In the last few weeks we've featured quite a few big domestic cars; so what better subject than a featherweight European hatchback with a domestic nameplate? I've always found European Fords somewhat jarring; it's this incredibly familiar nameplate on generally unfamiliar cars. GM at least differentiates their unique European-market offering with Opel and Vauxhall nameplates, and Chrysler tends to just import the same cars it sells in America. Meanwhile, European Fords, with their air of Continental sophistication and mystery, seem like the intoxicating and sultry cousins of the girl next door.

Anyway, modern, mass-produced cars don't get much more featherweight than the Ford Ka--either in terms of mass or its name. Its minimalist, two-letter, one-syllable name actually sounds a bit like an Australian pronunciation of "car" (Nicole Kidman to Tom Cruise in Days of Thunder: Let me out of the Ka, Cole, let me out of the Ka!").

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