If you've missed the recent advertising campaigns (and you would have to have been either in a coma or not living in the UK to have done this) you may not be aware that Ford is proclaiming the Sportka as "the Ka's evil twin". It's a nice line, and some of the ads themselves are terrific, but since the standard Ka gives the impression that it could be intimated by a slightly peeved hamster it's not something that should be taken too seriously.In fact the Sportka is one of the friendliest little warm hatchbacks I've ever experienced. It feels almost identical to the two-seater Streetka convertible, even though it doesn't look nearly as good. It does, however, have a lot more headroom - assuming the Streetka is wearing its roof, of course - and is in that respect far easier for taller drivers to live with.Mechanically, the two are more or less identical, and since the Streetka has already been described at some length (see road test) I won't go into too much detail here. The edited highlights of the story concern, among other things, a 1.6-litre engine which is considerably hotter than the 1.3 found in regular Kas but not in itself a particularly strong performer; it's cheered up by a very close-ratio five-speed gearbox which may disqualify the Sportka as a relaxed cruiser but does allow for nippy performance on country roads with lots of nice corners.The suspension set-up feels identical on both cars, which is great news. These days Ford really knows how to tune its chassis, and the Sportka's overall balance, with excellent steering response but none of the rear-end crashiness you often get on performance-oriented front-wheel drive machines, puts that of nearly all rivals to shame.Although I've never been a fan myself, the Ka's styling seems to constitute its major appeal among buyers, and this allows Ford to get away with several horrors elsewhere. Luggage space is absurdly limited, there is very little rear seat room, and the swoops and curves of the dashboard and other parts of the interior are already looking very dated. It does seem odd that Ford's interior design is so inconsistent - fine (if you like sharp edges) in the Focus, bland and cold in the Fiesta and clumsily curvy here.There's little chance that any of this will be fixed. The Ka range in general must have cost practically nothing to develop (the floorpan, as we've mentioned several times before, first appeared in the 1989 Fiesta) but appears to be selling well, so Ford is presumably making quite a lot of money out of it. And unlike the structurally quite different Streetka, the Sportka is only a slightly titivated version of the basic model. There would have to be a very good reason to create a more modern replacement.Despite all that, the Sportka is very enjoyable. It handles wonderfully, it performs respectably, and most people who see it assume that whoever is behind the wheel must be a cool dude. Ford has produced a Ka I would rather like to own myself, and until this machine and the Streetka equivalent came along I never thought the day would come when I could say that.Second opinion: Yes, as with the Streetka, you don’t have to drive the Sportka very far before realising that it isn't a toy, but a very well set-up little car whose more powerful engine, lowered suspension, wider track and sportier gearchange action give it dynamics a world away from those of the non-Sport models. Actually, I think it does look better than the Streetka, which has some very awkward angles, and I don't believe the swoopy fascia is outdated yet. Still got that cute clock, too. Anybody who thinks the price is a little steep can save £1000 by going for the non-SE version, losing the two-tone leather upholstery and a couple of other minor details in the process. The one thing I really didn't like, especially considering the season of the year, was the icy feel of the aluminium gearlever knob. No joke on a cold morning, if you aren‘t wearing gloves. Ross Finlay.