500 beats 007

We are indebted to our friends at

magazine for this week bringing us their list of the ‘100 sexiest cars.’

Top Gear set out to identify and rank the vehicles that possess a certain je ne sais quoi, that hard to define quality that sets the pulse racing when you get behind the wheel and draws envious, and possibly even lustful glances from passers by.

And the winner is (imaginary drum roll please)… the Fiat 500. Yes, you are thinking of the right Fiat. The one that looks like Noddy should be driving it.

This humble vehicle is, we are assured by Top Gear, the sexiest car in the world. The runner up is by any standards something of a contrast. It’s the Aston Martin DBS, as driven by James Bond.

How 007 would react to being beaten into second place in the sexiness stakes by Noddy we shall never know, and it’s unlikely that Daniel Craig will be squeezing behind the wheel of a 500 in a future Bond movie.

All good summer fun then and certainly not to be taken too seriously. But maybe there’s just a hint of a sign of the times in that surprise triumph for the tiny Fiat.

The 500 has a good claim to be world’s first City Car, precursor of the Smart and other vehicles designed to nip around crowded cities. Cheap and practical, it was designed to meet the everyday needs of the mass-market motorist.

The fact that such a model tops any type of poll ahead of the likes of Aston Martin, Lotus, Bentley and Rolls-Royce is rather heartening. Those fine cars will remain, for the majority of us, objects of fantasy. The 500 is a miniature engineering classic of the type that is too seldom celebrated. Sexy or not, it’s good to see the little guy win every now and again.

Andrew Lee

Editor

The Engineer & The Engineer Online

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