Little details that make you Smile!

that face

Lupos have one too. There's a good chance it's the same for every VAG car of that era.

In fact my Lupo has a few little things that would have cost no extra money to add, just a bit of thought during the design process. There are slots beside the rear parcel shelf to hold the rear seat belt buckles out of the way when you fold the rear seats down and there are holes in the rear seat bases to store the headrests if you want to take them off. There's a little slot in the petrol cap so you can hook it on the flap when refuelling.

Nothing comes close to the Mk1 Panda in this respect though. As well as the hammock seats, fabric dash, etc I am still impressed that someone put so much thought into designing the washer bottle. As well as holding washer fluid it locates the spare wheel, has a molded in clip for the bonnet prop and cutouts to hold a screwdriver and wheel brace.

I love cars that are so full of their own idiosyncrasies that most people wouldn't be able to drive them. OK, we've all had cars with strange quirks & habits but I mean cars that 95% of people wouldn't be able to drive straight off. e.g. my Dad's Lotus VI;
Lotus VI dashboard detail by Chris, on Flickr

It has a very peculiar start up sequence, if you fluff it you've had it as the engine will have flooded.
If you've managed to get it fired up on the starter button and ticking over, the drivers footwell is very narrow which means that all three pedals are incredibly close together. If you have a wide shoe you can depress all 3 pedals at once so you need to learn car pedal ballet, operating the pedals with the slimmest side of your foot.
It's a crash gearbox with little in the way of functional synchromesh, crunch it into the top left slot, that's first gear right? Nope it's a Ford 3-speed box so that's actually reverse. First is where 2nd should be, by the time you're in third gear you'll be fishing to find a fourth gear that doesn't exist.
Before you pull off you have to release the handbrake, pressing the button has no effect, it's a fly-off handbrake so you just pull it towards you and let go to release the parking brake. To park you need to pull it on then press the button in.
You learn that double-declutching is safer than trusting to old synchromesh which wasn't that hot when it was new.
This was a much lower revving (sidevalve) engine which didn't usually soak up particularly high miles so you need to keep the revvs at sensible levels. The lightness of the car means the engine pulls well considering it was originally rated 10 horsepower.
Instruments and switches are easily learned but the brakes take a bit more getting used to, no fancy hydraulics here just rod & cable operation and they're definitely not anti-lock.
Cornering at speed; feels a bit hairy with the rudimentary suspension and the skinny Ford wheels but this was meant to go around a track at speed so the roadholding isn't bad.
Master all the above and you feel that you're in a special 'old car' club.

The way the rear wiper parks vertically because it's more aerodynamic. The textured black decal around the rear glass (like all 80s hot hatches have!). The trigger door handles. The shape of the door mirrors. I could go on... I just love mk2 Golfs!