I had this little Ford Ka for a couple of weeks as a hire car when my Vectra decided to fall ill, and I was seeking the cheapest car that would see me through those weeks.  I thought I was going to hate this car, but I ended up loving it!  You see, I found that the Ka had charm and a personality, which is something you could never say of the Vectra.  The Ka is small - I suspect that some American readers would scarcely believe that any car could be so small - but appearances can be deceptive and it is quite roomy and comfortable inside.  I couldn't get one single suitcase inside the boot, though!

I found the Ka to be great fun to drive, it's small and light body making it very nippy around the corners.  In spite of this, the ride was very comfortable and it was a very good motorway cruiser.  The other pleasant change compared with the Vectra was the fuel consumption.  Whereas the Vectra would do 30 MPG if you drove it gently, the Ka seemed to average about 45 MPG irrespective of how hard you drove it.

That fuel economy under brisk driving was no bad thing though.  About the one downside of this little Ka was its performance.  It was the base model and had a 1.3 litre engine developing 59 BHP.  Even though the Ka was small and light, such a feeble engine meant that acceleration was very slow at all times, and it was sometimes hard work to keep up with the flow of traffic.  In some ways that's not a problem, though, as this car was not intended to be a sports car, and if you want more performance then you buy a car with a bigger engine.

So overall, I was pleasantly surprised by just how nice a car this was.  Unlike some mass-produced cars, this one has some character and the comfort, handling and fuel consumption were first rate.  Personally i would have preferred a bigger and more powerful engine, and the levels of equipment were a bit sparse (no electric windows, CD player, central locking), but for the sort of money that this car sells for, it has to be a winner!