Fiat Topolino review

Basic. That’s what we’re talking about here. And not in the ‘only two airbags and no reversing cameras’-type basic. More in the ‘hose it down’ category.

There are no vents or HVAC of any kind. No airbags – though obviously seatbelts. The windows have a hinged split in the middle and flip up, and there are two seats which consist of padding on a plastic sliding base for the driver, a fixed-position chair for the passenger, a bar of a dash with some storage on the top under a baguette of material, a simple driver’s display and phone holder. That’s about it. Very easy to clean, if nothing else, but it’s pared back to austerity.

Driving is literally stop and go for the pedals and a manual handbrake, with buttons for gear selection.

There are options; the aforementioned magnetic speakers that struggle to find purchase, a rear external luggage mount and either a glass roof thing or a cloth sunroof. After that, it’s about which colour and various shades of headlight surround.

What would you actually use one for, then?

As mentioned, if you were actually commuting – getting to the station a couple of miles away, or only ever popping to the shops or office with a less than 10 mile round trip in town – it’s better than a moped. Or even possibly the Tube, depending on how much Londoner/Mancunian/Parisienne/Roman you can put up with on a daily basis.

There’s space in the passenger seat for all the shopping if you’re solo, enough if there’s two of you thanks to a big passenger footwell. It’s easy to park and convenient to charge – it’ll top off in about four hours from a standard plug… that’s a 5.5kWh battery for you. Don’t forget, most PHEVs have batteries bigger than that.

It’s got a window, but that window is narrow, so you better take a test drive before you decide you can live with it.