Fiat 500X: A fun-loving Goldilocks who'll get down and dirty

Bowling round the Turin test track

I drove two versions: the 140hp, 1.4 litre petrol with front wheel drive and a six speed manual gearbox, and the 170hp, 2.0 diesel four wheel drive which has a nine speed automatic gearbox. The span in prices between these is huge, with the petrol model costing £19,345 and 2.0 multijet engine at £25,845. It’s a motor-reviewers' cliché to prefer the cheaper car. But I did.

Popstar: If you had the chance, you'd definitely smother yours in mud and drive it at 30^o to the horizontal.

The four wheel drive, known as the “leisure” version, is a little larger. The standard car is 4.25 metres long (2 cm more for the leisure version), 1.8 metres wide and 1.60 metres in height (or 1.61 and 1.62 metres respectively with roof bars or four-wheel drive)

The interior of the 1.4 version I drove for from Turin to Fiat’s test track at Balocco was the “Lounge” version as opposed to the “Pop” (as in “Ford Pop”, or cheap) or the cringeworthily-named “Popstar” model, as in too cool for school.

It’s hard to escape the 500X being a school-run car, and it’s got lots of space for stuff. Space in the armrest, space in front of the gear lever – with USB sockets – net pockets in the seat backs and, of course, fold-flat rear seats that split 60/40. Designer Roberto Giolito called the spaces “pelican pockets”. The seats are excellent and despite the pocket SUV vibe they're low enough to allow easy access. The trendy flat-bottomed steering wheel feels good.

Good: The steering wheel's a delight to use along with the dash displays

Overall, the Lounge model feels a good class or two above the C-segment the industry defines as the home for a car like the 500X. Good materials, well finished and quiet.

Very quiet. In part that’s the improved structural rigidity but it’s also down to the reduced engine noise. I like the buzziness of the Fiat Twin Air engine and enjoyed it in the 500S, but here the bigger version is more grown up in being much less vocal. Sometimes it's too quiet but then that’s the start and stop function kicking in.

Engine bay: Neat, dark, lots of plastic covering the 1.4l lump

I’m getting used to it, but initially start and stop systems are intensely annoying, particularly if you are used to cars where if the engine stops without warning, it’s a sign of trouble and big bills. The more modern cars I drive with the system, the less annoying I find it – to the extent that it’s now something I don’t mind at all on manual petrol-engined cars.