Trying to pinpoint the reason you bond with a car is hard; one of the keys is the sound it makes, and the Brabus doesn't disappoint-it sounds great billowing through the Brabus sports exhaust. The 698cc, 101bhp 3 cylinder turbocharged unit really does sound like half a Porsche flat six [is this becoming a standard unit of measurement now, much like the 'size of Wales'? - Ed] with the addition of some turbo whooshes and whistles. It seems to have been tuned to sound best burbling along in 3rd gear at 30mph, and you can't help but smile when everyone within 100 yards turns to see what exotic car is racing up the road. With the body kit's super low stance, rather bling 17" monoblock wheels and twin exhausts, cruising in town is probably the car's obvious haunt. But out on the open road you can really exploit the low centre of gravity, huge grip and rear weight bias.

In the dry you'd have to be doing something intentional or very erratic to unstick the rear end, even with the traction control switched off. But in the wet or the snow -which we seem to have enjoyed more of than usual this year- the 60% weight over the rear can make things very entertaining. A snow filled car park can be a lot of fun, though in the real world hanging the tail out is probably more likely to get you a dangerous driving conviction. The default stability control stays on, which will sort things out if you really get out of shape and makes perfect sense when you need to be somewhere in a hurry on a wet windy night. The only downside is that when you spin up the rear wheels you can quickly hit the limiter, which then causes the semi-auto to change up -not the best thing for a car's balance when you're in the middle of a slide.

The gearbox comes in for a lot of press criticism but having lived with it for a year I'd genuinely not change it. I rarely use the automated clutch system (no clutch pedal) in full auto mode; the changes can be jerky and over eager to downshift but nice to have in stop-start traffic. Most of the time the steering wheel paddles are very effective -though I believe the software has gradually been improved and the Brabus tuned versions get quicker changes. When you learn to add a little throttle on the down changes (it doesn't blip the throttle like a Ferrari unfortunately), you can make smooth fast changes that are as good as an average manual.

The transmission also has the novelty of race mode built into it, which can be fun for traffic light grandprix too: if you floor the accelerator it will rev to the limit and make faster auto shifts without you touching the up paddle, the gears banging through in quick succession. The car isn't about sprinting though-hampered by not dumping the clutch for a fast launch, after which the gear changes -it needs almost of four of them to 60- further eats into the time. Once on the move though, in-gear acceleration is comparable to warm hatches; think VTR type performance.

This is a car with soul. It has flaws but it's greater than the sum of its parts. Sitting so low, it feels like you're going twice as fast as the speedo says. And in a world of speed cameras low speed fun is more and more attractive. Some of my most fun memories were cornering a Cinquecento Sporting on the door handles trying to keep up with a stream of faster cars.

Never has being green been so much fun. Try rolling the roof back (at any speed from inside the car) while maintaining momentum through the corners and still sip fuel at over 50mpg. Plus plastic panels that won't dent or ding makes it less of a worry when it comes to parking, though watch out for kerbs with those 35 section tyres. It's a fun car, people smile as you go past and some stop to ask what it is. I've not had a single road-rage incident in this car since it doesn't seem to threaten or menace other road users.

This car has reminded me why I enjoy driving so much.