tinders · 12 Dec 2013 at 13:22

Somebody has bent you over royally to charge 1k for a clutch and a few sensors on a KA. Its one of the cheapest cars around to run,maintain and repair! Get another mechanic!

Your requirements scream, Mondeo or Focus to me, something petrol.

Mockingbird · 12 Dec 2013 at 13:27

It was £400 for the clutch, £180 for the valve replacement, £100 for the wheel bearing and about £250 for the sensors (I think the for list price for the sensors is £170 just for the parts).

If I had the know-how, or even somewhere to do the work, I'd have been tempted to have a go at it (maybe not the clutch) but frankly I don't have the time/space/nerve to try.

I was considering trying another garage, but these have been pretty good so far about taking things last-minute, staying open an extra half hour so I can drop it in after work etc.

Clarkey · 12 Dec 2013 at 13:36

Should have thrown in the towel before piling cash into a £500 banger, no? What's done is done though, Focus/Mondeo seems a decent enough shout.

Mockingbird · 12 Dec 2013 at 13:42

I figured (at the time) that £500 purchase got me the first couple of years and maybe a little repair work would get me another couple, but as the bills continue to rack up I am indeed regretting it, hence the post. Reckon I'll jump ship a little quicker next time.

I'll look at the mondeo/focus options, cheers both of you for the recommendations. Any particular specs/models/years I should be wary of? (Other than 'don't get an automatic' and 'alloy wheels probably aren't worth a premium')

Rilot · 12 Dec 2013 at 13:46

Why not keep it now? I mean, you've just replaced all of the things that are likely to cost money long term.

geekman · 12 Dec 2013 at 13:46

Surely now you've spent £1000 on it you're far better off keeping it?

Mockingbird · 12 Dec 2013 at 13:50

That was my initial thought after I spent £400 fixing it.

Then £600, then £750...

I'm certainly in no rush to exchange it, and hopefully the money spent will keep it going while I shop around and wait to find myself a good deal.

Tinders · 12 Dec 2013 at 13:55

The KA is as simple as it comes, I'd keep it to be honest and find a mechanic thats not taking the michael. £400 for a clutch on a KA is just :eek:

But that said, the KA is an archaic design, its quite a fun car to chuck about, but there are much much better cars out there. Thing is, any car has the potential to throw up bills so you need to learn a bit about spotting bad cars, or take along someone in the know.

geekman · 12 Dec 2013 at 14:04

Mockingbird said:
That was my initial thought after I spent £400 fixing it.

Then £600, then £750...

I'm certainly in no rush to exchange it, and hopefully the money spent will keep it going while I shop around and wait to find myself a good deal.

Problem is, with your budget you're not going to be getting cars in mint condition - you could very easily end up in a car with just as many problems. If you hated the KA because it was slow or you thought you looked stupid in it then I'd understand, but as those things don't bother you I'd just stick with it. I can't imagine there's much more that's likely to go wrong now.

Mockingbird · 12 Dec 2013 at 14:07

geekman said:
"I can't imagine there's much more that's likely to go wrong now."

That's going to be written on my tombstone one day

geekman · 12 Dec 2013 at 14:13

Mockingbird said:
That's going to be written on my tombstone one day

Well it is a gamble, but as you've spent so much on it it's a gamble I'd be willing to take.

Depending on how quickly you can save up, something like this would be a nice upgrade for you - I had one on 165k and it never went wrong despite my extremely enthusiastic driving

Mockingbird · 12 Dec 2013 at 14:17

Interesting, thanks.

I'm going to have to see what I can do about saving up a decent lump sum. I've just taken on a mortgage and I'm getting married and going on a honeymoon in May, which means all that lovely spare income I thought I had... isn't there any more. (There are worse things in life to complain about, granted)

Heading out of the office for a bit so will not be in the thread for a few hours, but my thanks to all of you who've taken the time to reply and give advice, it's appreciated.

Outcast · 12 Dec 2013 at 14:50

Unless it's arse is rotting out under it I'd keep it.

The next owner will be well chuffed you spent all that dosh on it as you certainly wont get back what you've paid !

gijohn2 · 13 Dec 2013 at 01:24

I would suggest a Fiat punto, I own a 99/01 Fiat punto 16v with 55k on the clock, Good mpg at around 40 the way i drive it but if i drive sensibly and not flaw it i can get it up to 45-50mpg

I picked it up for £400 so with a budget of possibly 1500 you could get a new fiat punto, and not only are they good little run arounds the interior is actually nice in comparison to a KA, Comfy seats, space for more 5 people as well as having hefty boot space

After its MOT a month ago i only had 3 advisories which are easily fixed, 2 rusted springs and some corrosion under the wheel arch

But the bonus of this car was it only had 2 previous owners, an old lady from new who drove it for 5k miles then my sister who did the rest, and the price wasnt even family cheap it was actually what it was worth

Ideally try find a old lady whos selling a car and hope they had good clutch control

Ps, if you get the 16v punto you can code name is the italion stallion

Sparky · 13 Dec 2013 at 07:05

Rilot said:
Why not keep it now? I mean, you've just replaced all of the things that are likely to cost money long term.

Bingo!

No way i would let someone else benefit from me spending 1k on it. Run it into the ground then move on.

fonzee · 13 Dec 2013 at 07:26

gijohn2 said:
I would suggest a Fiat punto, I own a 99/01 Fiat punto 16v with 55k on the clock, Good mpg at around 40 the way i drive it but if i drive sensibly and not flaw it i can get it up to 45-50mpg

You got lucky then. The Punto from that era was an awful car. Give it time, it'll go wrong, lots.

As for the OP, you may aswell keep the thing. The 05 Ka is the Duratec engined variant. So no cambelt to worry about, nice little gearbox and pretty good on juice. Keep the rust at bay and you should be OK. Power steering racks can fail due to water ingress over time on the boots but let's hope yours hasn't been affected!

The idle control issue by the way is also another common fault with the Ka. If you google the issue you'll find a million threads on the matter. The sensors rarely need replacing, just cleaning.

SB118 · 13 Dec 2013 at 07:48

Yup, idle control on those can sometimes be fixed by unplugging and plugging back in!

Hades · 13 Dec 2013 at 08:07

Option 1: Spend £1500 on a car which you don't know the history of and someone may be selling due to impe ding bills.

Option 2: Keep the car you know has recently had major work on and has a lower likelihood of throwing many more large bills (always possible of course).

I would go with 2.

86JR · 13 Dec 2013 at 08:19

I would have gone for the new car before spending all the money on this one.

And in your situation I would have just bought a Mk4 Golf 1.9 Tdi. Even a 1.4 petrol would suit your requirements, cheap as chips to run and no issue with your height either.