Ford Ka 1

If you've a problem with those who fold their pyjamas or iron creases in their jeans, the choice of affordable used cars designed to suit your lifestyle is widening. It took the car makers quite a while to wake up to the fact that for a huge number of us, a car is as much a lifestyle statement as a means of transport. These days it seems obvious but it wasn't so long ago that car design was stagnating with manufacturers happy to repeatedly churn out more of the same. Ford's Ka was instrumental in the renaissance. You may want to argue, but it seems clear that Ford's city car, the cheekily named Ka, was probably the most innovative thing the industry had produced since the Mini. And not only because its chiselled 'new-edge design', daring and innovative inside and out, looked like nothing else on the road. Introduced in the autumn of 1996 and on sale until 2009, it's a popular choice on the used market but takes some searching out - examples are harder to find than Ford's mainstream Fiesta.