| First Drive | Poole, England | Fiat 500C |

Back in 1957 Fiat unveiled the 'car for everybody.' The Nuova 500, aka the Cinquecento, was rear-engined, had suicide doors and a thin fabric roof that rolled from front to back and nestled on top of the engine bay, leaving the entire side roof support intact.

And so it is with the nuova 500, aka the 500C. Well, almost: rear-hinged doors and rear-mounted engines are generally considered more hassle than they're worth these days. But Fiat has stuck rigidly - quite literally - with the original roof concept for the 500C. It's worked a treat.

In the Metal

In pilfering the blueprint of its forebear's roof so stringently, Fiat has imbued the 500C with all kinds of benefits, the most immediately apparent of which is its visual similarity to the hatchback. Some might count that a loss - the 'C' version is, after all, a circa-£3,000 upgrade, which some might want passers by to notice. However, for us, offering the advantages of open-top motoring without molesting the 500's idiosyncratic silhouette is key to its appeal.

What you're getting is essentially a giant electric concertina sunroof, though it's a slice of fabric so clever that it can incorporate a glass screen and a brake light that's visible with the roof either up or down. It will also partially close itself to allow access to the boot if try to open the latter with the top down - a boot that, speaking of which, is only three litres smaller than the hatch's because it's not stuffed with roof.

The one drawback is poor rear visibility when the roof is open, obscured by the stack of cloth resting in your line of sight, as well as some seriously thick rear pillars. But that's a small price to pay for the safety and structural integrity imbued by arranging the roof so. For a start, leaving the pillars and upper cross members intact means that the curtain airbags can remain, and also that the 500 loses little structural rigidity in the transformation - with only about 40kg of strengthening added, including the addition of an anti-roll bar from the Abarth 500, which will shortly be standard fit on all 500s.

What you get for your Money

If you're not convinced the gliding roof canopy is quite enough to justify the £3,000 premium over an equivalent hatch (the entire engine and trim spectrum is available in C form), Fiat has bumped up the standard equipment level to the tune of nearly a grand's worth of air conditioning and 'upgraded trim', which to our eyes looks limited to a set of seats with leather(ette?) upper sections and '500' stitched into them.

Fiat's not daft though: it still knows how to make an extra bob or two. As such, you'll still have to buy a set of alloys (very reasonable at around £300, mind), metallic paint, chrome wing mirrors, a wind stop and a key fob made using Swarovski crystal - you know, all the stuff that's essential at resale time, plus a few extra bits to make your 500C WAG-tastic.

It's a sly ploy, but it works because, like MINI, Fiat has got its options list spot on in terms of scope and price; nothing's too expensive, but there's loads of it and it all adds up. Of the available trim levels - for now limited to Pop and Lounge, though Fiat isn't ruling out more, including an Abarth - we reckon a Pop in 1.2-litre petrol form will do nicely, peppered up by a set of alloys and a couple of choice options. That shouldn't cost you more than £12,500, though go for a 1.3-litre MultiJet diesel in Lounge spec and you're looking at £14,100 before you've even started ticking boxes.

Driving it

The striking thing about the 500C is its remarkable similarity to the hatch. It feels neither heavier nor shakier than its fixed roof namesake, which, as discussed earlier, is thanks to its clever roof. Another notable quality is that it's quiet, whether the roof is up or down, regardless of whether there's a petrol or a diesel engine under the bonnet.

Our day out with Fiat gave us access to opposing ends of the 500C spectrum, namely a 1.2-litre petrol in Pop trim and a Lounge spec 1.3-litre diesel. And guess what: our favourite was the cheaper one. Starting with the runner up, the MultiJet is a good engine, especially in the aural department because it's quiet at idle but has that progressive baritone grumble reminiscent of oil burning relatives found in Alfas. Its economy and emissions are spot on too (110g/km and 67.3mpg) and it has a notable torque advantage over the petrol model, despite never feeling particularly strong.

But the petrol version on smaller wheels is the much sweeter drive. It feels quantifiably lighter at the front, nimbler than the diesel and it's much more fun wringing all the revs from it in every gear. Whatever sized rims the 500C sits on, it rides with a firm edged composure, but on smaller wheels it feels much more settled, doing a better job of chamfering off the edges of a jagged surface.

It's not perfect though. In contrast to the MINI, the 500C feels like a small car from the front seats because the chairs are set too high, the driving position doesn't have much adjustment, the foot well isn't built for pedals and feet at the same time and the roofline is low. Only taller people will really struggle, but the impression is that it doesn't have to be that way, but that Fiat didn't bother doing enough ergonomic homework. The much maligned Italian 'long arm/short leg' driving position lives on.

Worth Noting

"Anything MINI can do..." quipped the Fiat product guy. He was referring to a question about the possibility of 500 model proliferation, specifically the launch of a 4x4 variant. That there'll be a 'Giardiniera' version isn't much of a secret - the original 500 load-lugger appeared in 1960 - but with MINI about to unveil, of all things, a proper four-seat SUV, surely Fiat will follow suit? It probably will, and probably using Panda 4x4 running gear, it seems.

There's also much talk of Fiat's engine revolution. Not Otto or Atkinson cycles, you understand, but the forthcoming two-cylinder petrol engine that will revolutionise the small car, apparently, because it's so very clean and efficient. We couldn't prise those figures from Fiat's top brass, but it will come in 2010, be of around 900cc capacity and generate around 70bhp in naturally aspirated form and 90bhp when turbocharged. The 500 will get it at launch, as will the Alfa MiTo, probably.

Summary

Fiat reckons that 70 percent of 500C buyers will sign the dotted line primarily because of its looks. If that's true, they can all count themselves lucky, because they've chanced upon a convertible that happens to be very good as well. Some will write off the eccentric sliding roof as a gimmick, but ultimately the 500C lets the sun in and keeps the rain out - the basic tenets of a convertible - while dramatically reducing the safety and dynamic compromises normally required to do so. The 500C is a job well done.