Fiat 500 Abarth or VW Golf GTI?

[Ladderspike]

Im not sure if this is in the right forum, but if you could help me out that would be great. Anyways, this will be my first car so its going to be a daily commuter. Ill be taking it to and from my university. Thankfully my parents will be helping me out with paying for it. My concerns are not with the performance, but more so bang for my buck and also street cred. Personally I think the interior on the 500 is really nice looking with the leather used and whatnot, it also seems that the 500 comes with quite a few features. Not sure if im going to be finding the same thing with the Golf. Also since im not some child millionaire it has to be decently affordable. The Golf GTI has a higher starting price which is quite a downside. Finally though I dont want to buy a car Im going to be made fun of for. Im not a little girl about these kind of things and I really think the Abarth is cool car, but my friends are the Mustang and Camaro muscle car kind of guys(best friend has a Boss 302). Is there any chance of getting respect with a 500? Thanks for the help.