TAKE a short holiday these days and you can guarantee that while your back is turned the retro kings will reinvent themselves.

The Mini will spawn another new bodystyle and the Fiat 500 another new trim, engine spec. or special edition.

Reviewing Mini’s Coupe is still on the post-half-term to-do list, by the way.

But I did have a window last week for the 500CbyGucci.

The first 500 to get the Gucci makeover – by Gucci creative director Frida Giannini in collaboration with Centro Stile Fiat – was the tin-top, which is also available.

That collaboration was aimed at marking the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy and the 90th of the fashion house – not to mention extending the 500’s appeal to the most extremely dedicated of fashionistas, surely the only box still left unticked by the range.

To say it worked is an understatement.

And 3,000 online pre-orders and requests from all over the world led to the launch of the Fiat 500CbyGucci.

The combination of electrically-operated soft-top and Gucci enhancements do push the price up a fair bit – but it still makes a surprisingly good case for itself.

Any 500 is still one of the cutest things this side of a bug’s ear and the genius Gucci touch gives it a classy look while somehow avoiding making it look like a toddler who’s raided mum’s wardrobe and played dressing up.

There are just two colour options: white with glitter and brushed chrome-plated elements and black with glitter and shiny chrome-plated accents.

Either way, the soft top is black with the green-red-green Gucci web pattern running along its length. Gucci models ride on 16-inch alloys with retro design spokes while the hub centres have a double G logo matching the body colour.

And just to make sure the neighbours know which model this is, the tailgate and door pillars bear Gucci signatures in italics. Get inside and it’s even more obvious that this 500 is pretty special.

Gone is the body-colour fascia panel that evokes the tin dash of the original Cinquecento and instead there’s a black and ivory theme and the radio panel has a velvet-effect finish.

The seats are ivory and black leather with Guccissima print – and the leather steering wheel, with remote controls for the ICE, is two-tone, too, and that Gucci web theme appears everywhere from the mats to the seat belts.

Fittingly, the kit list is comprehensive: 500CbyGucci comes with automatic climate control system, seven airbags, Fiat’s acclaimed Blue&Me communication system, a car radio with CD-MP3 player and iPod adaptor – and rear parking sensors.

On a vehicle that squeezes into our small car parking spaces with almost two inches to spare, that lot might seem like overkill.

The folded roof can compromise rear visibility but those sensors make up for that, making the 500 one of the easiest things you will ever drive around a city or a tight-space town like ours.

The electric power steering makes low-speed manoeuvres a doddle and the 500 is usefully narrow by modern standards, too.

It’s not a bad car to press on in, either.

The test car came with the less powerful of the Gucci’s two engine options, the well-tried 1.2-litre eight-valve, while the other option is the smaller, dearer, more advanced TwinAir, which delivers 16 more bhp along with lower emissions and fuel consumption.

But while I might choose the TwinAir for higher mileage or UK motoring, a busy morning dashing hither and thither found the 1.2 more than adequate for most local drivers.

Those compact dimensions helped – with just about every route closed, they made the current national sport of rat-running almost as easy as if I’d been on two wheels.

And people who haven’t tried a 500 in a while – it was launched nearly four years ago – will find handling and ride both much improved following last year’s suspension upgrades. There’s more steering feel than formerly, too.

The cabriolet’s folding roof retracts electrically in three stages: normal sunroof, big sunroof and full Monty with its high level brake light left cleverly still standing.

More appreciated given the weather on test day, of course, were the roof’s excellent speed and ease of operation.

And it adds only 30kg to the car’s weight so it does nothing to spoil the 500’s excellent economy/emissions credentials.

And unlike some cabrio roofs, it doesn’t obliterate boot space.

You still have 185 litres, a little less than tin-top 500s, but the loadbay is a usable, square shape, which helps a lot.

Space for its four occupants is fine and access to the rear seats is no problem, despite there being only two passenger doors. It’s certainly a lot easier than getting into the third row of some alleged seven-seaters and it’s more comfortable when you get there.

So you want thrifty, you want luxury, you want compact, you want nippy, you want fun to drive and doddle to park?

You want to indulge yourself without upsetting the greens who live next door? Can’t have it all?

You can. I’ve seen the proof… in black and white.