KEY POINTS:
Good news: the early morning cycle crowd, seated at a cafe in one of Auckland's more fashionable suburbs, is abuzz talking about the Fiat 500 that's parked at the kerb.
These are people who wear fluorescent backpacks that say "One Less Car" in huge type and sneer as you accelerate past on the way to work, so early indications are Fiat's new retro-hatch is trendy and socially acceptable.
The pedal-pushers are probably most impressed with the Fiat 500's decidedly non-macho appearance and compact size - it's ridiculously tall in traffic but only 3.5 metres long.
Let's look past the fashion-icon thing for a moment, because this car does have some green credentials under that cutesy sheet metal. Being based on the platform of the European-market Fiat Panda (not sold here), the 500 employs some of the smallest and most thrifty powertrains from the Fiat group.
Our 1.3 JTD boasts a tiny turbo diesel engine with comouter-controlled Multijet technology that returns a staggering 4.2 litres per 100km in the Combined cycle.
And don't think it will disappoint in real-world driving - it revs almost like a petrol unit and economy in the fives is decidedly do-able if you're mindful of that right foot. Remarkable.
Excited? But don't get carried away because there's a fair wait for any 500 while the early adopters are being satisfied, and the car tested here, a 1.3 JTD in entry-level Pop specification, is technically no longer available.
But there will be a JTD in higher-spec on offer later in the year, and you can still have the Pop as a petrol, in 1.2 or 1.4 versions.
More to the point, given the array of customer-customisation opportunities for the car (few of the 250s expected to land this year will be identical), the specifics of one test car are irrelevant.
Although, I did rather wish local importer Ateco Automotive had dipped into its big bin of stickers for the press vehicle. It was finished in plain red - white or beige would have been my pick - and came sans any exterior decals. Boo. Among the choices are a chequered roof, twin racing stripes and even a massive "5" on the bonnet. Yay.
You have to expect premium pricing for a car of this type, but the 500 shapes up quite well - at least until you start attacking the options sheet.
The JTD Pop opens at $29,990, and you have to be content with a five-speed manual gearbox. Go for either of the petrols and you can have the so-called "Dualogic" two-pedal gearbox as an option. The base JTD Pop specification also misses out on stability control - but again, that's irrelevant since you can't buy one any more. And the petrol Pops do have that must-have active safety feature as standard.
All things considered, though, a diesel supermini with seven airbags for less than $30k is impressive - especially when the machine in question could well be this year's coolest car.
Prices dip as low as $26,990 for the 1.2 Pop petrol, and top out at $32,990 for the JTD Lounge.
It's fun, but it's no driver's car. The engine has verve but the steering is unbearably light - more so in the pushbutton City mode - there's plenty of body roll and the ride was nothing special on our car's optional 16-inch wheels.
So it doesn't have the kart-like responses of a Mini. But then, the 500 is unpretentious and, more importantly, the latest thing in a very fashion-conscious segment - unlike the Mini.
First impressions suggest the 500 (assembled at the marque's Polish factory) is the best-built Fiat for ages.
Sure, the cabin has plenty of hard plastic, but they work well in something that pays homage to the era of metal and bakelite dashboards, especially when the fit and finish is nothing short of superb. Sadly, that impression of solidity was somewhat undermined by the mounting for the driver's side wiper shattering one rainy night.
Probably more a pre-delivery issue than a factory-quality one, but it did put a slight dampener on the weekend.
