There’s no doubt that the Fiat 500, with its chic, cheeky good looks, is one of the best looking cars on the road, but the NRMA in Australia has revealed it’s also the safest car in its class – and the only one to get a three star rating – when it comes to avoiding blind spots, with intelligent design making it as easy to see out of, as it is great to look at.

“The Fiat 500 may rate five stars in the EuroNCAP crash testing, but it’s better to avoid the accident in the first place,” says Andrei Zaitzev, General Manager for Fiat in Australia. “So that’s why Fiat have minimised blind spots and their skill in this task has been recognized by the NRMA, providing yet another reason to own a Fiat 500!”

The ratings highlight the risks posed when a driver simply cannot see hazards due to the shape and design of their cars. The testing involved rotating a laser 180 degrees from the driver’s seat to replicate a driver’s vision. The scores were calculated by taking into account the position of the windscreen pillars (where the windscreen meets the side window) and how much each blocked the laser. The NRMA tested 138 new vehicles.

The Fiat 500 is available in Australia with a choice of three engines, the value for money 1.2 51 kW, the performance of the 1.4 74 kW and, as the most economical you can now buy in Australia, the 1.3 55 kW Turbo Diesel. These are matched to a choice of three exciting trim and equipment levels, Pop, Lounge and Sport and prices start from a driveaway/flyway price of AUS$22,990 that also includes for a limited time 100,000 Virgin Blue Velocity points.