Fiat 500 can be cute, aggressive and all in between

I recently drove a Fiat 500c across England and it got me thinking: why this car is so cool? I guess we know for a fact that it is a good car, but it appeals to a lot of people in different ways, that's why.

Apart from the fact that my left foot has to stay confined in a very tight gap and my left leg is pressed against the enormous plastic cover around the gear lever, it is very comfortable. The steering wheel is not quite in front of you either, but that is a minor issue.

The interior is very nice, with great seats in a nice leather finish, and, since the car was black, a completely black dashboard that fits me well.

But looking at the exterior was when i started to think about the Fiat's attraction. The 500 is pretty, although this is not the main reason for this. The reason is that its design works in many levels.

Look at this 500c that i was driving. The "c" stands for convertible and it's a cool option. What you miss with the tiny boot lid you gain with a big door on the roof, trough where i could fit my gigantic 32kg suitcases in the car. Very handy. And this roof door works very nicely, except in some cases that it needed a rest and required some 30 seconds to continue closing or opening.

This particular car, in black, with those big, not so sporty wheels looks very good, and it is right in the middle of the 500 spectrum.

On the lower side of that spectrum you have a basic model, especially in pastel colours. They are cute and retro and the smaller wheels, the big gaps around them don't spoil its looks, adding to the basic throwback feeling.

On the other side of things you have the Abarth version: lowered, flared, aggressive and ready to scare your mother when you give her a ride in your cute car.

I saw the intermediate nature of the 500c that day and it came to me how this car can have so many personalities and wear them so well. You can have even more retro versions with paint jobs related to the original model, and even more radical and sporty styles starting from the basic one, with customisations of all kinds and they all will look great - within good taste and common sense, that is.

So we can have a cute "cheap" runabout, a funky little car, a classy convertible and a top notch sports car.

What's your favourite?