[Pimp_scort_89_GT]

Ok I about freaked the other day when I saw this. I was walking through the parking lot at the mall and I saw an honest to goodness KA. I thought they only sold those in Europe. I thought for sure Ford had no intentions on selling them stateside. At first i didn´t really pay much atrention, but then I was like wait a minute, that was a KA. What the hell is a KA doing in the US. I had to turn around and check it out some more. Upon further inspection I noticed it had Mexican plates. Seeing Mexican plates around here isn´t rare at all, but seeing them attached to a KA.... For those of you who have never seen even a pic of a KA think of a Geo Metro, then shrink the wheel base about a foot or two. They are actually just a bit bigger than those shriner cars. Anyway, I just had to share this info. Anyone else see one of these things in person?? I wonder how hard it would be to buy on in Mexico, and get it certified to drive in the US. They cant weigh more than 500 lbs. Imagine putting 2.0 Ztec in one of those puppies. As is they have a 1.6 with a whoping 90 hp and 98 ft/lbs of torque. I went to the Ford Mexico site www.ford.com.mx to check them out. Ony $93,000 for one, wonder what that is in $US.

 

[Zeemax]

Ok, I don´t remember where i read this but I recall seeing where some Ford execs predict the decline of the SUV popularity and a return to the tiny cars, like Festiva, Metro. The Ka is supposed to be at the forefront of this societal change towards frugality. Hence, Ford is experimenting with the Ka in the US. Of course, the car you saw had Mex plates, but it´s just a matter of time before you see one with US plates on trial runs. IF Ford doesn´t kill the project. They had a bunch of money tied up in the Contour/Mystique project (like $4 billion) and couldn´t make it work so they then built the Cougar which COULD have worked but they didn´t give it a chance. Hopefully, Ford will follow through this time and import the Ka. Because if they do, it would be only a small job to bring over the Puma as well. And that could be really really cool.

 

[PTMD]

Yeah sign me up for a Puma.Those things look like a cougar on a sterriod and pcp coctail.There is a Ford Lincoln Mercury development place up here somewhere and they used to drive in these cars with sheet metal tack welded to the body and funky paint jobs so no one could tell what it was.One time I pissed a guy off cause I told him he had a nice Towncar but they had it all paneled and the guy looked like I just threatened his job or something.

 

[Canuck]

Ka´s aren´t in Canada yet but they are in the US.
They only have an electric version and is sold to large corperations for emission reductions.

 

[James92Scort]

93,000.00 Mexican pesos = 9,285.70 US dollars (as of 9.6.02) ... so if you want a KA from Mexico.. go buy one now before Ford hikes the price to 14 K when and IF it brings it to the states.

 

[Pimp_scort_89_GT]

That´s exactly what I was thinking, But I wonder if I´d have to pay some kind of import tax, or get some kind of special equipment to make it leagal or any other red tape issues, not to mention being able to talk to the salesperson. But I guess greenbacks speak every language.

Anybody ever bought a car from out of country??

 

[James92Scort]

I´m pretty sure there is an import tax, but thats for the dealer to pay to the US as he imports the car to the country which the buyer has to pay also...but this is different so i don´t know exactly how it works. I´m pretty sure that there are some fine Mexican people that speak Ingles. I don´t know if there would be any changes to the car to make it street legal in the states because at only 90 HP i´m sure it doesn´t make too much pollution that won´t meet our tough emissions Standards. I say go try to get one. since i live in Indiana the only country i live even remotely close to is Canada, which i´ve never even been close to anyway so i´m not sure about any of the laws dealing with importing cars/goods anyway. I do know it´ll be a lot tougher now adays though.

92 Red EGT

 

[James92Scort]

I was playing one of my favorite games earlier today thinking about the KA and then i realized that the game, ( Gran Turismo 2) HAS the KA in it. so i bought one. i got the thing up to 150 horsepower by turboing it. it´s pretty quick for a 1.3L 1700lb car. The only thing i hate about the game is the only two escorts there are are the RS200, which costs about 100,000 and the Escort Rally Hatchback, which you can´t buy. I was reading about some guy talking crap saying that the Escort couldn´t deliver the goods in aftermarket performance, and i thought BS, because the Rally Hatchback had over 300 HP since it debuted in the 1968 WRC. But i think you can buy an Escort in GT3 on PS2, which i don´t have one.

KAs are pretty cool and the newer versions have bigger engines, maybe ford will bring them to the states? God knows we get screwed with all over sport compacts from Japan and Europe. (like the Subaru WRX STi)

Red 92 EGT