ferg said:

Sorry mate, didn't mean to cause offence. I was just going along the lines that all the owners ive seen in a 500 are women. Literally, all of them, so i was just going along with those lines i've seen in my area. No offence was meant. To anyone btw, sorry if i did offend anyone.

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No offence taken - perish the thought!

You're right, it seems most 500's are driven by women (I don't see enoughof them to make a judgement on that), though I reckon, as Sunsets pointed out earlier, so is any small, frugal car. I was just trying to get to why you describe the 500 as a 'woman's car' per se.

I go along with Clogs; when you reach a 'certain age' you tend to look at cars differently and appreciate qualities you scoffed at in your boy-racer years.

Piccolo Nero e Bella said:

The one that puzzled me was the reference to MX-5's as hairdresser's cars. My final choice was a toss-up between an MX-5 and the 500. The C won for its easier ingress/egress (perhaps due to my being mostly middle-aged or older ). If I had bought the MX I expect I would have been accused of having a 'mid-life crisis' instead of driving a 'girly' car?

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With the MX-5 you'd be pigeonholed as a gay hairdresser (not that there's anything wrong with that, just passing on the silly stereotypes I've heard).

A common weird macho stereotype seems to be that open-top convertibles = gay and/or girly
So for men:
MINI Cooper S = awesome
MINI Cooper S cabrio = nonononono

I guess the 500C sort of sneaks in under that as it's not a true convertible, it just has a big fabric roof that opens halfway. At least, that's what I tell myself

44sunsets said:

With the MX-5 you'd be pigeonholed as a gay hairdresser (not that there's anything wrong with that, just passing on the silly stereotypes I've heard).

A common weird macho stereotype seems to be that open-top convertibles = gay and/or girly
So for men:
MINI Cooper S = awesome
MINI Cooper S cabrio = nonononono

I guess the 500C sort of sneaks in under that as it's not a true convertible, it just has a big fabric roof that opens halfway. At least, that's what I tell myself

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Right or wrong I tend to call the 500C a cabriolet and the MX-5 a convertible - probably wrong but it's how I distinguish between the style of soft-top.

I love the MX-5, I was working at Mazda when the first one was released and got to take one home for a week (what a week!). The only reasons I haven't got one now are practical. It is "l'auto del mio cuore" to borrow a phrase. And I'd be rather amused at being taken for a gay hairdresser if I didn't know that was actually supposed to be a depreciatory judgement of the car rather than the driver.

Our next-door neighbour just swapped his MINI Cooper S for an MX-5... wonder if he's heard that?

try driving a Seicento 0.9 with 39 bhp
that's the definition of gutless!

No man looks right in a convertible, I'm sorry, but it's true. But the 500c is acceptable. This is not an opinion, it's the law

Ulpian said:

No man looks right in a convertible, I'm sorry, but it's true. But the 500c is acceptable. This is not an opinion, it's the law

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So what you're saying is; no man looks right in a convertible unless it's a 'girly' car - have I got that right?

Nowt wrong with a bloke in a Duetto Spider. Or a 124 Spider. Or an MX5. I could go on