9. Fiat 500C
The Fiat 500C adds a fabric folding roof to the big-selling retro city car – and it does so in a way that only enhances the sense of fun.
Instead of compromising the cute design of the 500, Fiat opted to engineer a soft-top that folds back like the lid of a sardine tin. That way, the car’s neat dimensions and good looks aren’t diluted, and neither is the huge scope for personalisation – or indeed the interior or the boot size. The rear seats still fold to increase load capacity from 185 litres to 520 litres, as in the standard car.
Buyers get the same choice of Pop, Colour Therapy, Lounge and hot Abarth models as with the regular city car, plus there are 1.2 and 1.4-litre turbo petrol engines and a 1.3-litre Multijet diesel. The highlight of the 500C range, though, is the clever 875cc TwinAir petrol model, which combines punchy 85bhp performance with low running costs – it delivers 70.6mpg fuel consumption, 92g/km emissions make it exempt from road tax and it has low insurance group ratings.
