I have driven a few 500's. The car feels too small for me, with 2 people in it is much smaller than the Smart. Head room is a real problem for me, any option with the glass roof is a no go. Shame, it looks like such a good car. But it's still a Fiat and they haven't really moved the build quality up in line with the price. If you test drive one, just slam the boot and you will see what I mean.

The 500 was top of my list, but the dealers and the price along to with rubbish finance put me off. When you know that Fiat offers a 5 year warranty and free recovery in the rest of Europe along with much better finance you see that Fiat are just ripping off UK customers.

As for the rest of the small car market there just isn't anything exciting out there. The Smart isn't perfect that's for sure, but there just isn't anything out there that's better than what I have already got. If you take a £9k budget into a show room it really doesn't get you that much.

Cheers

Cris.