Certain things are given. Taxes, death, the inevitability of bellybutton fluff regardless of the quality of sweater or shirt you choose. Here's another one. Small Korean cars are about as appealing as giving yourself a paper cut and pouring lemon juice into it.
So, the prospect of guiding Kia's new super-mini, the Picanto, through Italian traffic was... unappealing to say the least.
It wasn't improved much by being met by a typically beaming, happy-faced little beast at Florence airport. Big headlights, flattish-nose, cheery grill, all say 'Hey! I'm tremendous fun', in a young latte-drinking, scoot around the city with three of my scrubbed and funkily dressed young friends kind of way. The kind of way that all superminis do these days.
Not that that's entirely bad. While it's not particularly innovative or architecturally arresting, the Picanto puts you at ease with its uniformity. I am, it says, a regular guy. You, it says, can count on me.
And that reassurance it carried through to the interior - a standard, off the shelf blend of funky coloured fabric and grey plastic.
But again it's good. The 'funkiness' has not, thankfully, extended to putting dials and controls in 'interesting' places. The clocks, the heater controls and the CD player are all well poisitioned and utilitarian. The seats, while not massively adjustable - just forward and reclining - are comfortable, vaguely sporty in feel and do an admirable job of not killing your back. Sitting behind the height adjustable wheel, I was content. It felt, from the decor point of view, like a proper car. Sure there are flimsy bits. The door locks and handles have the feel of being left overs from a previous, horrible little car but by and large it's solid, well screwed together and confident.
So far, so supermini. But what about when you start it up? Not so solid then eh? All those well-screwed together bits start loosening up then right?
Amazingly no. On the road, the Picanto feels like a much bigger car. Engine noise is, for a car of this class, suprisingly low. Rattling up a hill on an Italian A road at 120km/h in fifth should have been loosening every tooth in my head while the 1.1-litre engine howled Flight of the Bumblebee through my head.
But the Picanto tugged away like Thomas the Tank Engine and in a quiet and uncomplaining manner. I could even comfortably listen to dreadful Italian pop songs on the radio.
The steering too is sure enough. A lot of superminis, inspire zero confidence when attempting anything daring at speed, but Kia's little car was agile, and poised.
In short, the Picanto, is surprising little package. Kia are pinning a lot on this their first foray into small car territory and have designed it specifically at the European market. And they've done an admirable job.
The Picanto is aimed at stealing sales away from particularly the Fiat Panda. It's not innovative, it's not alarmingly pretty. Its added value comes elsewhere, however. When it arrives in May it will feature disc brakes all round, ABS, EBD, a three-year unlimited mileage warranty and a raft of interior extras unlikely to feature of a lot of its class rivals and crucially Kia are aiming to undercut the Panda on price.
If they can deliver all that, then it's definitely worth a serious look.