Ok, let's be honest, the Suzuki Celerio isn't likely to be everyone's cup of tea.
But one thing's for certain: Suzuki knows more about small cars than almost any other
manufacturer.
What I wasn't expecting when our test car arrived, was quite how good it was going to
be.
And this, remember, is a car you can buy for less than 7 grand.
Sure, so it might not be the most appealing piece of design on the roads today, but its
distinctly boxy proportions and wheel-at-each corner stance gives it two clear wins: firstly,
it's easy to squirt your way through gaps in traffic, and secondly, its interior feels
far more spacious than you might imagine.
And remember, unusually for a car of this size, the little Suzuki gets five doors, making
it even more practical.
Hat-wearers will be pleased with the gallons of headroom, and even for my 6ft4 frame, there's
more space on offer than you could reasonably expect, our only observations being that the
sides of the centre console and the placement of the electric window switches compete with
my knees for space.
Despite that, everything is well laid out, with typically clear instruments as we're
used to from Suzuki.
Oh, and that 60mpg figure that's currently showing on the trip computer: that's genuine,
and very easy to achieve.
But more on that later.
All but the base model get a stereo with DAB digital radio and Bluetooth connectivity,
complete with steering wheel-mounted controls for your phone, a USB socket next to the convenient
cubby hole, plus air conditioning, all as standard.
To spec a VW Up or Hyundai i10 to the same level will need an extra £3,000 or so.
Space in the back is pretty good - there's tons of headroom, foot-room is good, but it
is perhaps a little optimistic to include three full seat-belts.
Boot space is a decent 254 litres, rising to 726 litres, although in common with most
other cars in its class, folding the rear seats does leave them in a rather inconsiderate
lump that limits the loads you can carry.
Powering all of this is a 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engine with a modest 67hp.
That doesn't sound like much, but it's amazing how far 67hp will get you.
As standard, it's mated to a five-speed manual gearbox, although an automated version, dubbed
AGS, is also available.
Suzuki continue to be masters of the light and easy-going gear-shift action, and that
makes it a pleasure to rifle your way through the 'box and wind the little Suzuki up to
speed.
Its on-paper figures aren't likely to set the world on fire - you're talking about 0-62mph
in 13.5 seconds - but numbers rarely tell the whole story.
You see, being short of a cylinder isn't necessarily a hindrance, particularly if you're Suzuki,
and its little three-cylinder engine has a characterful off-beat thrum that's actually
quite endearing.
It's got a decent amount of torque, too, and will happily lollop along in fifth gear at
30mph if that's what you want, but we would say that - in common with a few other Suzukis
- the throttle response is a touch too keen just off idle, sometimes making it tricky
to pull away smoothly.
On the move, the little Suzuki rides well.
Of course, only having 14-inch wheels means it can crash into pot-holes, but that aside,
body control is taught, understeer is kept in check, and it's not too much of a stretch
to say that you can have fun while at the wheel.
What's particularly surprising is that you can do all of this while using hardly any
fuel.
The trip computer in our early test car didn't show figures beyond 60 mpg, although this
is an issue that's since been resolved with a software update, but we had little trouble
reaching and then maintaining an average just beyond this, and with a little extra effort,
you should have no trouble in reaching the official government figure of 65.7 mpg.
If that's not enough for you, there's also a new Dualjet version of this engine that
achieved an incredible 78.4 mpg on the official tests, all while emitting just 84 g/km of
CO2, even less than the 99 g/km of our test car.
And remember, this is a car you can buy for just £6,999, with the more usefully-specced
SZ3 model costing only a thousand pounds more.
Even our top-of-the-range SZ4 test car costs just £9,414 once you add metallic paint.
So, while the little Celerio might sound like it's been named after a wet salad, there's
certainly nothing limp about the way it drives.