Mild hybrid Fiat Grande Panda is quirky, fun and it is promoted by.. er.. Shaggy

WE are driving through one of the most beautiful villages in Italy - Montefiore d'Alba.

- BY MAGGIE BARRY

Fortunately we are in the new Fiat Grande Panda and I say this because I mistakenly followed the nav to the old church at the top overlooking the vineyards of Barolo.

The way down is not assured.

This is not where we are supposed to be, not one jot, so we decide this time to follow our noses. Bad mistake.

The narrow cobbled streets are a challenge and the angles of the houses at the corners even more so.

There is something unexpected at each turn and in almost any other car I don't think we would have made it.

And we nearly didn’t when we came up against a steel barrier which forced us into a 15-point turn, before, unbelievably, we found some Tarmac and the road back to Fiat's Centro Stile in Turin.