Ford Ka+ review

The Ka+ shares plenty of DNA with the Indian-market Figo, which itself borrows liberally from the Fiesta, so there’s no reason for it to be terrible on the road. And, indeed, it isn’t.

True, up against the original Ka, it’s a bit of a dullard to drive. But by the standards of super-budget motoring, it’s far from awful. Ford knows how to make a cheap car decent to steer, and you get the sense that at least a chunk of the (presumably modest) development budget went on instilling the Ka+ with a least a basic grasp of road manners. Certainly compared to the Dacia Sandero, it’s a far more pleasant thing to punt along in.

By city car standards, it’s a surprisingly bearable motorway companion, that longer wheelbase and decent ride quality making it entirely acceptable for covering distance.

For 2018, the Ka+ gets a new petrol engine in the shape of a 1.2-litre three-cylinder, a perfectly pleasant powertrain available in 69bhp and 84bhp states of tune. The former takes a solid sixteen seconds to reach 60. If, at some point in the coming years, you suspect you might need to arrive somewhere promptly, we’d recommend the latter.

There’s a 1.5-litre diesel available, making 94bhp and a healthy 159lb ft of torque. Even so, in the current climate, we’d give that one a swerve.

Perhaps more relevantly, you can now have your Ka+ in ‘Active’ guise, which raises the ride height an inch or so, and adds some chunky plastic cladding and roof rails but absolutely nothing in the way off off-road ability. Though the extra suspension travel might be good news for ride comfort, give Active a swerve. Ford describes it as an ‘SUV-inspired crossover’. It isn’t. It’s a Ka+. No one’s going to be fooled you’re off for a jaunt across the Gobi desert.