While on assignment in Belgium recently, at the Hertz desk I casually asked 'Have you any Lancias' after being told my rental steed for the next 3 days was a Ford Ka - the answer was 'yes and it wont cost you any extra'.......
A Lancia Ypsilon twinair 0.9L and 85bhp - its built on the same floorpan and in the same factory as the Ford Ka and the Fiat 500
A 2 cylinder turbocharged engine, but gets lively when it comes on boost, not sledgehammer style like an quattro would but responds well. The only thing that might effect sales it that its a bit noisy, the sound when your inside reminding me of a Fiat 126 that was in my family many years ago ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka
. Also the engine has a stop-start system, coast up to the lights and it will automatically cut out to save fuel, press down on the clutch when you are ready to go and it restarts. But when I decided to go a bit quicker one evening (when I was not relying on the sat-nav) the map clearly changes and it goes into 'less economcial mode' and wont cut at the lights. It might also depend on how much you slow down before stopping. And despite the size of the battery in the photo its not a hybrid!
Handling wise its almost the same as the Ford Ka and Fiat 500, both of which I have driven, and similar to my old daily driver, a Mk1 Punto. The front end is reasonably solid and it turns in well, but you can feel a little bit of oversteer, but not that Id be provoking that on the narrow roads around Zolder and Hasselt in Belgium. It easily kept up with traffic and was not sluggish, although this is why the turbocharger is there. On the motorway it would sit at 120-130km/h happily enough, although thats just with me onboard and 2 reasonably big pieces of luggage so cant really give definite feedback here.
The interior is marmite Ive noticed but it suited me ok. My tall frame (6ft 3) fitted ok without discomfort although I pity anyone who may have been sitting in the back, even though this 1 was a 5dr. Im used to driving with my arms outstretched so was very comfortable driving this. The heater/radio controls were easy enough to set but its not something you normally play with on the motorway.... The boot is not huge though but given the size of the car this is not surprising.
Design wise, same as the Ka and 500, tall body with small wheels, and like almost every car design since the Alfa 156, blended in rear door handles.
A fine city car but occasional longer trips can be easily handled
