 Fold away
The black canvas hood - with glass rear screen - folds away easily and quickly, though you have to remember to release catches and push different sections in the right order. It stows away into the rear bulkhead.
 Boot space
The deep rectangular rear compartment can hold a respectable 214 litres of luggage - enough for a couple of weekend bags, at least. This is because there is no bulky electrical equipment or folding metal roof sections to fold away and because the rear axle is wider than in the hatchback.
 Hoop dreams
The two rollover hoops give a little protection in the event of a loss of stability, though you are, of course, always more vulnerable in an open-top. Their fixed position (they aren't self-raising when an impact is sensed) means that an extra wind deflector is not offered, though the high side windows do ward off excessive buffeting.
 Built by hand
The Streetka is assembled by hand at the Turin facility of Pininfarina, which can make up to five units a day. Ford sends over major body panels, the engine compartment, bonnet and floor sections from its Ka factory in Valencia, Spain, and Pininfarina assembles these and adds the body sections specific to the Streetka (doors, rear section and so on) that it makes, and then paints the structure. This is then transported 60 kilometres to its trim and final assembly plant at Bairo, where teams each of 11 craftsmen hand-finish each car, installing the engine and transmission, the electrical networks, the suspension and chassis and all the elements of the cabin. There is only one robot at Bairo, which puts in the windscreen.
 Perky behind
The curviness of the large rear bumper is, at certain angles, almost Audi TT-like, but one very distinctive Streetka feature is this large circular reversing lamp, planted right in the middle. It looks as if it should be the exhaust tailpipe outlet, but this pokes out unobtrusively below, to the side.
 Vital statistics
The Streetka is 3650mm long, 1695mm wide and 1355mm high. It weighs 1061kg.
|
