Motors North

Make

ANY AC AIXAM ALFA ROMEO ASIA ASTON MARTIN AUBURN AUDI AUSTIN BENTLEY BMW BRISTOL BUGATTI CADILLAC CATERHAM CHEVROLET CHRYSLER CITROEN COLEMAN MILNE DAEWOO DAIHATSU DAIMLER DATSUN DAX DE TOMASO DODGE FERRARI FIAT FORD FSO GINETTA GMC HILLMAN HOLDEN HONDA HUMMER HYUNDAI INFINITI ISUZU JAGUAR JEEP JENSEN KIA KOENIGSEGG LADA LAMBORGHINI LANCIA LAND ROVER LEXUS LIGIER LINCOLN LOTUS MARCOS MASERATI MAYBACH MAZDA MCLAREN MERCEDES-BENZ MERCURY MG MICROCAR MINI MITSUBISHI MITSUOKA MORGAN MORRIS NISSAN NOBLE OPEL PAGANI PANTHER PERODUA PEUGEOT PILGRIM PLYMOUTH PONTIAC PORSCHE PROTON RELIANT RENAULT RILEY ROLLS-ROYCE ROVER SAAB SEAT SINGER SKODA SMART SSANGYONG SUBARU SUNBEAM SUZUKI TALBOT TATA TOYOTA TRIUMPH TVR ULTIMA VAUXHALL VOLKSWAGEN VOLVO WESTFIELD WOLSELEY YUGO

Model

ANY

Area

ANY Badenoch and Strathspey Caithness Inverness Inverness Area and Loch Ness Lochaber Moray Nairn and District Ross and Cromarty Sutherland Other

Price From

0 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 80000 90000 100000

Price To

500 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 80000 90000 100000

Your Local Newspaper

Inverness Courier Highland News
North Star Lochaber News Northern Scot
Ross-shire Journal Caithness Courier
John O Groat Journal Northern Times
Forres Gazette Banffshire Journal
Strathspey and Badenoch Herald

Copyright SPP Group

our test drives or view them all

Ford Ka 1.3 Zetec TDCi

IT’S disappointing when I get a car to test that is not at the top of the game compared to the rest of the range.

That’s what happened when a 1.3 TDCi turbodiesel Ford Ka turned up for the motorsnorth treatment – the most expensive version in the five-model family and the only one offering diesel.

To make this comfortably trimmed £11,195 Zetec model pay for itself you would have to be involved in some abnormal driving with huge annual mileages – or simply love oil-burning engines to the exclusion of common sense.

Why? Because the gutsy little Fiat-sourced TDCi will simply not pay its way in day-to-day use, despite its amazing average consumption of 67.3mpg, especially at the scandalously high cost of diesel fuel in the UK.

If you bought a Zetec with the superbly smooth 1.2 litre 69bhp petrol engine it would cost you £800 less, still return an average 55.4mpg, be just as quick, cost no more to insure or road tax and, crucially, be much smoother and quieter to live with.

Both models fall into Group 2 insurance and attract a Band C tax bill of just £35 a year.

However, if you want to cut your motoring costs even further, the most attractive buy is the 1.2i Studio – mechanically identical to the better trimmed Style, Style+ and Zetec petrols but with the lowest list price in the range at £8595.

But back to the Zetec 1.3 TDCi.

Like all compression-ignition units the diesel is torquey with a useful 107lb.ft of pulling power from just 1500rpm. It gives the oily Ka brisk acceleration through the gears and a zero to 62mph of 13.1 seconds. But why bother? The petrol is just as quick off the mark and a lot quieter.

About the only area where the diesel baby Ford comes into its own is toting heavy loads – but in a car with such small dimensions it’s unlikely weight will be an ownership factor – and if it is, the larger and more able Fiesta would be a far better buy.

The Ka is compact. Only 3.6 metres long, 1.65 metres wide and 1.5 metre tall, it’ll fit into all modern garages with room to spare and occupy minimal space on the street.

Load-carrying ability is modest – and disappointingly restricted. The boot hatch is narrow and the loading sill awkwardly high. It makes lifting heavy items into the boot a chore and blunts its family holdall appeal. Once you get into the boot there’s a reasonable 224 litres of space and with the 50/50 split rear seat backs folded down the load area grows to 747 litres – but because the seat bench is fixed it means there’s an irritating lip in the loading floor.

But despite its petite measurements the Ka is no featherweight. It has a reassuringly chunky feel, doors that close with a good-sounding, solid clunk and a kerb weight of just over a tonne.

Set against the seemingly flimsy previous Ka the new model has a quality feel and finish. It also rides better, is more comfortable and has taken Ford’s smallest model into a new league. All of which is hardly surprising because underneath those Ford contours lives a Fiat 500 – arguably the best new supermini to hit the market in the past year or so.

Ford has restyled the 500 to give it the new "kinetic" edge design so familiar on Mondeo, Focus and, more recently, the excellent new Fiesta. As such, the Ka looks good – modern with a roomy three-door body.

But that does not make it as refined as I had expected. Petrol versions I’ve driven are mechanically quieter than the TDCi and also seem to have less tyre rumble – a disappointing feature of the oil burner exacerbated by daft low-profile tyres on my test car that made long, open road runs tiresome and hard-riding.

The noise also blunted the audio output of the fine radio/CD system fitted as standard and controlled from the steering wheel.

Just why anyone would want to equip their Ka with the 195/45-section Continental covers on the good-looking 16-alloys fitted to my example beats me – they undermine the ride quality and deliver a deafening roar over anything but a billiard-smooth surface.

Ka’s standard wheel size is 14-inch with 65-section tyres – stick close to these and the ride comfort and noise will improve dramatically.

Instrumentation is modern and bright, but a bit low rent and plasticky. I also found the switchgear rather confusing with backlighting on certain of the centrally-grouped push-button switches too dull to stand out for quick reference at night. It would have been better too if the warning lights for the clever Quickscreen, the heated rear screen and the front and rear fog lamps had been built into the switches. Along with brighter backlit lamps it would have helped them stand out at night when you need to switch them off. What Ford has opted for is a series of warning icons that light up in the main instrument binnacle – lights I found hard to relate to whatever switch I’d just been fumbling for at night. The same poor switch identification applies to the fine radio/CD controls and is only eased by the fact that the Zetec has some radio function on the steering wheel.

Where the Ka scores highly is on seating comfort. They don’t look particularly sumptuous but the front seats offer excellent support and even in the back there’s good comfort.

Driving the car is brilliant. The electric power steering is direct and the five-speed gearbox light and easy to use. The gear lever is mounted on a pod hung off the bottom of the central console that makes it easy to reach.

The car has average oddment storage but visibility is good, though at night the dipped beam on the standard self-levelling headlamps is poor.

Twin airbags are standard and side airbags are available for a bargain £150. Pity ESP is a £300 option, but at least if you do order it you get handy hill-start launch and Brake Assist.

The good-value Zetec trim is also available with the 1.2i petrol engine at a better-value £10,395. This top trim level gives you front fogs, privacy glass, Quickclear front screen and 15-inch alloys with 50-section tyres – my diesel test car’s hard-riding 16-inchers with 45-section were a £200 option.

New Ka is a good supermini – but opt for petrol.

Rating: 6.5/10

FINAL THOUGHT: If the test car had been a 1.2 petrol Ka it would have earned a much higher rating mark than 6.5/10 – diesel and a car of this size simply does not make good sense. That’s a pity because the three-door design is clever and petrol pricing is keen. Best buy? The 1.2i Style at £9195.

Ford Ka 1.3 Zetec TDCi

• Price: £11,195
• Capacity: 1248cc
• Power: 75bhp
• 0-62mph: 13.1 seconds
• Maximum speed: 100mph
• Economy: Combined 67.3mpg; Urban 54.3mpg
• CO2 emissions: 112g/km
• ESP: £300 option
• Insurance: Group 2