YOU cannot help but smile when you see some cars, such as the Fiat 500C Colour Therapy.

The Fiat 500 has what the Japanese call a friendly face. Take off the roof and it becomes a wind in the hair happy go lucky character. Add the summer-sizzling colour of yellow and you have a three-way winner.

Could it possibly disappoint? Not where it really matters.

The Colour Therapy is a range between the Pop and Lounge specifications with a distinctly 70s look of five vibrant colours and white detailing and available in hatch and convertible versions with the 900 and 1,200cc engines.

There are interior trim differences with Colour Therapy including a ‘poolball' gear knob and matching key cover and standard equipment includes air conditioning and white mirror casings and wheel covers.

These special design features add about £800 to the Pop price but if chosen separately from the options list would be £1,000. So you can smile at that as well.

Fiat expects the best seller in the new series will be the model we tried and under the skin is the familiar willing 875cc twin-cylinder 85bhp engine and a five-speed manual gearbox, but automatic is available.

The powertrain is surprisingly smooth and with the 500C's lightness it moves well from rest, with a little encouragement it also pulls with enthusiasm through the gears for overtaking and you'll smile at how capably it buzzes along the motorway.

The noise level rises quite quickly as you start to push the throttle but it's a strangely pleasant busy note which is irritating only at the highest revolutions.

The clutch had a longer than expected travel on the test car but the gearbox was slick and changes direct. Throttle pedal was light and the brakes very progressive and capable of rapid deceleration when needed.

Secondary controls were all close to the wheel and column with big clear instruments.

Air conditioning is standard and it worked well with the hood erect, but the real attraction of the 500C is the quick folding two-stage fabric roof which permits partial or full open topped travel.

You lose some visibility with the hood folded onto the rear parcel shelf area and even with the hood erect there is restricted vision through the small back window. Annoyingly, a rear parking sensor is £270 and it should be standard.

Boot space is a modest 185 litres with the back seats used but drop them and it rises to 520 litres. Oddments space is very tight inside the 500C and I think most things will simply end up on the back seats when they are not taking passengers.

Access to the back seats is a little bit of an adventure best left to children but once seated a teenager would be comfortable unless tall. The front seats have good adjustment and room and were particularly comfortable.

For a small car the Fiat 500C rides over bumpy roads very well but deep potholes will jar the car because of the short wheelbase and narrow track.

The ride is fairly compliant and the handling is safe rather than dynamic.

We got used to having to plan overtaking very carefully to ensure we built up enough momentum to carry us along and past another vehicle because there is not a lot in reserve if you have to down-change or call for more revs.

Using the available power it was fine but just once in a while it struggled up some long hills and needed dropping down one or two gears and this would dramatically affect fuel consumption. We managed about 50mpg overall which I believe is a realistic and fair figure for everyday use.

There is a joke that if you remember the 70s you weren't there, but with the Fiat 500C Colour Therapy it worked for me and left me with a smile.