Sounds familiar
In all honesty, i think Michelin CCs are THE BEST tyres for any car.. no downsides in the summer/dry, and amazing grip in cold, ice, and slush.. similar price to other decent tyres too..
I’ve got those on the front of my EcoSport, and they’re outstanding tyres. I was going to rotate those onto the rear wheels when those wore down enough, but now my mileage has dropped to bugger-all, I’m not sure when that’ll be!
If that Octy wasn’t at the other end of the county…
Mine’s somewhere like Lithuania now; I paid £5000 for it with 82,000 on the clock, 51 plate, four years old, I had it for 15 years, did 91,000 miles in it, and never had it serviced. 1.9 TDi, had done whatever was necessary to get it through each year’s MOT.
Fantastic car, literally drove it like I stole it.
Didn’t they also bung it in the parts bin rustbox KA?
Yup, a friend has had a succession of those as bangernomic commuter cars, runs them until they die (either through rust, or through fire as a result of welding the rust without removing the carpet inside), then keeps one as a donor for the next one!
I always though they looked like they should be fun, like an original mini, an engine, 4 wheels pushed right into the corners, and barely enough metal between them to add weight. But no ones ever had a kind word to say about them. Obviously missed the memo when Ford was getting it's s*** together around the millennium and trying to produce genuinely good handling cars (IIRC they'd just poached the engineer responsible for the 205/106 era of cars at Peugeot).
I always though they looked like they should be fun, like an original mini, an engine, 4 wheels pushed right into the corners, and barely enough metal between them to add weight. But no ones ever had a kind word to say about them. Obviously missed the memo when Ford was getting it’s s*** together around the millennium and trying to produce genuinely good handling cars (IIRC they’d just poached the engineer responsible for the 205/106 era of cars at Peugeot).
I could be wrong but I think they were designed with quite an advanced 2stroke in mind but we're altered mid development.
I thought they were the previous gen bubbley fiesta reworked to get more life from the platform as cheap as possible. Still using the tappety sounding engine when the fiesta moved on. I had one as a banger runabout and quite liked it.....until my feet started getting wet when I went through puddles
I’ve never driven a ‘bad’ Fiesta, unlike the Escorts, which were terrible, aside the rwd ones.
Yeah they limped the fifties derived pushrod boat anchor on for some time. IIRC the tappets had course thread rather than lock nuts, so got noisey quickly.
Iron block, took ages to heat up. Didn’t have a temperature gauge.
One of those would probably be a perfect project. If you can find a rust free one, her 1999 example was showing rust on the A pillars at 6 years old.
I seem to remember the emissions put the 1.3 into the same road fund license group as the 2.7 944 I had back then though, which annoyed her.
The 957cc MK2 I learned to drive in was pretty terrible.
thisisnotaspoon
I always though they looked like they should be fun, like an original mini, an engine, 4 wheels pushed right into the corners, and barely enough metal between them to add weight. But no ones ever had a kind word to say about them.
Are you talking about the original Ka? My Wife had one & loved it. It was a decent car, although granted the engine was pretty terrible. I think that was done for cost-cutting to get it to a price point.
It handled well (I think it was based on the Fiesta chassis) and the ride quality considering it's size was amazing. It wafted over lumpy fenland roads with great control & swallowed the bumps up like a much larger car.
It was cheap to insure, service & maintain, although fuel economy considering it's size wasn't great. It was very reliable. I think the only thing that went wrong in the 8 or 9 years that she had it was a leak around the thermostat housing - they are plastic & warp over time.
My Wife got rid of hers as the chassis was getting very rusty & was going to start needing work. Bodywork was fine though.
I seem to remember towards the end of it's days it got a newer engine (probably to meet emissions regulations) that gave it a bit more oomph.
In all honesty, i think Michelin CCs are THE BEST tyres for any car.. no downsides in the summer/dry, and amazing grip in cold, ice, and slush.. similar price to other decent tyres too..
I agree. Forget the "snow" capabilities, they are ace in all the shitty weather conditions we get in the UK, without being a drag when we have the warm dry spells (remember them?!?).
My first car was a ford Ka... 1.3 engine with about 6BHP!!
Loved it - like a little go cart.
Like you say, a wheel pretty much in each corner was fun!
P534DPD
FUnny how you remember number plates!!
DrP
Just checked - the MOT expired in 2009. I fear it's no more....
Agree golf mark4 platform was good to me. My 03 Octavia VRS just got written off in an accident. Super cheap.
<<<very sad face>>>
215k miles still going strong and over 10 years ownership it cost around £1.40/day with me doing most things (not petrol/insurance but including the £2.2k price)
I decided to replace with an 09 VRS but I doubt I’ll ever have as cheap a car as the first one here… only pita was getting the rarer front suspension as they shared the same drop link bolt positions as the hot Leon.
I had spent a weekend riding in the new forest. Packed up & driving back to Bristol. Bikes on the back. A new (less than year) driver decides to drive straight into us at a junction. Still chasing insurance for bike wheels damaged…
