I recently went out and test-drove one of these puppies, and here are a few random thoughts I had from this experience?

- In the event of a head on collision, the car?s engine is designed to separate for the car?s frame and drop to the ground. I guess consumers don?t take too highly to being crushed by the engine.

- It?s a snug fit. There is very little space between the seat and the door. The armrest is a stand-alone console between the driver and passenger seats, and has a good amount of storage space for CDs and other things.

- The back seat has very little legroom, and is a bit cramped. Even if the front seat person moves the seat forward, very little room is yielded.

- There are special child seat restraints and three seatbelts in the back. Not exactly a huge family vehicle, but equipped with child safety locks, and other amenities.

- Really good power, for such a tiny little car. Surprising, in fact. You step on the gas pedal, and it moves. Handles very good around corners.

- Speaking of corners? what is that loud clicking sound? Oh..It?s just the turn signal. I guess Ford wants to help eliminate those annoying motorists who drive 6 miles down the road before realizing their blinker has been on the whole time. Since the turn signal is about as loud as a Mark McGwire home run swat, I would say they are well on their way to accomplishing this goal.

- All the doors automatically lock once the car exceeds 5 MPH.

- Very good vision when driving. You cannot see the hood of the car. The wind shield affords a wide view. There is a moderate amount of noise, and you may have to turn up the radio just a bit when accelerating to higher speeds.

- The clutch is very easy to push down on, and transitioning from one gear to other is very smooth?.

- ?with the exception of reverse. It was quite a task to put the vehicle in reverse. You almost have to lift up on the gear stick. It took about a minute and a half to figure this out the first time, and about 30-45 seconds to do each time after that.

- There is no RPM gauge. Only this annoying light that comes on, telling you when to shift up or down, and usually at the slightest amount of acceleration. I guess Ford thinks I?m not smart enough to know when to shift.

- The car gets pretty good gas mileage, at 25-34 MPG, but I would expect more from such a small car.

- This car has a lot of truck space, although its much longer than it is deep. When loading the truck, you really have to come forward into the trunk, rather than placing objects down into it. There is a hatch release lever inside that. VERY useful if you are ever car jacked, and forced into the trunk, while the robber makes his getaway. The back seats also pull down in a 1/3, 2/3 configuration for added capacity.

Overall this is not a bad car, but at a price of about 17 grand, it is WAY over priced. I see this car as the exact duplicate of what the Escort used to be when it first came out. If you are looking for a car that will get you to where you?re going, then this will do. But the price tag is just offensive, and was the main reason we did not buy.