Fiat 500 2012

Technically speaking, the 500 fits into the A-segment, along with cars like the smart fortwo and the upcoming Toyota iQ. But the Fiat's much bigger than the Smart and close to within half a foot of a MINI Cooper in most dimensions, even though the latter rates as a B-segment player. Here's the thing: From the driver's seat, you'd never know just how small the new Cinquecento is. I'm 5'11" and in the sunroof-less Sport edition 500 we tossed around for the weekend, I had space galore. However, Fiat 500s with glass panels up top have much less headroom. Back to the steel roofer: We had a 6 foot, 6-inch valet at our hotel in San Diego sit in the 500, and he proclaimed, "I have more room in here than a CTS." Ooh, Cadillac, burn! I found the rear seat tight on headroom, but somehow (let's say by magic) pretty good on legroom. Here's hoping that if you get stuffed in the rear you have someone to snuggle with, i.e., you don't have to sit up straight.

At freeway speeds of 80, 85, and 90 mph, not only wasn't the 500 struggling, but it was calmly cruising. The tach was just above 3,000 rpm; tire and wind noise were low; and the engine felt refined.

Up a 5-percent grade in top gear (fifth in our manual equipped car; the Lounge models sport six-speed automatics), I was able to just tap a little further down on the throttle and Fiat's novel MultiAir four-banger easily maintained 80 miles per hour.

The redesigned for us suspension simply comes alive when you start tossing the 500 into and around corners. You might think that such an inherently unbalanced car wouldn't be so tossable. After all, 62% of the 500's weight is over the front wheels, a surefire recipe for terminal understeer. However, we're only talking about 2,333 pounds here -- total. The new Chrysler 300C carries that much weight on its two front tires. When it comes to dynamics, we'd all do well to listen to Colin Chapman. Even with a technically awful weight distribution, the new Fiat 500 is a joy to manhandle.