WOULD you believe that Chrysler's little Ypsilon city car uses the same chassis as the Ford Ka and the Fiat 500.

A good starting point then and it also has the plus of five doors, which neither of the others offer.

However, the back seats and narrow back doors are only really suitable for children - even larger teens would have trouble getting in.

That said, this is the left field choice for people who want something small, economical and nippy but want to stand out from the crowd.

Sold under the Lancia brand in much of the rest of Europe, the Ypsilon is comfortable, refined, very easy to drive and park and hugely economical and cheap to run.

I recently drove the 1.3 turbo diesel, but there are cheaper 1.2 and 900 petrols that also sip the precious fuel.

Performance in the diesel is good, controls are all easy and the road-holding is fine, albeit with a little roll.

A high seating position gives decent vision all round and there's plenty of leg and headroom in the front.

It comes with air con, alarm, alloys, remote locking, lumbar support for the driver, and heated electric mirrors.