by Andrew Porter

Created on: May 06, 2010

The new Fiat 500 is a modern interpretation of the classic Fiat 500 of the 1960s, many of which still grace the streets of Italy today. A new Fiat 500 Convertible version, called the "Fiat 500 C", has also recently been launched.

The original Fiat 500 or "cinquecento" (meaning 500 in Italian) was produced by Fiat from 1957 until 1975. The classic design was created by Dante Giacosa. It was a cheap people's car similar in concept to the VW Beetle in Germany, Morris Mini in England and the Citroen 2CV in France. It is tiny at just 10 feet long with a 479 cc two-cylinder, air-cooled engine (i.e. a 500cc engine, and hence the name)

The new car was launched in 2007 based on the original in terms of styling, but based on the modern Fiat Panda for mechanicals. It has a beautiful classic interior with a modern chunky steering wheel and gear lever. All of the main displays are in a single large round, retro-styled pod similar to cars of the 1960s, although it is in front of the steering wheel instead of the centre of the dashboard and has some digital LCD displays along with the needles for rev-counter and speedometer.

The modern car has a good 5-speed manual gearbox and an option of a torquey little diesel engine, which sounds quite sporty when pushed hard. The steering is precise and direct and it is certainly a fun car to drive. It isn't fast and does understeer a bit round the twisty roads of the Tuscan hill towns, but the torque of the little diesel engine make it very easy to drive. Parking is also very easy because of the tiny size.

The seats are firm, but comfortable and the suspension fairly stiff, but with a reasonable ride for car of its size. I was still feeling quite relaxed, even after a few hundred miles on fairly rough, twisty Italian side-roads. The rear seats are tiny and there was little room for anyone except a small child behind my seat (I am 6'2" with long legs) Access to the rear via the two doors is also quite tight and the boot (trunk) is small; big enough for a couple of small suitcases - plenty of room for luggage for a long weekend away, or even a, week for two people.

The exterior of the car is so close to the original, although quite a lot larger, it is easy to mistake it for the original it first glance. The steel of the bodywork does appear to be quite thin and in just a week of driving (in Italy) it had picked up some marks from car-park knocks.

The specifications of the new car are quite different to those of the original Fiat 500, with a choice of three petrol four-cylinder engines are available: a 1.2 litre with 69 BHP, a 1.3 with 75 BHP and a1.4 with 85 BHP. There is also a special "Abarth" 135 BHP model. The original car however had three two-cylinder petrol engines: 479cc with 21 BHP, 499cc with 17 BHP and a sporty 594cc engine with 23 BHP. The car weighed just 500 kg (1100 lb) so these small engines were quite sufficient.

This is a cute little car with loads of character. I prefer it to the modern Mini or Beetle and it makes a perfect city car in big cities anywhere in the world, but is also equally at home in the tight streets of Tuscan hill towns.

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