Faults:

Clutch needed replacement at 67000 miles.

Occasional ECU warning messages needed resetting.

Wheel cylinder replaced after a leak at 52500 miles.

Rear lens cluster needed replacing because of water ingress.

Rear bulbs tend to blow more often than in most cars.

General Comments:

I bought this car to use as my driving school vehicle. This is possibly the toughest role for any small car today. Fiats do not have a great reputation for reliability, but I calculated that the funky styling and great reputation amongst teenagers would win me more business than any unreliability would lose me.

The car is small but well packaged, and drivers of all sizes can get comfortable in it.

The exterior styling is attractive, and far more faithful to the spirit of the original than, say, BMW's bloated take on the Mini. The compact dimensions and small overhangs also mean that the 500 is a very good city car.

The interior is also nicely styled. With the glass roof of the Lounge model, it is an airy and pleasant place to spend time.

The 1.2 engine needs revving hard to deliver any performance, and this affects fuel consumption, which has averaged only 48 MPG in my tenure. Bear in mind that as a 300 miles-per-week driving school car, this is not a bad figure at all.

The car still washes up like brand new inside and out. There are no rattles or squeaks. Very surprising for a Fiat.

The worst part about this car is the ride. It is unsettled and jiggly at low speed, to the extent that it can affect the steering over moderate bumps. It needs far better damping.

To be honest, apart from these points it is hard to fault the 500. I would certainly consider another as a driving school car, and even more as a private car with a much easier life.

Faults:

Minor rattles from the interior... that's it.

General Comments:

A great little car - economical (I average 45 MPG per tank with a mix of driving), fairly nippy, fairly well built, very stylish, perfect for the city, cheap to run.

The engine & transmission are perfectly matched, gear ratios are spot on, and you can cruise at 80 on the motor way - it's rock solid there. It's quite noisy on the motorway; you need to stop every couple of hours for a break.

The radio reception is really poor, as is the sound from the speakers. Blue & Me works well with Bluetooth to my iPhone 4, but sometimes you need to repeat your instruction several times. (I updated it to the latest software). However, Blue and Me refuses to play nicely with our 2 iPod Classics; the Mac-formatted one doesn't work at all, and the PC-formatted one doesn't work properly (tracks are missing). It's also incredibly fiddly (I would say dangerous) to control through the steering wheel.

There is a surprising amount of room in the boot, but fitting adults into the back seats is a real challenge.

I really like this car, it s small, agile, chic and goes well. However, the rattles from the interior annoy me, and although it's built well by Italian standards, it's no Audi in terms of build quality.