Ford Ka Edge 

HI Carly, We all agree on the points you make and also think the Ka+ doesn't fit in the market. Fiat still make the 500, which the Ka Mk2 was based on, so there was no reason a Mk3 could not have been done or a continuation of the Mk2 with a small facelift. Considering the Fiat 500 is such an expensive, unreliable, miserable little Eurotrashbox, built for fashion and nothing else, the Ka Mk2 comes away quite well with reliability and longevity as well. Sadly Fords (And our) loss is Fiats gain

@@OverDriveOnline7921 I've been looking at the mk2 ka with my daughter who has just passed her test, think she prefers the zetec or titanium for the fogs and heated windscreen. Initially she wanted the fiat 500, but I steered (no pun intended) her away from them as I had heard that they can be unreliable and expensive to fix. They look great but that's about it. Yes a mk3 with 3 doors would definitely have been the answer instead of the ka+.

@@norfolkcharlie5217 BSM decided to ditch the Vauxhall Corsa for the Fiat 500, whiten 18 months 40% of their former drivers had either left or declared themselves bankrupt due to the unreliability of the cars and if the car is not running, the instructor is not earning. As an example, my wife was training to be a driving instructor and we had a new Fiat 500 supplied by the company she was working for. Within 6 months, 3 of those months the car was in a garage (Essentially in the garage a week, out a week, back in a wee, out a week and so on). The clutch broke, none in the UK as they never expected to replace one, ordered from Italy, took a week to sort out. Clutch cable snapped, none in the UK, ordered from Italy, a week to sort. Exhaust burned though, none in the UK, had to be ordered from Italy ands so on and so on. We were bankrupted and our licensing fees to the company were not as high as the fees charged by BSM. Don't get me wrong, when it was running it was fun to drive, but the unreliability of the car was such, I refuse to entertain ever going near one and have flat refused to review one on OverDrive. If Craig or Martin want to do one (If one comes available for them), fine, but it's not a car I'll ever drive again. Despite being based on the same platform and being built in the same factory, the Ford Ka is a much stronger car with a lot of the good points of the 500 without the unreliability and high costs, the only other car(s) I'd recommend in that sector are the Citroen C1 (Mk1 or Mk2), Peugeot 107/108 (Same car as the C1) or the VW UP, though that is still a little pricey at the moment (The VW Fox is more a direct comparison) Hope that helps

@@OverDriveOnline7921 yes that does help, thank you. Glad we are no longer considering the fiat 500, did also initially look at the c1 and 107 that you recommend, plus the Toyota aygo but they are not to my daughters taste. From what you have said in your review and messages, I'm sure the ford ka will be the right decision for her, hope the search will be over soon.

C1, 107/108 and aygo are all essentially the same car and built in the same factory. The original c1,107 and aygo are fun to drive but the later c1, 108 and aygo are far better cars