Car Reviews

Ford's Ka seems to have been around forever. In fact, in car years terms it has been, since it was first introduced a dozen years ago. That's a long time between model changes. The new one finally goes on sale in January.

In Ireland the sub-supermini segment is very small. But there are a bunch of contenders, some minor and a couple major. For many years in that last twelve, the kinky Ka topped the sales chart, even though it was rather hobbled by an aged 1.3 engine. The cuteness did it, though. Four out of five buyers were women. And not always younger ones, either.

As Ka started to get stale, Ford bumped up the image with the truly funky Streetka convertible, and a Sportka with added zest. These kept things going in a halo way, and all in all, some 4.1 million copies of the car were sold.

But there's not a lot of profit in building very small cars. It takes, in European terms, annual sales of some 300,000 units to achieve profitability. The math shows that Ford probably did make a little money on its smallest model. But tooling up for a brand new one on its own didn't make the best of commercial sense.

Arguably the best maker of small cars in Europe is Fiat. A sharing of technology and build with the Turin company was negotiated. A team of 20 Ford designers and engineers burned a significant carbon footprint between Cologne and Turin while the Fiat 500 was being developed.

The Fiat was launched in time to be European Car of the Year 2008. The Ford, which is being built on the same assembly line as the 500, won't be in contention for any competition until next year.

The chassis and running gear are shared in the 500 and the Ka, but the Ford body shell and interior are quite different. The Fiat went for retro, hoping to capitalise on nostalgia as had the Mini and the Beetle. Ford were into the 21st century from the off.

The Ka is above all cheerful and cute. Cheeky, even. Ford may not be planning for this one to last a dozen years before replacement, but for whatever lifetime it has, it won't look as old as the Fiat was designed to be from the beginning.

Ka looks bigger, certainly feels more roomy inside where the front passengers are concerned. It is also as glitzy and brash as the Ibiza where they held the international launch. But it doesn't look cheap, unlike some other makers' products where the brash theme was tried.

OK, there are themed ‘individual’ variants which won't make the cut at home. But I suspect the more restrained Tattoo theme might catch some fancy. Especially for those who saw the car in 'Quantum of Solace' driven by that tough but winsome latest Bond Girl.

The Ka offers the feel of a real car, much more than its actual size suggests. A city car that likes to get out on the country runs regularly.

The interior styling is a significant bunch better than the new Fiesta, the 'Alien'-like centre stack design in which I simply don't like. The centre bit in Ka is smart, sexy, and very user friendly. The main instruments cluster is interesting in style, which can often mean a compromise in clarity. Except that in this case it isn't.

Room in the front is great even if you're big. Room in the back is poor behind a front biggie, but behind a standard woman is probably useable by another medium adult. Storage is good, with the best glove compartment in the class, and maybe the next two classes up. There's a fifth more room in the boot than in the first Ka, and a couple of cases will fit.

Power options are a 69hp 1.2 petrol and 75hp 1.3 diesel, both proven and reliable and offering CO2 emissions under the key 120 g/km.

The roadwork is where Ford's influence also tells well. Both front and rear suspension setups have been Ford- massaged, including the addition of a new anti-roll bar at the back end. The electrically operated steering has had minor geometry changes as well as some shifts in the software mapping. The overall result is a car with very decent dynamics in a variety of road conditions.

The Ka on first experience is also very quiet, thanks to Ford's design of soundproofing between engine and cabin. For road noise comment, notably absent in the smoothness of Ibiza's truly excellent roads, I'll reserve opinion until I get one on Ireland's surfaces. If it isn't as good here at home, it won't be Ford's fault.

OK ... coming to a dealer near you soon, Ford's new generation Ka will be available from €11,535, in Style and Titanium specs. All will have alloys, the €1,800 or so extra for the upper spec bringing on climate control as well as a bevy of other goodies.

The new Ka will certainly tempt, and probably even seduce, the women who mainly bought the outgoing one. But I'd hazard a forecast that there's also an extra potential of young men to be attracted. Especially to the sportier-styled variants, which might sell small here but will very very visible on their own piece of road.


Review courtesy Brian Byrne of Motornet.ie