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First Drive

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Fiat 500 Abarth

Test date 09 July 2008  Price as tested  TBA

What is it?

This the hottest production 500 yet - the Fiat 500 Abarth. You're unlikely to miss this fact, given its big wheels, sill extensions, rear spoiler, bold twin exhausts (they issue a pleasingly resonant rort), rear diffuser and some cheekily scaled Abarth badging.

There’s not a Fiat emblem to be seen on the Abarth 500, ramming home Fiat’s intentions for this hot sub-brand.

Its turbocharged 1.4 twin cam pushes out 133bhp and 152lb ft of torque in overboost, which is enough to slingshot the Abarth 500 to 62mph in 7.9sec. It rides on fat 195/45 R16 rubber and firmer suspension, with steering that’s more precise and improved clamping power.

Inside you’ll find seats cleverly sculpted and trimmed to resemble the buckets of the ‘60s, a combined turbo boost gauge and gearshift change-up light – it’s hung from the side of the leather covered instrument cowl. There are also leather finishes for gearlever and wheel, the wheel itself flat-bottomed and very good to look at, and alloy pedals. Again, there’s no mistaking Abarth’s intent.

What’s it like?

The Fiat 500 Abarth is pretty entertaining on the tracks that Abarth – now a company in its own right – believes are as much the car's natural habitat as the road.

It’s got plenty of grip, a fair measure of balance, good body control despite its height and decent brakes.

And a major aid to the 500 Abarth is its standard-fit torque transfer control, which quells wheelspin by applying individual brakes rather than cutting the engine’s power, an arrangement that improves the car’s fluency and rate of exit from bends. All of which makes driving it hard a lot more fun than any hot Fiat has been for a long time.

Most of the time the the 500 Abarth's engine delivers enough go to make the best of this dynamic armoury, although you do need to think about keeping it on boost through tight and twisty sections, and you can occasionally get lost between second and third.

But the past weaknesses of Fiats, such as limp brakes, poor poise and the feeling that the car might not be fundamentally robust, have been banished.

But there are a few flaws to the 500 Abarth, however. The electric power steering, whose assistance can be served in normal or sport modes, feels too springily resistant in sport around the straight-ahead, and it never delivers a heap of feel in either mode.

Happily, you get to know quite a bit about what the car is doing through your connection with that bucket seat. And in the normal setting some will find the wheel too light, although the car becomes very wieldy around town.

Overall, the steering is not as pure feeling as an Abarth ought to be. And though the 500 is well-balanced up to a point, its ultimate aim is to understeer - modulating the throttle, smoothly or aggressively, does little to alter its line. Instead, you must wait for the tight turn to pass.

The sport button does more than adjust the steering’s weight, incidentally, because it also alters the engine’s torque map and output.

In sport mode you get 152lb ft at 3000rpm, whereas in normal there’s 138lb ft at 2500, the aim being to make the car less peaky and more tractable. And it works. Some may find the engine a bit languid in this mode, but it makes the Abarth more driveable in town, and usefully, more economical besides.

Its engine is always a little bit more vocal than a standard 1.4-litre 500, its exhausts tuned to allow more noise into the cabin. It's not a great sound, in truth, as the appealing resonance that you hear outside turns to a bit of a drone and boom inside. It's a good thing, then, that it’s not too intrusive.

This is a small issue, however. The 500 Abarth's entertaining and agreeable character is far more likely to live with you when you’ve turned off the ignition. But we won’t know if this promise if fully realized until we try it in Britain - the Balocco test track on which we sampled is notorious for hiding suspension system’s failings over typical British B roads. That may be where the Mini Cooper, whose power delivery and responses feel less immediate than this car’s, turns the tables.

>>See more pics of the new Fiat 500 Abarth

Should I Buy One?

Absolutely, notwithstanding the question marks over the ride. Given past disappointments, with the Fiat Panda 100HP for instance, and numerous Alfas, we wouldn’t punch the PIN on a purchase before knowing the answer to this.

Otherwise, this is a charming car that scores not only with its lovingly detailed looks, decent powertrain and biddable chassis, but also its dual personalities, accessed via that sport button. It’s good value too, and there’s also pleasure to be had from option shopping, as with the Mini.

There’s a very good chance that this 500 will firmly nudge the Abarth brand into people’s consciousness.

Richard Bremner

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