WITH cars like the Fiat 500, Toyota Aygo, Renault Twingo and now Vauxhall's baby, the ADAM, funkiness and individuality seem to be the watchwords in the rapidly-expanding city car sector.

Small cars like these are ideal zipping around the city, being both highly economical and easy to park and give owners an individual touch.

The ADAM offers countless variations to further enhance any one of the specifications on offer, which include odd sounding names like Jam, Glam and Rocks.It now also offers an excellent three cylinder petrol engine.

This small car carries the Vauxhall styling cues of its siblings, but is right up there in the funky looks stakes.The customisation packs offer a choice of 12 body colours, 15 seat designs, 20 alloy wheel styles, three printed headliners and 18 interior décor panels.

A three-door hatch with four seats and just 3.7 metres long, it comfortably accommodates four people and is an important car from Vauxhall and with the addition of the zesty one-litre turbo-charged engine.

The 113bhp unit, mated to a slick six-speed gearbox, is refined and quiet and is surprisingly muscular on the motorway where the small engine responds well and never feels like its running out of steam. Road, wind and engine noise is also well suppressed.

But its real strength is around the city streets, where it it's quick off the mark, hitting 62mph in just under 10 seconds, a real boon on congested city street, as is the is the light, but responsive steering.

Fuel economy is impressive with nearly 58mpg claimed, but not achieved in the real world and CO2 emissions of 114g/km. A 1.2 and 1.4-litre petrol engine are also available, but none fall below the 99g/km to exempt it from road tax and congestion charge.

The ride on the test model was firm, but otherwise it is a delight to drive.

It looks good, in my book, just as good as the excellent Fiat 500. It's amazing how a lack of high-quality soft touch finish can be mitigated by a jazzy painted and plastic finish to dash and doors.

Controls are neat and logically placed and on this model, the optional entertainment system supports new media sources, including Bluetooth, as well as connectivity for smartphones with Android or Apple iOS software.This enables access to Internet-based applications, including GPS navigation.

The system uses a state-of-the-art seven-inch, full-colour touch screen display allowing quick access to a variety of on-board controls.

Designed specifically as a four-seater, occupants have decent head and legroom, although the boot space suffers as a result, offering only 170 litres.It's also a squeeze getting into the rear seats and accommodating an admittedly slightly larger than normal pushchair defeated me.But it is not a family car and is brilliant at what it was designed for.

All models are pretty well equipped with Bluetooth, air con, digital radio and cruise control. Extensive safety kit includes six airbags, stability control, tyre pressure monitoring and daytime running lights.