Seeing as it's already mid-November I am willing to admit that Summer is officially over! Therefore it really is time that my little (very) yellow StreetKa belonged to somebody else!
So what did I think of this little thing? Well, this is a re-visit to me as I've had one before, and to be honest, they are good! Unless that is, that you are after something that is practical, in which case, they are bad! But I wasn't, I wanted something fun and cheap, and the StreetKa couldn't fill those requirements better, if fun and cheap are your thing, then the StreetKa is the way forward! The documents proudly proclaim that mine is
a Ford Street Ka, LUXURY and the luxury bit is actually in upper case
text! Heres some pictures of my luxurious leather interior.
Now, in my opinion whoever decided that this was luxury had obviously
never had anything luxurious in their life, and was probably driving a
mk2 Escort, and in comparison this IS luxurious against a mk2 Escort.
But put it against literally anything created this century, luxurious it
is not. But thats fine, because if I want my ass to be transported in luxury there is still this...
Yes, the mighty Jaguar V8! Opposite ends of the spectrum to the StreetKa, but thats fine. The Jaguar was designed with luxury in mind, and the StreetKa was designed for fun! Besides because its not as luxurious as the Jaguar doesn't mean it's bad, it isn't bad at all! I mean I've got
a chunky steering wheel, CD player, electric windows, comfy leather
seats, leather inserts on the doors, aaaand a rather natty aluminium
gear knob! But, this is all pretty much standard equipment on any car
produced this century. Being a luxury model at the very least I should
be able to raise and lower the hood at the touch of a button, and not
have to stop the car, get out, and do it manually. To be fair though,
it's not that hard, and I've now got to a point with it that I can raise
and lower the roof without even getting out of the driving seat! Mind
you, to be honest, luxury is not what this car is about. Nobody in their
right mind goes out and buys a Ka in the thought that it's going to be a
luxurious car, Nobody! It's about an almost raw driving experience,
blasting along the road with the roof down and the wind in your hair (Or
if you're like me, the wind in your scalp!) It's a fun car, not a
comfortable, cosseting, luxurious cruiser. It makes me smile every time I
go and get in it, it's an absolute hoot to drive! It's also worth remembering that when
the Street Ka was launched in 2002 at the Paris Motorshow it was the
diminutive antipodean Kylie Minogue who did the unveiling.
Does Kylie look luxurious? No she doesn't, does she look like fun? Yes, yes she does, and if it's good enough for Kylie, then it's good enough for me! This really would be A StreetKa named Desire, I also realise that Ms Minogue
is only 34 in the photos but think it's fair to say that 15 years on,
she's still quite a good looking woman. Kylie Minogue on the bonnet of
my Street Ka... I should be so lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky! Anyhoo, other things that immediately came to my attention upon buying not only
this Street Ka, but also my previous Ka's is that there is no question in
my mind that this is a girls car. I say this because of this.
A complete lack of instrumentation. I realise that it's got a rev
counter, ooh yeah... Sporty! But that is it. Where are all the other
gauges, what the hecks going on under that bonnet? I've had vans with
more gauges than this! I have heard it said that the dash on the Street Ka is the thing that
really lets it's interior down as it is the same as the original Ka, and
is an old design dating back to the first of the Ka's which were
introduced on 11 September 1996 as a small and low-cost addition to the
Ford range. The functional, basic, look doesn't live up to the promise
of the exterior styling.
But I disagree with that, it is the same old dash, that's for sure, but
it's fun a quirky design still looks interesting, and continues to suit
the updated looks of the exterior bodywork. I like how it looks, it's
fun, I still love that odd little oval clock with it's mis-matched
hands, it's cool. The only thing is for me I'd like to have a few more
gauges in the dashboard. I think this would make it feel a bit sportier,
but you need to remember that this is a car that was designed and built
to be cheap enough to be bought by a single girl about town, which is
who it is aimed at, hence the lack of proper information provided by
gauges, and instead a rather impressive bank of idiot lights! Still not
to worry, the interior is not a bad place to be, the leather seats are quite
supportive, and are big enough to be comfortable even after a long
drive. I would also say that there is probably a bit more room than the
original tin top Ka, which also helps raise the comfort levels of a long
drive as I like to stretch out a bit, I can't stand being huddled up
behind the wheel! The pedals are a bit close together for my liking, and
as I remermber they were too close in the original model too. Driving
it in my steel toe capped work boots proved to be a bit of a game as I
tended to put my foot on more than one pedal at once, however donning a
pair of Converse All-Stars, and I could dance on the pedals with all the
accuracy of Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers making driving the little Ka a
very enjoyable experience, and quite a lot of fun! One thing I feel I must mention is the heater, this was
damn well excellent. I spent as much time as I could with the roof down as I wanted to
experience going topless for as much time as possible, and the heater kept the chill off my bald head. I'm talking about
the car by the way, as a fat bloke I don't go topless much at all, it's
not a pretty sight! Moving on...
The 1600cc engine buzzing away under the bonnet propels this little pocket
rocket along very VERY well, and ensures that every mile you cover is filled with fun! In these fun filled miles the Ka managed to just sip at the
go-go juice which means I was getting approximately 39.36 (S)miles per
gallon from Ford's open top little funster! I must admit I was surprised
at this as I thought I would've got a bit more, but, when you drive it,
it does seem to egg you on, and I found that quite often I was pushing
the loud pedal a little harder than I might usually do... This, as a
rule is no good for high MPG figures! But it's freakin excellent for
putting a huge silly grin on your face!! With about 94bhp (of course
some of them horseys will have bolted as don't forget, it is quite
old now!) I never found it wanting for power. I think that it was fast
enough to get you in trouble if you pushed it really hard, but with a
low-slung driving position and a low centre of gravity, and having a
wheel placed exactly on each corner with no over hanging bodywork meant
that it handles really, really well as its looks suggest it should.
Cornering is flat, the steering is sharp and the brakes are responsive.
It's a fun car to drive, it's very 'point and squirt' a bit like driving
an original Mini, just not so cramped inside. This fantastic handling
doesn't come at the expense of the ride either, which is supple and
copes well with most road surfaces. Because of how well the suspension is set up, and the fact that it
is not a stupidly fast car I think that you'd have to be a spazzer of
biblical proportions to get yourself in trouble in one of these, either
that or you would have to be some sort of kamikaze pilot!!
Sadly, if you
were such a person, and did push it past it's cababilities I don't
think you would fare well in it, I'm not sure those roll over hoops
would help you much as they feel, and sound (when you tap them with
something) like they are very light duty steel tubing, almost like they
were made from exhaust pipe tubing. I have a feeling that they are more
there for show than for safety, and I think that should you be unlucky
enough to roll one over, it would not end well. Hopefully I am wrong
about this, I mean why would Ford bother putting them there if they did
nothing? Of course I didn't pull all the interior trim out to have a
look at where the roll over hoops joined the body, or what exactly they
were made from, I just hoped, probably like everyone does, that Ford had
indeed made them strong enough to be safe, and not just look the part!
Moving on...
Styled my Pininfarina, the automotive styling company founded by Battista “Pinin” Farina in
Cambiano, a Province of Turin, Italy on May 22nd 1930 to design and
build special car bodies for individual customers or in small production
runs. Nearly 80 years on, they then styled the StreetKa... AWESOME!!
The thing is, I realise that Pininfarina have styled many cars for
various manufacturers, and the Steet Ka I think is a handsome car, However for me, and I'm going to show my age
here, when I think of a car styled by Pininfarina I think of the Modulo styled by Pininfarina for Ferrari in 1970. A
car that was ingrained into my psyche in the seventies when I was just a
child, and it will always be THE car styled by Pininfarina for me, and
everything else is just it's poor backwoods relation. But that being said the StreetKa is very stylish, especially when you put it against other Pininfarina styled cars of
recent times, like the Hyundai Matrix produced from about 2001 to 2007, a car that in my opinion is not very attractive at all. But it
obviously full filled the breif that Pininfarina was given by the Korean
car manufacturing giant. Having said all of that there is very little that I would change of the looks of the StreetKa. But, I once had an original Ka...
This one, and I have to say that I always preferred the face on the earlier model.
I had no idea that ford just covered up part of the headlight to change how the StreetKa looked. I presume however that all StreetKa's had the facelifted, um, face? I
just think the original one looks a bit cuter!! Strewth, I'm such a
girl, my months of Street Ka ownership has made me into a right Pansy! I realise that the original face is still under that big bumper,
and it wouldn't be too much trouble to change it, but then would it work
with the back bumper?
While I'm talking about the looks of the thing I must say that no matter
which face is prettier, I think the First generation Ka's (1996–2008)
are still alot better looking in my opinion than the Ka's that have come
along since. The current crop seem to have lost their quirkyness, their
identity, and their fun car vibe, a bit like the original Renault Twingo is far more interesting than the models that have followed it.
So word went out on Farcebook that my StreetKa was up for grabs, and before the afternoon was out it had a new owner! But is the end for me and StreetKa's? I doubt it, they are great, and I thoroughly enjoyed every trip in this lovely little car, I
pretty much enjoyed everything about driving it, and I would even go as far
to say that it is a drivers car. I reckon that if you like to drive for
no other reason than the pleasure of driving, then male or female you
could do worse than getting your hands on a little StreetKa, they're an awesome little car. If I was someone like Jay Leno with acres of covered storage
space for my massive car collection I would definately have space for
one of these. DEFINATELY! OK, so maybe I do look ridiculous when I drive it,
but that's cool, I'm so glad I had this car, and I was having far too
much fun to worry about how funny I looked. Yes, perhaps it is a car
that is clearly aimed at girls rather than fellas, and so the hairy
chested macho man feels too ridiculous to get into it and drive it, but
more fool them, all you need to do is hit the road with a big grin on
your face and enjoy it. After driving the Jaguar with all its luxury and power this is really is a breath of fresh air, especially with the roof down, but even with the roof up it is still AWESOME!
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