NEVER let it be said that little cars are born to be boring.
Fiat has proved without doubt that small is very definitely beautiful with its iconic 500 that hit the streets in 2008 exactly 500 hours after the start of the New Year.
The 500 is a nostalgic take of Dante Giacosa's iconic Fiat 500 of July 1957 and it was a very feeling strange getting behind the wheel of the new car because I can compare it to the original which I drove in the mid-1960s.
It is certainly not easy mixing the old with the new, but there are rules for success. Firstly any such interpretation must have modern handling, technology, safety, performance and ease of ownership.
It must also reflect the character of the original and just make you smile.
And that has been achieved without doubt with the 500. As soon as you see it you know that it is special.
Open the door and take in the 1950s styling cues and you know that you have a car that you will never treat as plain ordinary. This model, a basic 1.2 Pop featured a white steering wheel and trim with a painted red body colour dash. It really felt the part.
But where it does not feel like the original is in the technical department because it a benchmark in terms of safety and technology in its now highly competitive market segment.
Fiat says it represents a company blueprint for a future which embraces a modern approach, new brand strategies, radical innovations in customer relations and a lasting process of expansion.
An ambitious statement but the 500 certainly proves that Fiat means business. Its products have suddenly become much better built in addition to being far more attractive.
The 500 has been awarded a maximum five-star rating in the gruelling Euro NCAP crash test safety programme, placing it at the very top of its category in terms of passive, active and preventive safety.
It became the first car of such compact dimensions, (3.5 metres in length), to achieved a maximum rating, and the first time that a car of its type has been equipped with seven airbags as standard across the entire range.
Low emission, fuel conscious engines are its hallmark across the range, but the 500 has another card up its sleeve - the availability to virtually customise your own car, within certain limitations, making your fashionable set of wheels a very personal statement.
There is a range of over 100 bespoke accessories which, generating more than 500,000 possible trim, colour and option combinations, gives owners the opportunity to personalise the new 500 to levels unprecedented in this segment.
Such attributes have made the car an award magnet and it has had a very definite thumbs up from the young and fashionable set.
My first impressions of the car were that it feels much bigger than it really is and gives levels of equipment usually found in much more expensive cars. There are items such as an MP3-compatible CD player and Dualdrive electric power steering fitted as standard even on entry level models.
There are four trim levels to choose from with three engine types. Options include automatic climate control, a SkyDome sunroof, parking sensors, an anti-glare electro-chromatic rear mirror, an Interscope Sound System Hi-Fi and Blue&Me mobile phone and MP3 player connectivity with steering wheel controls.
On the road the new 500 proves itself to have beautiful Italian handling qualities and exceptionally good steering. The 1.2 engine in my version was a willing performer and did everything that was asked of it.
Its only drawback is a small boot which, because it it essentially a town car, is no great loss.
In 1964, the original 500D would set you back a very cheap £400 and return 55mpg from its tiny two-cylinder 499cc engine.
The new 500 Pop 1.2 follows the trend by being a 2009 bargain buy at £8,700, but despite the fact that it has a modern four-cylinder petrol engine, the fuel economy is the same at a cash-saving 55mpg. Some things never change.
FAST FACTS
Fiat 500 Pop 1.2
Price: £8,700
Mechanical: 69bhp, 1242cc, 4-cylinder petrol engine driving front wheels via 5-speed manual gearbox
Max speed: 99mph
0-62mph: 12.9 seconds
Combined mpg: 55
Insurance group: 2
CO2 emissions: 119g/km
BIK rating: 15%
Warranty: 3yrs/ 60,000 miles