Every now and then a car comes along that flies in the face of what we stand for. The kind of car that, while being a little style icon that in any other incarnation would sit at home, gets the nod when there's a brand new M3 standing next to it in the garage. And this time it wasn't just me — the whole family was sitting in the Fiat 500 waiting to go before I even got to it, thinking I'd have to prise them out of the Beemer for our ride to Sunday lunch.

The Fiat 500 is exactly that car.

Look it's no slouch as the figures attest; under a tonne and with 74kW and 131Nm on tap it's quite fun to drive actually. But that's not the primary purpose of this car — that will be the job of the forthcoming Abarth models.

No, 500 is a car to fall in love with, particularly if you're Italian. It's the most loveable car on the market right now and, in that sense, it's a supercar when it comes to style and chic.

And being a supercar, it deserves to be expensive. But it isn't. If you can't get round the fact that it's not much more than a very well specced runabout, take a look at what a bottom-end Mini costs. Or a Beetle. You have to shell out an extra fifty grand for either of those. And there's still the entry 500 1.2 Pop you can get for under R150K, dont forget.

So 500 is a style bargain too.

In my opinion, it's way cooler to pitch up in a 500 than it is in last season's Mini. Or the Beetle from the season before.

The Fiat has them covered in pure style too: the Beetle's biggest sin is its age, but the Mini versus this is quite puffy, fat and flat. I may be Italian and a bit patriotic and all of that, but tell me I'm wrong.

Anyway, this is supposed to be a quick road test after all, so let's get into what it's like to drive.

I have a bit of a problem getting into the car. My big head bangs the top sill once my bum is in the rather high seat on the way in — I'd like a lower adjustment for big bastards like me. And the steering lacks a length adjustment to complement the height.

But once in there that's all forgotten. It's beautiful, especially in the white with the tricolore trim our tester had. And it's got the lot in there too from that neat sunroof to the lovely controls to run everything you'd expect in that M3 we left behind, all with a quite surprising amount of space all-round...

On the road 500 drives well, handles pleasantly and rides like a car twice as big. And it leaves you wanting to get back in it before you even got out in the first place.

Do you want one? You should. If you're Italian, for sure you want one. Better get your order in then — this is the coolest car we've driven in a long, long time.

Fiat 500 1.4 Lounge
Engine: 4-cyl DOHC 16V
Capacity: 1368cc
Power: 74kW @ 6000rpm
Torque: 131Nm @ 4500rpm
Specific power: 54kW per litre
Specific torque: 98Nm per litre
Power to weight: 80kW per tonne
Torque to weight: 141Nm per tonne
Drive/transmission: FWD/6-speed manual
0-100km/h (c): 10.5 seconds
0-100km/h (g): 10.3 seconds
Maximum speed (c): 182km/h
Price: R179 000
CIA rating: 9/10