Maybe you long for the shrieks of a rich red Ferrari but live with the humdrum thrum of a silver Sentra.

You crave fast, furious and sleek and get 13-inch wheels, 35 miles per gallon and mouse-fur seats.

Life loves a good joke, doesn’t it?

On Saturdays, when you should be howling down the Autostrada with luscious Lola, you shuffle between a windy soccer field and dusty softball diamond with your weary significant other.

And at the end of the day, an overgrown lawn, two cranky kids and Red Lobster await you. (Savor those sips of iced tea like they were fine white wine, Bub.)

But, hey, I can at least get you a date with a distant cousin of the Ferrari, the 2016 Fiat 500X — the jaunty, stylish Viagra-mobile from one of television’s funniest commercials.

Laugh if you will at the thought of a 180-horsepower Ferrari substitute, but Fiat’s spicy new crossover may be the best vehicle the extremely Italian automaker builds.

For better or worse, it also shines as Fiat’s most mainstream offering — though that’s a bit like saying pizza contains most of the essential food groups.

As you may recall, Fiat re-entered the U.S. five years ago with the tiny 500 coupe, a modern rendition of the beloved Cinquecento that has been banging around in Europe for decades, still looking as if it had strayed from a circus.

Probably way too small for most Americans, the 500 was joined a couple of years ago by the 500L, a swollen, profoundly clumsy-looking four-door version of the 500.

That, too, seemed far outside our groove.

But stand back and take a good look at the X.

We can probably thank immensely American Jeep for the X’s fine proportions, though the styling is all Fiat. The X shares a platform with the new Jeep Renegade and emerges as the more alluring, better-dressed of the two.

Moreover, while both roll on the same global platform from Fiat Chrysler, the X feels distinctly different from the Renegade.

The “Trekking Plus” model I had recently glowed in a sort of University of Texas Longhorn shade of orange that Fiat calls Arancio.

It seemed surprisingly taut, something I would not say about many modern cute-conscious Fiats.

Eighteen-inch wheels wrapped with meaty 23 5/45 tires occupied the far corners of the X’s body, giving it an aggressive stance that looked more American than European.

Up front, the X broadcast “different” in a familiar Fiat sort of way. Large oval-shaped Fiat 500-style headlamps protruded from a grille that curved defiantly into the wind, sporting only one polished bar.

Beneath it, a swept-back bumper looked like some sort of stylized off-road skid-plate.

Meanwhile, a short, broad hood bumped into a large windshield tempered some by a gracefully curved top.

As you might expect in a compact crossover of limited length, the doors took up most of the X’s lightly curved sides, and a hatchback added some utility. A crisp character line down low made the slightly thick crossover seem leaner.

From most angles, the X looked a bit smug — and I don’t blame it.

With most Fiats, you can imagine some guy named Adamo zinging through the gears of an overworked 500, matching bad opera high notes to every redline shift.

That’s really not the 500X.

Powered by a 2.4-liter four with 180 horses — also found in the Jeep Renegade — the X pulls away from stops with smooth, albeit mild, enthusiasm.