What I really meant was that a tie-up with Illy, for instance, would have been much more prestigious. Apart from being much better coffee, you could have had that really smart, aluminium theme carried on in the interior. (As a multiple Panda owner, my participation in this discussion is entirely theoretical as I don't go in for décor.)
Don't berate yourself
I think everyone's opinion is valuable. Perhaps some people might simply not be representative of the audience that the vehicle is targeted at, but it's all useful in some way
Personally I don't agree that the 500 is too retro, sure I'd be lying if I said it was an entirely modern car, sure it does have a lot of retro touches but aside from the fact that it's a 3 door and the roofline compromises rear headroom, none of it gets in the way of it being a good car and a fairly useable one at that.
Personally I much prefer the 500 interior to the Mini one for instance
To me that is trying too hard and is compromised by the fact that it's been retro-ised.
To me the 500 interior is great, it would be nicer to see some better quality materials, but it's very useable and functional and the single instrument cluster works really well. I'm not a fan of it in ivory because I think it goes towards the Mini end of the scale plus it adds another colour to the interior which doesn't work well IMHO.
In terms of looks I think a 500 with some nice wheels in a nice colour and without any of the silly a bar and bonnet line chrome trims can look like a fairly modern car?
I don't have any great pictures with me at work, but I don't think my car looks anything like one of the silly contrived (IMHO of course....) 500's in a retro pastel colour driving around with the retro chrome trims and every bit of accessory chrome that can be found.
Of course all of the above is just opinion, but I think a 500 in a nice modern colour with some nice wheels and without too much chrome, can look fairly modern?
Whereas something like this looks a bit OTT?