I have a Fiat 500 press car at the moment, and am enjoying it a lot. While crawling around in the driver's footwell (don't ask) I noticed something you usually don't see behind the pedals: the steering column's U-joint.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think positioning this inside the actual cabin of the car is pretty uncommon. Even the Subaru Sambar kei truck I drove, while it had a very prominent steering rod, at least had the U-joint hidden outside of the cabin.
I don't dislike this, as it would make replacing it pretty easy, it looks like. It's just that I can imagine myself jumping in with some boots on, long laces flying akimbo, and as I clutch and brake one of those long tendrils starts to wrap around the steering column, coiling and winding ever tighter with each twist of the wheel, until the tension on my brake or clutch or both feet becomes unbearable, causing me to accelerate off an overpass and land comically inside a stakebed full of marshmallows and straw.
But that may be unlikely. Any owners out there have this experience? Curious.