Mileage 11,065 - 08/06/2002 - June

June has arrived all of a sudden! At the very end of May, I gave Kermit a wash, came inside and this happened illustrated. Pah; typical!

Thanks to one of the Ka Klub members, Charlie and I were able to go to the Silverstone race meet on the Jubilee Bank Holiday Monday. It was a three hundred mile round trip, give or take a bit. On the way there, we were pressing on in order to make our meeting point on time, and we also needed to fill the far, too.

Motorway service stations usually have you by the danglies. We didn’t need fuel when we stopped - we were down to the quarter mark - but we didn’t have the time to stray far from the motorway. It was a Shell station, and ordinary unleaded was selling at 77·9 pence per litre with Optimax at just 79·9 pence per litre. Given such a small gap in price, I went for Optimax. We filled up with Shell 95 RON stuff back in York the next day, for just 73·7 pence per litre, which highlights what a rip-off these motorway filling stations are - curiously, though, Optimax was the same price, 79·9 pence per litre.

As for Silverstone, yes it was good fun, as you might expect. My personal favourites must be the British GT racers - and the howling wail of the Ferrari V12 will always be etched in my mind, although the TVR rumble was reasonably convincing too. Unfortunately, there are very few good spots for decent photo opportunities, at least, when you don’t have a big zoom lens (and we don’t have this). So very few of my pictures came out. However, the few that look half decent are on show here.

250 miles later, the Ka once again needs more fuel. Therein is one of my little pet hates with the Ka - it’s limited range. We were not able to go to and from Silverstone on one tank with a sensible “comforting” amount left in the tank. Our first tank yielded just over 33 mpg, which I can attribute to 140 miles in the city, 55 fast motorway miles, and lots of air conditioning use. The second tank - almost all motorway miles - yielded a better 39·2 mpg. We’ve certainly done better, especially on Optimax, but we were trying reasonably hard.

I’ve been sent a Ford Racing Ka brochure (my thanks to Racing Ka for this), which features parts, prices and the all-important Ford reference. Now I can think a little more about the planned upgrades, from Ford that is. Now that Charlie has seen modified Kas, she quite likes the idea of a Ford spoiler, a new backbox, perhaps an induction kit, and tinted windows. Decisions, decisions!

We’ve made a lot of use of the air conditioning system for two reasons. One, it was hot, or two, it was raining and humid, and the Ka was misting up. Indeed, we did a trip from York to Skegness and back (a round trip of approximately 250 miles) with the air conditioning running, at legal speeds, but including some entertainment north of Skegness. We averaged 42·9 mpg - maybe it doesn’t make that much of a difference after all?

When driving along on the motorway with the system running, it’s very obvious to me that the compressor is cycling on and off through the acceleration of the Ka. When it kicks in, it feels as though we are decelerating, and when it kicks off, we pick up speed. Actually, at a cruise, there is almost no difference in the Ka’s speed, but when accelerating up to a cruise, or ascending a hill, there is a big difference. The Ka feels very sluggish off the mark in first gear, and at low revs: it requires more of an effort to get it moving off, especially if you want to move off rather smartly. The effect is more apparent when the engine is warmer so I suspect that the additional load of the cooling fan also takes its toll on performance.

Thanks to the kind assistance of Tim Kemp, I’ve been able to get some more interesting pictures of the Ka. Now of course, if Charlie knew what abuse we put onto the poor little Ka, she might not be so eager to let me spend time with him armed with cameras. We managed to kill a fly with the tailgate! We have also thoroughly checked the Ka’s brakes, suspension, traction and suspension settings. We also performed a “close pass,” this picture has been reduced considerably from the original size (I was pretty close).

Mileage 10,161 - 26/05/2002 - Rusty Brake Discs

It’ll just be a short entry this time, since there is little to report. We’ve kept the Ka within the city bounds after our Bournemouth trip, which of course, isn’t the most economical place to keep a car! Nevertheless, I’m reasonably happy with the economy figure of 33 mpg. This is both myself and Charlie driving, and also has lots of use of the air conditioning.

Take a good look at this picture. It shows what happens to the Ka’s brake disc in twenty four hours after a wash (and a soaking of them), and in a rainy York night. Rust. Now I know what the brakes will feel like the first time we come to use them after driving off - pants! - but this is easily the quickest set of discs I’ve ever encountered that have gone this rusty in just such a short space of time. The Mondeo’s discs would go a little rusty, but only if we didn’t use her for a wet weekend, and even then, never to this extent.

I’m sure that certain discs are more susceptible than others, and whilst it is a little bit of a pain, it’s nothing too dramatic. It was the first time, I admit! But now that we know about it, we can compensate.

Otherwise, nothing much to report as I first said. We’re sharing the driving these days, which is probably a good thing overall. It does mean that I get to walk home as well. And when Charlie starts work at 04:30, I won’t have to get up to take her. That in itself is good news.

Mileage 10,041 - 18/05/2002 - Summer’s (Almost) Here?

Now that there is increased competition over who gets to drive Kermit, I’m pleased to report that I was at the wheel when 10,000 miles ticked over. Not that it mattered much, because the camera was not present to record the event. I do still get to wash the Ka, though. Note that this is an artistic picture, so it’s not blurred or out of focus, it’s designed to show action and movement.

The weather has been rather unkind to us as the middle of May approaches. First, we had a few days of warm sunshine, then followed by some heavy rain, then a very hot, muggy day which finally gave me the chance to use the air conditioning in anger.

The CD player had a wobble: it refused to read the one and only CD that I had with me. It was a home made CDR, and these can cause problems in many CD players, so I wasn’t unduly bothered. I took the disc out, gave it a quick clean, and tried it again. Nothing. So I took it out and inspected it again. No scratches. On the third attempt, it worked perfectly, and it has worked since. Perhaps there was a bit of fluff, or similar, on the disc, which is why it refused to co-operate.

I appreciated the Ka’s power steering and supple ride after a night of go-karting. I managed to go into the barrier at a decent pace (I claimed that the kart was suffering from huge understeer, they claimed that I wasn’t trying hard, but I did /cough/ go in at full pelt). Worse, with a little help from my friends, I managed a couple of impressive spins; perhaps the best one resulted in me “catching” a colleague head on at some speed. It’s amazing how rapidly a go-kart will stop when it hits another. I became very familiar with the tyre walls on the exit of a couple of the corners, too, primarily because I kept on giving it a bit too much power. And for most of the time, the stewards were waving at me, which I took to be A Good Thing. Later on, they told me that they were trying to tell me to slow down. But surely the point of karting is get it sideways for most of the time? Anyway, I did prove a point by managing a technically perfect lap, a good two seconds quicker than my usual lap time, and executing a carefully planned overtake manoeuvre under braking into the tightest corner of the track. So I suppose two good things in forty two laps isn’t too bad a record? /cough/

I’ve been contemplating how efficient the Ka’s cooling system is. In the city, and with the air conditioning running on a warm day, I suspect that the coolant temperature is significantly hotter than it is in the winter. Just how well the Ka copes with it remains to be seen. The best way to ascertain the efficiency must, surely, be to get stuck on either the A1, the M62, or some other major holiday route, probably during the August bank holiday traffic. So far, he doesn’t seem as volatile as my Cinquecento, which in the summer, only took a couple of minutes to hit one hundred degrees if you got caught up in traffic after a motorway run. Indeed, the Cinquecento’s engine would normally run between 75 and 80 degrees, unless you cruised at 80 indicated (or more) in the summer. Then the temperature would gradually creep up to 85 degrees. In the Ka, there is no visual indication of the coolant temperature, although you can ascertain clues (you can feel the cooling fan kick in, and if you listen carefully, you can also hear it). I’m not so much worried about the coolant, but more interested - but really, I should just accept that the Ka will look after itself. I’d still like some sort of notification of is happening under there!

The other notable event to write about involves the site attracting some unwanted attention. Somebody from Norwich found the site, figured she knew who I really am, and started sending malicious e-mail. That’s fine; I know how to deal with Cyberstalkers. /wink wink/

But if she’s reading this Diary entry, and the wheelnut decides to write again, next time I will simply get an injunction, preventing further contact (and if you’re really lucky, I’ll publish your e-mails and address on the site here, so everybody can see what a sad, sick individual you are). Indeed, all other bits of e-mail regarding the site have either been positive. The Datasheet has attracted some attention, and I’m pleased to report that people have been sending me reports regarding a few data inaccuracies within the sheet. Progress continues on the Datasheet, and I have also configured the Palm to allow me to input data reasonably effectively, too. As for site updates, the hits keep on trickling in, and I suppose it’s nice that this Ka is well known. Once I get the DervMan’s numberplate on him, heh, they’ll be no stopping me! /Not/

As for the air conditioning, it’s a real boon, but it can also be a bad thing, because you don’t want to get out of the car into warm, humid air when you arrive at your destination.

Mileage 9,941 - 06/05/2002 - Bournemouth

I have a few things to report since the last entry. First off, important news in that Charlie has passed her driving test: big congratulations from me! Of course, it may mean that I’ll lose exclusive use of the Ka when commuting to and from work. But that’s okay. It also means that we can share more of the driving since “learners” are not permitted on motorways.

On that note, Kermit has covered a good few motorway miles since our last entry. We went to Bournemouth from York (approximately 300 miles), then from Bournemouth to South London (around 140 miles), then back to York (another 250 miles).

What is it about the M1?

On the first leg south, the Friday, the weather was generally good apart from two very heavy downpours, including hail, rain, thunder and brilliant forked lightning. Parts of the M1 were flooded, but people were generally being well behaved - lights on, speed down and the distances between vehicles increased. The rain and wipers did keep the windscreen clean!

We averaged just over 50 mph over the trip to the south, which included all stops (four in total, including a stop for petrol), and the sluggish stretch of the M25 between the M1 and the M4. Fuel consumption over the stretch was a reasonable 41·6 mpg, considering /ahem/ the pace, and use of the air conditioning.

Highlights of the trip include the aggressive drivers on the M3, spilling hot tea all over the Palm and - worst! - the hotel fire alarm going off at 04:15, meaning a quick exit in the middle of the night! Fortunately (!) it was a false alarm.

Saturday, and it didn’t rain but was warm and sunny, so we used the air conditioner quite a lot. This probably explains the slightly disappointing economy figure of 40·3 to the gallon. That said, we did cruise through Bournemouth to laugh at the VTR / SR / XR boys, and made several trips to and from Moorlands College. We had also timed the trip to coincide with the soccer match, so that the roads were quiet, but instead they were full of aggressive women drivers! During the second leg of our trip, our average speed was just 40 mph - we didn’t get held up on any motorway stretch, just in Greater London. Indeed, we would have managed a much higher average had it not been for London! Then, a much needed night stop in Greater London.

We started the final leg of the weekend’s driving with a trip through London city. This, of course, put a dent in our average speed (39·2 mph) and fuel consumption (40·8 mpg), but was /cough/ an experience. Just perhaps not one to be repeated any time soon. Anyway, after over 750 mainly motorway miles, the Ka feels crisper.

Mileage 9,004 - 19/04/2002 - I don’t like 95 RON

I have little to report. I’ll start by saying that the first city tank of 95 RON returned just 30 mpg. Okay, so I’ve been using the air conditioning a fair bit, and I’ve been a little bit . . . enthusiastic . . . and very little of our driving has been outside of the city bounds. It is possible that I’m being harder on Kermit because he feels less perky running on ordinary unleaded compared with Optimax.

I promised Charlie that I would be home by five thirty one night. Now that’s all well and good, but York was busy. Very busy. Anyway, whilst waiting in traffic, I popped on one of my home-made CDs, cranked the volume up, and was happily testing the upper volume levels of the stereo. Nobody was moving. Then I accidentally tapped on the horn whilst reaching across to scratch my arm, or some similar non-event. Lo and behold, everybody moves out of my way. Well this seems a bit strange! So I check in the mirror and move off.

Just as I was approaching third gear speed, the ambulance came around the corner of the dual carriageway. Oops.

Heh; well I didn’t feel very clever about jumping the queue, but nobody seemed to mind, and in fairness, where I was I had to move forward to give the ambulance room (thankfully not followed by “your Honour” or “officer”). But at the time, and shortly afterwards, I found it rather entertaining. On a more serious note, it just goes to show how much we need to rely on our ears just as much as our eyes when driving. If I had of heard the siren, I would have revised my behaviour somewhat!

We also took the car to and from Lincolnshire, at the same pace as our last long drive. 240 miles on this trip and about 40 miles in the city later saw a return of just under 41 mpg. This is some ten percent lower than when running on Optimax. But is this a significant difference? Or is it a fluke? There’s more discussion here.

Mileage 8,637 - 12/04/2002 - Ka Practicalities

I’ll start this entry by letting you know that I’ve concluded the first stage of my Ka Optimax experiment. The Ka is currently running on ordinary 95 RON petrol. Can I feel the difference? You can read the details here, if you’re interested, but in essence, nothing that I can tell so far. Anyway, over the Optimax period, we averaged over 42 mpg. This is a good 13·5% higher than the previous average, however it’s a good deal warmer than it was. The second stage of the experiment means running the Ka on ordinary unleaded over the same period - for the next 750 or so miles - and then checking the fuel consumption. But the Ka doesn’t feel any different, be it in performance, noise, or otherwise.

What else do I have to report? I could tell you about the clever rear seat arrangement that Ford have given the Ka. The rear seat is split 50 / 50, and can be in one of three positions. It can either be folded, or upright, or in the normal position. It’s impossible to sit in the seat with it folded, as you’d expect, and very uncomfortable with it in upright mode - much better with it reclined. And in terms of boot space, there doesn’t seem to be all that much more with the seat in the upright position. When we picked the Ka up, I thought, “well there’s a showroom feature that’s of no use in the real world.”

But the difference it makes is quite significant, and I don’t mind admitting that I was wrong. I’ve had to use the Ka to transport rubbish bags to the York tip. With the seats in the ordinary position, it is difficult to fit three bags into the boot - but it is much easier with the seats in their upright position. Of course, this doesn’t stop the rubbish from smelling, so it’s a windows down, heater on trip. One of the occasions where I’d not use the air conditioner in summer.

The other aspect of the Ka that I have explored in the last week is “trailing brake oversteer.” As you would expect, this entails getting the Ka’s tail to hang out when cornering using gentle application of the footbrake. In the Ka, you do have to be travelling at some speed to incite this sort of unsocial behaviour, but, boy, it’s fun. However, it also makes a racket on a dry road (the rear tyres howl their protest) and if you’re too enthusiastic with the middle pedal, it scrubs off a lot of speed so you have to get back on the power pretty sharpish, else you’ll lose too much speed. One flick of the wrists, and the Ka corrects itself, or if you’re being a real lunatic, you can get it into what I presume is a front wheel drive powerslide. Now the Mondeo would also exhibit this sort of behaviour, but you have to be brutal with the controls, and when the tail let go, it usually did with a bit of a bite (and in the wet). In the Ka, it’s comparatively docile, and very easy to correct.

There are other points associated with trailing brake oversteer. One is that you do lose speed, so it’s not the most efficient way to corner: you can tackle the same bend or at the same speed, but with the power down, and emerge in a straight line. Two, it may be entertaining, but when a car starts to skid, there is always that little chaotic element and therefore it’s not always predictable. Three, it will scrub those rear tyres. And four, it’s hugely addictive: if you’re not careful, you start to set the Ka up to powerslide over roundabouts, and you’re bound to do this in front of a copper at some stage, or (worse) screw up. You can read about messing up a trailing brake slide here.

Back to more mundane stuff, after getting into Kermit after he’s been sat in the sun for the day, I’ve been experimenting with the air conditioning. The handbook recommends that to use the air conditioner to maximum benefit, first you must open the windows to let the heated air escape. When I’ve taken the Ka out after it has been sat in the sun, the procedure is to get in, exclaim that it is hot, start the engine, open the windows, and switch the air conditioner on. Set it to full cold, then drive off. After a few moments, shut the window and you’re away.

I was checking in the Ka’s handbook, and it seems that the maximum vehicle load is only around 300 kg. In other words, four average people and nothing in the boot. But given that the DervMan is above average size and weight, hmm, it would be easy to overload the little Ka. I do know that the Ka is unsuitable for towing, but that you can buy a roof box for the little tinker, so presumably it would be quite easy to overload.

Thinking a bit more on this respect, when we use the Ka to go away in (as we will surely do), I would expect that we’ll fit everything that we have to inside the car. I cannot imagine us needing a roof box. But a roof mounted cycle carrier - that’s something else!

Finally, although we’d have lovely, sunny days, the temperature is still rather cold. We’ve had a couple of light frosts overnight - clear skies and all that. It feels strange to be using the heated front windscreen reasonably early on a sunny day!

Mileage 8,410 - 31/03/2002 - Roll on Summer!

I suppose it is human nature to long for the summer months, but ordinarily, the change of season doesn’t bother me too much. I don’t mind the winter months but this year, I can’t wait for those long, hot balmy days, the trips to the coast, and spending an hour in heavy traffic with the air conditioner keeping us cool.

Late March has given us a sample of what is to come, at least in terms of sunlight even if it’s not really all that hot. For the most part, the air conditioner is a bit too cold given that it isn’t all that hot - nevertheless, it is useful in spurts. But it also slows the Ka down and uses more petrol.

But as well as the sun, we’ve also had some days of heavy rain.

I’ve also tried the Ka on Optimax, which you can read up about here. For some people, it must be difficult for them to be objective about Optimax, because they want it to make their car quicker and use less petrol. I don’t have this problem because of a couple of reasons. One, that the Ka has been designed to run on 95 RON unleaded petrol - the handbook explains that there are no significant benefits to be had running on 98 RON unleaded petrol. But . . . it’s still worth the experiment.

The other reason is that the Ka is reasonably new, so I would hope that the injectors are still clean. So Shell’s advanced cleaning agents won’t have much to wash away - I hope!

Running on Optimax, Kermit is quieter and has an improved pick up at low engine speeds - he is much smoother in heavy traffic on a sniff of power.

There does appear to be some economy benefit - the Ka managing over 45 mpg on a run (compared with a previous high of 43 mpg, which had required patience since it involves sticking to 60 on the motorway), and we were not trying all that hard, either. However, I am also aware that the temperature is a good deal warmer than it has been, and generally speaking, cars are more economical when it is warmer. We have also been using the air conditioning system a bit, too.

I had the opportunity to demonstrate the Ka’s handling to (the long suffering when it comes to Ka things!) Charlie. We went over a couple of roundabouts at the speed limit, 40 mph, with four tyres murmuring their protest. All very neutral, all very solid, all very entertaining. It had me grinning from ear to ear, well until Charlie gave me a ticking off!

Finally, the warmer weather has ensured that we’ve caught our first bug (illustrated). There are not all that many flies about, but the ones that are do take some swerving to hit!

Mileage 7,770 - 17/03/2002 - Almost a Ka-less Week

It’s been a quiet week for the Ka, primarily because it was intended to be a Ka-free week. This lasted until Thursday morning, and the only reason why I used the Ka to get to work on Thursday is because of a nasty incident on Wednesday involving the stairs, which would have made the 2½ mile walk to, and then from, work unbearable. So I drove, which is a three mile trip each way.

The only notable Ka thing to mention is the air conditioner. It rained on Saturday whilst we were out shopping (yes, I know I live an exciting life). It was only a short walk back to the car, but the rain was very heavy. Both us, and the shopping, got soaking wet. After loading the car as quickly as we could, we got in. The first thing I did was to switch the heater blower on and directed it at the windscreen, so as to keep the windows clear of condensation. We gradually started to mist up at the side. Hmm! Of course: air conditioning!

After a few minutes, I turned it off, wondering how quickly it would take to mist up. Almost two minutes, before it was on again: I’m starting to really appreciate air conditioning!

But, really, there’s little to report. Since we covered very few miles over the week and we didn’t travel back to Lincolnshire over the weekend, this tank of petrol is going to last us until the end of next week!

Mileage 7,698 - 10/03/2002 - We’re In!

Our Ka Membership arrived, so now I need to pick a digital photograph of Kermit to send to the Ka Klub. But which one? There are too many! I also need to get myself a proper URL, but again, which one? The few pennies in the bank account are also looking a bit lonely, and I cannot really justify spending the thirteen quid on a URL when we’re doing all these miles to and from Lincolnshire, and I don’t want to “publish” this site until I have a URL. Oh, yeah, and then I’d like a proper number plate with the site address (Charlie has already vetoed a sun stripe thingie).

The long drives at weekends have continued. A trip to and from Lincolnshire is the best part of 250 miles and a tank of petrol. Having to refuel after 250 miles is a bit of a pain, given that the Mondeo would manage around 600 miles to a tank. This said, refuelling the Ka doesn’t take ten minutes as it did with the Mondeo (and only because you had to trickle the last two gallons in!). Stop, pump the petrol, stop at the second click, and you’re done. It takes me longer to pay and record the statistics than it does to pump the petrol!

Fuel economy since the last diary entry hasn’t been brilliant, primarily because Kermit has done quite a few city miles, and (probably the real reason!) because I did go a bit loopy (read: exploited the Ka’s handling) on one B1225 trip. I could continue to go on about the Ka’s chassis agility and huge reserves of grip, and that I have yet to unsettle the Ka, despite hurtling along some of the bumpiest sections of the B1225 at speed, and despite suddenly piling on the lock (rather than the “smoothly does it” approach), but I won’t. Anyway, we did the entire junction to junction trip in 35 minutes, which is considerably quicker than the record for the Cinquecento, at 42 minutes, and the Mondeo in 38 minutes. What’s scary is that the Ka feels like it’s got plenty left in reserve.

We’ve come back from Lincolnshire along some different roads, including the A16 north of Boston, just for a change. It has confirmed something else that I had suspected for some time: the Ka has a hill-climbing ability that appears at odds with its linear performance. It is not, by any means, a quick car, but it can climb hills in a similar manner to a turbodiesel, at least, from a speed / gear selection perspective. On the Lincolnshire Wolds, it’s quite possible to keep the Ka going in fourth or fifth gear, as I would have done in the Mondeo, whereas in some other cars that I’ve driven over the same routes have required a lower gear or two.

I didn’t wash the Ka after one weekend trip and regretted it. He was covered in road salt. But by the time I get home from work, it’s usually dark, and it is difficult to wash a car in darkness: you always miss bits.

The new Demon Tweeks 2002 Catalogue has also arrived, with lots of bits that I could pick up, including those light up LED washers. Hmm, tasteful. /Sarcasm/ and my apologies to all Ka owners out there who are using them, but please, people! Some of the alloys look tasty, and of course, there are a number of stainless steel exhausts and induction kits available for the Ka. Ideally, I’d want two exhausts for Kermit, one either side, but I didn’t think such a kit would be available. Not for the Ka, but for a Saxo, yes, you can get them. Thing is, it would mean driving a Saxo about, of course.

Finally, our last trip back from Lincolnshire involved bringing a kitchen table and a fridge. It was all rattling around a bit, and I had to drive as though I was on ice so as to avoid wreaking anything, but we did it. At first, I was dismayed that it wouldn’t fit in properly. We couldn’t shut the hatch, and it wouldn’t fit in the hatchback hole sideways. So we compromised: we put it in lengthways, then turned it on its side, and it fitted. So I was reasonably happy with it. Then the kitchen table came - in bits - and we were on our way.

Finally, whatever the problem was with our pessimistic fuel gauge, it seems to have been cured: we put 34 litres into the tank and it was still above the red sector.

Mileage 6,990 - 23/02/2002 - Cracking Drive!

Another long drive on a Saturday, and in some bad weather, but it wasn’t all that bad. I did wash the Ka last weekend, but by the time we got back this afternoon, he was covered in salt and winter road grime. Another wash, then.

The service came to just over £121, which was half as much again as I was hoping for. It did include a complete set of wiper blades, which added a little to the cost, but not that much. The Ka also had his odour filter replaced, which I’m assuming is the pollen filter / or similar. No spark plugs replaced yet (yeuch, spark plugs, I much prefer glow plugs!).

We’ve been racking the miles up in the Ka, primarily because we’ve made lots of trips to and from Lincolnshire for family reasons. This has bumped the average MPG figures up, and to be fair, more miles on the Ka doesn’t bother me. This is, after all, what a car is for! Anyway, it has given me the opportunity to enjoy the B1225 again. This photograph is one reason why I enjoy driving on the B1225 so much, and you can see the rest here (but be warned that it’ll take a while to load).

I ought to mention the electric mirrors. This wasn’t on our specification list, because once a wing mirror has been set up, it’s been set up. However, Kermit came with them, and he has heated elements in the mirrors, so I suppose it has been quite useful in the winter. In fairness, I’ve not noticed them in use, but they come on when you switch on the heated rear screen, and by the time the side windows are clear enough to see, the door mirrors have been clear.

However, our street is very old fashioned. The gutter is quite deep, so when you park up, the kerbside is quite a bit lower than the offside. I alternate which direction I park, so that half of the engine doesn’t wear out quicker (the oil not reaching it so quickly), but reversing into a space is difficult: you can’t see the kerb! That’s where the electric mirrors come in handy. Originally, I thought this was a bit stupid, but after trying it and using it, it does make sense.

I’ve tried using the mirrors on the hoof, such as checking slip roads when on the motorway, but it’s too slow and cumbersome to implement without undue distraction; it’s much quicker to glance over my shoulder!

I’ve tried, at some length, to track down the Ford Motorsport (or Rallyesport) modifications that they can carry out to the Ka. My local Rallysport dealership can provide the bodykit (but pointed me towards LS Designs), but cannot help me with an induction kit, or a modified ECU. They do offer the RS lowering springs, but I don’t really want to lower the Ka (yet), I like the handling just the way it is. From my research, if I were to make any significant modifications to the Ka I would invalidate the warranty. This is both frustrating and annoying. Still, the Ka Klub entitled me to a discount of 15% on the price of a Ka superchip. It’s a worthwhile discount, of course. The Superchips website claims to be able to release 3 PS from the Ka, but the model they use for the power curve plot looks like the Motorsport Ka, not a standard Ka. So knock that down to just 1 or 2 PS. In any event, it’s a long drive down to Superchips headquarters, near Milton Keynes, and a long drive back too. All this said, it’s reputed to make things smoother, save a little bit of petrol, and improve the driveability of the engine. It’s something I’m seriously considering, but it will have to wait. I can’t justify it on economic grounds - if there is no insurance difference, it’ll take us almost 60,000 miles to pay for the chip with the fuel saving (assuming we get an additional 5% mpg).

Otherwise, more snow. Some parts of the B1225 were “well dodgy” - as you can see here. Some sections of this road remain frosty, icy or covered in snow throughout most of the day if the weather is bad enough. This particular stretch was certainly hazardous enough!

Mileage 6,593 - 16/02/2002 - His First Service

Today, we took the Ka back to Lincolnshire for his service. Ordinarily, that would mean a nice, early start (up at about five thirty or so), out of the house by six, and on the glorious B1225 by seven o’clock. Just perfect for a dawn charge in some twisty stuff. But, sadly, this was not to be.

Oh, we were up at five thirty, but the B1225 never happened. . .

Firstly, in the last few days the Ka has been spoilt. Firstly, for St. Valentines’ Day, my darling wife gave me a completed form and cheque made payable to “The Ka Owners Club.” This was duly sent off on Thursday, so soon Kermit and I will members of the Ka Klub. I would have given him a wash on the 13th, his birthday, but by the time I (eventually) got back from work, it was too dark to see what I was doing.

Instead, when we got back home tonight I gave him a wash. Even though it was getting dark towards the end, I still took a few pictures of the Ka to celebrate his 368th day! Fantastic! Some of the neighbours’ curtains were flickering as I both washed him, then took a few piccies of the clean baby blue oval.

Even more special was an early birthday gift for me, and a slightly belated birthday gift for Kermit, is a set of Ford’s heavy duty rubber floor mats. After we give the Ka a valet, I’ll screw these in place, but for now they’re just resting on the carpet. Much better than having to use the carpets to wipe our feet on.

The only slight in the last few days’ events must be the weather. We left at six o’clock this morning and it was foggy. The Ka was also frozen. Still, a few seconds of heated windscreen saw us okay. Anyway, it was not a little bit foggy, but visibility was pretty dismal. This put the scuppers onto the B1225 idea (since the B1225 in the fog is no fun at all).

Instead, we took the A1 route, which is notable because it’s a bit dull. Whilst there are alternative routes - most notably the A15 through Lincoln - I didn’t much fancy driving through fog on Lincolnshire’s single carriageway roads because of idiots like this. Still, we had some entertainment in the form of a Renault Kangoo van, on hire. He wanted to cruise at 75 or higher. We were maintaining 70. That’s all fair enough: but at roundabouts, the Kangoo was sluggish. And the Ka certainly wasn’t, and of course, we were going over the roundabout with a few more knots on than the van. After the third roundabout, I think I was off his Christmas card list, because he shot up the road in hot pursuit of the little Ka, overtook us as though we were standing still. Fortunately, we turned off before the next roundabout. I think we’d have really wound him up should we have been at the next roundabout together!

My favourite dealership, Bert Eyres, do not offer Motorsport upgrades, sadly, besides the RS Ka lowering spring kit. No ECU modifications, or induction kit upgrades, or similar. My nearest Motorsport dealership is probably Grimsby, which isn’t all that close to York. It turns out that the air conditioning system will need to be re-gassed every three years, as an average, but it will depend. The service manager was keen to tell us that it needs to me used (else the seals go).

Anyway, the service boys confirmed that Kermit was in top notch condition, fitted some new wiper blades (the old ones were almost useless), kicked the tyres and did the usual service. Nothing untoward with the brakes: just keep on using them!

Following the service, the Ka doesn’t feel much different, really. The engine is quieter, with a bit more bottom end heave, and perhaps better economy. The next service will be in ten thousand miles time. If we take the Ka to enough Ka Klub Meets, we’ll be taking him for his next service before the year is out.

Anyway, one thing that I have noticed is that the Ka has what appear to be two radiators. At first, I thought it might have been an oil cooler, but given that it’s cold to the touch, and drips water, it’s part of the air conditioning system.

Because we were carrying a lot of fragile, reasonably heavy stuff, I decided to cruise home via the same route - the temptation to chuck the Ka about on the B1225 would have been too much. Furthermore, we were in no hurry, so we cruised all of the way home at 60 mph, and I reckon I spent most of the time driving to my “e-max” standard (you can read more about “e-max” here). We covered just over a hundred miles on one quarter of a tank, which is a record, but I didn’t stop for petrol because I was rather tired. I do not doubt that during the week, I’ll ruin this good economy with city driving.

Mileage: 6,451 - 13/02/2002 - One Year Old!

Today, we’re celebrating Kermit’s first birthday! Yeah, well, maybe it is a little bit sad, but in two years he’ll be needing his first MOT, which is my excuse for remembering this special day.

13/02/2002: Happy Birthday Kermit!

To celebrate, well a couple of mad cyclists tried to study the inside of his exhaust pipe on the way to work. It’s raining again, which for York isn’t any surprise this week, and the river is supposed to be getting lower (but I’m not going to hold my breath). I would dearly love to wash the Ka, but I won’t be back from work until later and, of course, it’ll be raining. In the rain, he still looks clean, since the wax just lets the water roll off. I’d like to preserve that, but it’ll mean regular waxing. Anyway, I took this picture during my lunch break, and I don’t care if people thought I was rather sad going out into the office car park to take a picture of something I’m going to drive home.

Charlie doesn’t quite share the same enthusiasm as I do regarding the Ka. She doesn’t shout, “look, Ka!” as we drive along the road, then flash the headlights and wave like a mad thing (sometimes to the horror of all other drivers). Yes, if you drive a Ka, and you are in York, you might be “DervWaved” too. Approximately six in every ten Ka drivers wave back, which means that there are four who are miserable gits, or (worse) don’t notice my “flash & wave” greeting. However, if I keep this up, I envisage that most of York will be used to it by the time Kermit reaches two.

Anyway, my wife reckons our kids’ first word will be “mama” or “dada” but, no, I shall be training our kids to say, “ka-ka.” Gotta start ‘em when they’re young!

Unfortunately, the close proximity to Valentines’ Day will always prevent me from getting the Ka anything (such as a spoiler, or similar), since Charlie would probably insist that I slept in the Ka.

I won’t write much more because he’s off to Bert Eyres this Saturday for his first service. It’ll mean getting up at about 05:30, but we’ll be on the B1225 at about 06:30, which (of course) means it’ll be time for some fun!