So did you have a guess at what tiny car the new addition could be?
Well allow me to reveal the metallic silver year 2000 registered Fiat Seicento 1.1 SX. Now many of you will have pre-conceived ideas on these cars, and perhaps Fiats in general. Indeed, back in 2009 I owned a Fiat 500 1.4 Lounge with nearly all the extras. I bought it brand new and while I loved the styling and the attention it got, I felt it was a real disappointment to drive. I sold it on after just two years and never thought I would not be driving another Fiat.
However, Fiat has always really excelled at making cheap small cars for the masses. Cars that do exactly what they should and little else. For example, in my mind, the previous Fiat Panda is a better car than the 500 (the 500 basically is a re-bodied Panda anyway). It has better visibility and space and rides better than the 500. The Panda is unpretentious and much cheaper where as the 500 sells purely on the looks - hence the more premium price.
Before the Panda and the 500, we had the Seicento and the Cinquecento. Both very cheap when new and quite a bargain in later years. The fact that both these cars had basic equipment levels to start with means that there is less to go wrong.
After looking at Ford Kas with worn suspension bushes and steering racks and leaking window seals along with rust patches and dents I spotted this particular Seicento. With a genuine 107,000km on the clock, a recent head gasket replacement, new exhaust, brake pads and a recent service it started and drove just right. No untoward noises or knocks, no sign of any leaks or overheating and decent enough tyres ensured the sub-€500 car was bought. Downsides? Of course there are - this is motoring on a shoe string budget after all. It has quite a few stone chips (since touched up with, of all things, a colour matched nail varnish), a few marks on the corners and on the passenger side rear arch and the NCT is only valid for another few months. Should be interesting and if nothing else, this really will be an exercise in demonstrating if we really should steer clear of anything clinging to its last few months of an NCT.
The car itself, being an SX version, has electric front windows (that, incidentally, operate faster than those on my Clio), central locking, a tilting sunroof that doesn't leak and gives bright and airy feel to the cabin, colour coded bumpers and mirror housings, a remote boot release and a folding rear seat. This really is budget, cheap yet cheerful motoring and I'm surprised, but I actually really enjoy it. It has power steering but lacks modern safety systems such as anti-lock brakes or traction control that are becoming increasingly standard on even small cars. Yet its tiny dimensions, large glass area and great visibility make a refreshing change from the modern era of motoring. It actually reminds me of a Peugeot 205 GTi I had many years ago. Don't get me wrong; it's no sports car, but with modest power it's fun to drive at nine tenths all day, can keep up in town traffic easy enough, the neutral handling is surprisingly secure given the skinny tyres and compared to the Clio it is even refined. Combined with what appears to be fuel economy to rival a moped I'm actually looking forward to running this for real world comparisons.
Since getting it home I have fitted a CD player, given it a good clean and changed the wiper blades. Driving home in the rain confirmed they were past it. How the previous owner ever managed to drive in the slightest of rain showers is beyond me. I got the newer style, flat blade wipers, the floppy ones that wobble about alarmingly as you drive. It will be interesting to see how they perform compared to the usual metal-armed wipers. In the meantime, I should fill the interior with lucky charms and hope the NCT test proves stress free in a couple of months' time.
Oh, and if anyone happens to have a rear parcel shelf for a Seicento or Cinquecento lying around, mine is missing one...