Jon's SportKa type thread thing

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jondot
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Jondot
I don't think I'd want an MX-5 either... Not as my first car anyway, because that would essentially equal a crash waiting to happen as soon as the roads got a tad icy.
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Nah. A 1.8 Mk1 might be a bit more tricksy but unless you're running DaiYung Skidmasters you shouldn't be able to upset a Mk2 1.6 except on purpose.

And even then, it's just a laugh. Good way to learn car control on the cheap :D
 
Bwhaha! I just did a quote for a SportKa and it came out at £1900 with that infamous Quinn Direct lot.

I then did the same search again, but with the start date on the 21st of August (i.e my 18th birthday). The quote: £1,576. For a SportKa!


So I edited a few of my previous quotes to do the same:

Micra Sport 1.2: £1,446
C4 1.6HDI VTR: £1,592
306 1.6 Meridian: £1,532
Fabia 1.4D: £1,532


Now that's more like it!
 
Wow, you got C4 VTR insurance for not much difference to a Fabia. I'd be going for the C4 myself.
 
ExigeEvan
Wow, you got C4 VTR insurance for not much difference to a Fabia. I'd be going for the C4 myself.
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I would too. Might be £5k to buy one, but it's economical at least.
 
Those quotes are much more like it. Though you could just buy my car for around a grand, insure it for around £1400, get consistantly more than 40mpg out of it and save us both lots of hassle ;)
 
homeforsummer
Those quotes are much more like it. Though you could just buy my car for around a grand, insure it for around £1400, get consistantly more than 40mpg out of it and save us both lots of hassle ;)
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Fit an air con pump and you've got a deal ;)
 
Jondot
Fit an air con pump and you've got a deal ;)
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It has wind-down windows, if that helps. And a sunroof. All are operated via the simple method of extending your arm towards the lever and using your fingers and opposable thumbs to grip onto a knob (there's a joke in there somewhere...) and use your arm to achieve a rotating motion which is magically transformed into a linear motion in the glass through the wonders of mechanical engineering. This process allows you to access fresh air from outside and has the pleasant side-effect of allowing you to hear the world around you almost as though you were walking around.
 
@HFS: :lol:

I love that line of thinking. Not to mention the fact that your car is then not an isolation chamber.
 
1.8 diesel Focus or else.

:p

How about trying a Suzuki Swift 1.3 too?
 
homeforsummer
All are operated via the simple method of extending your arm towards the lever and using your fingers and opposable thumbs to grip onto a knob (there's a joke in there somewhere...)
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How very dare you!

mustangGT90210
@HFS: :lol:

I love that line of thinking. Not to mention the fact that your car is then not an isolation chamber.
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Clearly you've never met me ;)

G.T
1.6 diesel Focus or else.
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Fixed.

How about trying a Suzuki Swift 1.3 too?
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If you can find one in-budget with air con (that hasn't been ruined with halfords alloys) I'll give you £20. ;)
 
Oooh forgot they don't come aircon standard. Hah.

I'm serious about the diesel 1.8 Focus! The previous gen.
 
Jondot
If you can find one in-budget with air con (that hasn't been ruined with halfords alloys) I'll give you £20. ;)
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Autotrader is broked at the moment so I can't have a look for any Swifts near to you. You could always get one of these Swifts and do without aircon. Or performance. Or indeed, dignity.

800px-Subaru_Justy_1.JPG


Would be dirt cheap though :sly:
 
Is that a geo metro?! :ew:
 
G.T
Oooh forgot they don't come aircon standard. Hah.

I'm serious about the diesel 1.8 Focus! The previous gen.
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Noooo no no, if I'm having a previous gen Focus it'd have to be the Millenium edition:

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Which, I'm afraid, only comes as a 1.8 Petrol ;)

homeforsummer
Autotrader is broked at the moment so I can't have a look for any Swifts near to you. You could always get one of these Swifts and do without aircon. Or performance. Or indeed, dignity.

*snip*

Would be dirt cheap though :sly:
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Or I could just negate this laborious car-shopping process and attempt to flush my own head down the toilet. Sound preferable to me.

Although I think you'll find, my good man, that's that's a Subaru Justy ;) Which is much better, of course...
 
Did Brits recieve the Nissan Altima? I imagine the insurance would be ultralow like it is over here ($57/month), but it's a bit more exciting than a Camry and possibly Mondeo. It's not really a superb car in any sense, but it's quite satisfying to me. If you're considering a saloon, this is the saloonest of them all.

And yes, Nissans do break, but it's not too bad. I've just done my first parts for $30, for instance.
 
EA11R
Did Brits recieve the Nissan Altima? I imagine the insurance would be ultralow like it is over here ($57/month), but it's a bit more exciting than a Camry and possibly Mondeo. It's not really a superb car in any sense, but it's quite satisfying to me. If you're considering a saloon, this is the saloonest of them all.

And yes, Nissans do break, but it's not too bad. I've just done my first parts for $30, for instance.
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Nope, but we got the Infiniti i30. Unfortunately (like the Camry) it was a horribly slow seller. As a result there's only a 19 of them for sale in the UK according to Autotrader, and they've basically all been driven into the ground. Here's the only one we got:

media



(Bizzarely titled the Nissan Maxima QX)
 
I bring good news! I actually fit in the Ford Ka!

uv_pictures88_001.jpg


...well, that one anyway.

I've been staring at that through my monitor for a few days now, and so as I was in the area earlier I popped into the dealer and had a poke around. And I actually fit quite comfortably so it turns out.

I didn't take it for a test drive for a number of reasons (namely the horrendous traffic jam right outside), but I'm severely tempted to book one for a more suitable time.


It's up at a somewhat ridiculous £4000 (Glass' guide says it should be £3500 from a franchised dealer), but it's the only decent example within a 30 mile radius of me. Hmm...
 
What has the Ka got over anything else that has been suggested!?

:D
 
EA11R
It rocks, for one.
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I'm guessing you've never been in one, ever.

Sure, it's a great small car for people who have little need for travel company and need all the help they can get parking, but that doesn't make it a great first car IMO.
 
You're hard to please. Cheapish, reliable, apparently wonderful to drive, and this one's even a bit special. I've heard great things about Fiesta, and this is a smaller version. Surely it cannot be worse?

What does make a good first car?

And no, I haven't really been in any car I genuinely like for driving reasons, excluding expensive sportscars at car shows. Damn America...
 
EA11R
You're hard to please. Cheapish, reliable, apparently wonderful to drive, and this one's even a bit special. I've heard great things about Fiesta, and this is a smaller version. Surely it cannot be worse?

What does make a good first car?

And no, I haven't really been in any car I genuinely like for driving reasons, excluding expensive sportscars at car shows. Damn America...
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Cheapish- It's not. Not for what you get and not for it's age. The fact is the Ka is a very popular car and that inflates prices on them.

Reliable- Yeah, that's how it is when the engine design is pretty damn old.

Drive- Yes, I hear it is very good to drive, that's a definite plus.

Negatives
Only seats 4. No central rear seat. And if he barely fits in it then the person behind is going to have to be a double amputee.
Lack of flexibility. You might thing you'll never use it for more than pottering about.... Untill you start going camping in summer, road trips to friends in Uni and going to the beach.
You automatically join a club, the Ka owners club, you'll stick flowers on your car, slow down as you drive past shops and will avoid parrallel parking at all costs despite the fact you have one of the smallest cars on the market.
 
Hah I happen to know a fair bit about normal Kas as my friend drove one and he told me about everything that went wrong with it/he did to it. There's a fair amount of room in the back if you have the front seats forward a bit (little headroomt though). They're okay, seemed well built enough and was reliable for the amount of time he had it. Apart from the engine coolent leak. And the 40% efficency brakes (that's what the MOT people told him!). And the windshield that needed replacing as it seemingly appeared to have "warped" for no apparent reason. All this on a 40k mile car. And it wasn't abused by the previous owner either since he borrowed it off his mother who bought it when there was very little miles on it. The MOT cost him £350 alone, not including the windshield because it was just an advisory.

I still wouldn't mind one (apart from the image), but the 1.3 engine in it (60bhp) was pretty pathetic. He would floor it and... not much would happen. It's kinda hard to describe - it wasn't particularly noisy it just didn't really shift - his current 1.25 Fiesta is considerably faster, and my mates 1.0 Yaris feels quicker. Normal acceleration in his Fiesta feels neary as quick as full throttle in the Ka. I remember him telling me once he could not for an hour overtake a truck doing 40 on a b-road because of the lack of power he had. He was stuck behind it. :lol:

But maybe the Sport Ka will be better.

Yes, I suggest a Yaris!
 
G.T
Hah I happen to know a fair bit about normal Kas as my friend drove one and he told me about everything that went wrong with it/he did to it. There's a fair amount of room in the back if you have the front seats forward a bit (little headroomt though). They're okay, seemed well built enough and was reliable for the amount of time he had it. Apart from the engine coolent leak. And the 40% efficency brakes (that's what the MOT people told him!). And the windshield that needed replacing as it seemingly appeared to have "warped" for no apparent reason. All this on a 40k mile car. And it wasn't abused by the previous owner either since he borrowed it off his mother who bought it when there was very little miles on it. The MOT cost him £350 alone, not including the windshield because it was just an advisory.
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Well again, my sister had one (which I nearly bought) and she had no problems at all in the 5 years she owned it. Which is more than can be said for the Micra she replaced it with...

I still wouldn't mind one (apart from the image), but the 1.3 engine in it (60bhp) was pretty pathetic. He would floor it and... not much would happen. It's kinda hard to describe - it wasn't particularly noisy it just didn't really shift - his current 1.25 Fiesta is considerably faster
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*Waits for homeforsummer to pop in and say otherwise*

;)

But maybe the Sport Ka will be better.
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Well to be honest I wouldn't buy a normal one. I've been too spoilt with a 90hp car to downgrade quite so severely.

The SportKa is a 1.6 with 94hp, and actually does 0-60 in 9.8 seconds. Sounds mighty fine to me :D
 
Jondot
*Waits for homeforsummer to pop in and say otherwise*

;)
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He tells us his is a 1.3 though?

The 1.25 is sooooo much better and newer. And a bit more powerful. The 1.3 is ancient. :p
 
ExigeEvan
My negatives still stand!
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Yeah, I know... :guilty:

Except the crossed out bit. Buying a SportKa invites me into a totally different club:

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*Shudder*

G.T
He tells us his is a 1.3 though?

The 1.25 is sooooo much better and newer. And a bit more powerful. The 1.3 is ancient. :p
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His is a 1.3, but he prefers it to the 1.25 so he says...

"Indeed, having driven the 1.25 Zetec (the car I learned to drive in) I'd actually recommend the more basic 1.3 in my car over the Zetec as although it's not as powerful, it feels much torquier lower down the rev range (which in all honesty is where you spend most of the time in normal driving - at lowish revs). It'll happily potter along in town at 30mph in 5th gear using virtually no fuel, and yet it'll happily sit at 80mph on the motorway with acceleration to spare in the same gear, whilst still approaching 50mpg."

- from't Fiesta's eBay listing.

Anyway, all a tad irrelevant as I wouldn't have a 1.3. But still :)






No love for the SportKa then? :( It's quick, it's reasonably priced (sort of), and it's so cheap to insure that I can actually have fully comp for £1700!
 
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