Remember Ka, Ford's radical, avant-garde baby car? Though launched six years ago, the unorthodox appearance still makes it look thoroughly modern. Maybe that's an argument for radical, avant-garde profiles, simply because they don't show the ageing process. Andrew Hamilton reports.
Ka is still around, of course, and has spawned a couple of interesting derivatives. Enter StreetKa, a cute cabriolet which had its first airing at the Paris motor show last autumn, being uncovered by a certain Kylie Minogue.
Its origins go back to early 2000 when it was a design concept from Ghia of Turin. It wowed a lot of people then, Ford's top brass liked the noises and now we have production. Ms Minogue brief association has built up allure - British Autocar magazine calls it "Ford's £12,000 sex-bomb".
Ford's Irish press release is on the same theme with a headline: "Sex in the city comes to Ireland." It will cost a lot more than £12,000 when it goes on sale next month. Eddie Murphy, managing director of Ford Ireland, gives a figure of €25,695 while a more luxurious version, plausibly called Luxury StreetKa, is €28,395.
There are already orders in for 56 cars which suggests to him total sales for 2003 of over 100. "We see it as a fun rather than an out-and-out sporty car," says Murphy. "All the evidence suggests that more and more people like open-top driving, especially women. We anticipate a 70 per cent female audience."
There's nothing sensational about StreetKa's performance, although Ford's South African built 1,597cc eight-valve Duratec engine with 89bhp at 5,500rpm does an efficient job and the driver can get the notion that it's faster than it is. Ford's claim of a 108mph top speed and a 0-62mph time of 12.1 seconds has to sound average rather than exceptional.
Compensation come in matters like the delightful five-speed gearbox, derived from the Puma, which brings out the car's fun character. Throttle response is keen and there's ample torque.
Our drive last week also revealed surprisingly little engine or wind noise, surprising that is for a cabriolet. Perhaps the biggest downside is the rather brittle and plastic interior.
If you hadn't viewed the outside, you might think you were in the regular model. From the driving seat, only the alloy gearknob and obvious lack of roof set it apart.
Outside, however, it shines, a lower-cost roadster that's easy on the eye. The hood is simple with the canvas roof and plastic rear window folding past double rollover hoops into a space just behind a reasonably roomy boot. You must get out of the car to make the change from closed to open which puts it at a disadvantage with probably the biggest competitor, the Peugeot 206CC which comes with a clever folding hardtop reminiscent of the much more expensive Mercedes SLK.
With the roof up, StreetKa doesn't look all that striking. It's only when you go topless that it comes into its own.
At €26,695, StreetKa is €2,485 more than the 206CC which started the small cabriolet trend two years ago. It, like the Ford, has a 1.6 litre engine.
Buyers of the €28,395 Luxury StreetKa get leather trim, heated driver and passenger seats and air conditioning. Standard specification for both Ford models includes heated door mirrors, power windows, CD player, twin airbags and ABS brakes.
Ka's lowly entry-level status in the Ford hierarchy gets another boost later this year when the SportKa model arrives. It uses the same 1.6 litre Duratec engine as StreetKa. Essentially it's the Ka flagship, sitting on a modified Ka chassis that has been tuned to give even sportier steering and handling dynamics. Suspension has been lowered and stiffened and there are more powerful brakes. While it offers the same 108 mph top speed as StreetKa, SportKa does a quicker 0-62mph sprint, getting there in 9.7 seconds. No Irish prices are yet available for the Sport Ka, but we do know that most buyers will be male.