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Awe-struck

Lot to rave about The Abarth has disc brakes all around and a very clever Torque Transfer Control system

It’s 9 in the morning and it’s already collar-wetting hot. My day started about four hours ago, so I’m feeling a bit washed out and in real need of a strong cuppa.

That’s till this little bit of wickedness blares up to the forecourt. Coffee forgotten, grogginess washed away, heat ignored, smile enhanced.

The Abarth 500 glints under a glaring Indian sun. The first clue of this car’s sporting intent comes from the 205/40 ZR17 Pirelli PZero Neros. The Lamborghini Diablo and the Ferrari F40 used PZeros. The Ferrari 599GTB and the Porsche 911 use PZero rubber.

The next clue comes from the bulging chin. It’s bulging because behind it is the air-to-air intercooler. It feeds the turbocharger with cool air.

You can do this all day with the Abarth 500. It looks so delicious, you want to walk around it, picking out that diffuser at the rear, the twin tailpipes, that deep-set chin and those Abarth ‘Scorpion’ badges plastered around the car. What you won’t find is a Fiat badge.

It’s a sign. A sign to tell you that this isn’t a regular Fiat. It’s a 500 with a 1.4-litre, 16-valve, 136bhp turbo-petrol. It’s a 500 that weighs 1,035 kilos. It’s a 500 that almost matches the power to weight ratio of a BMW 325i. There’s a Sport mode which lifts the maximum torque peak from 19kgm to 21kgm and makes power delivery a little more peaky too. Let’s do some driving.

Founder Carlo Abarth was a bit of a nut. He’d stuff big motors into small cars. Whether they fit or not was another matter, but some ran with their engine lids propped open to keep them cool. So, to say I have expectations of this new Abarth 500 is understating things a bit.

I’m excited to dwell on the red-on-black stitching on the seats, too excited to feel the fantastic cabin quality and too absorbed in twisting the key to glance at the boost gauge and the shift light. The sound from the twin pipes is a bit disappointing to be honest. It’s not as deep or as loud as the car’s looks suggest. Anyway, Sport mode engaged, clutch in, first gear and off. At 3000rpm is where the turbo wakes up. It’s where you start smiling.

Shift light, clutch in, grab second. More of the same. Shift light, clutch in, shift to third. I’m already at 120kph when the first bend appears. Back off a bit, take the turn and realise how quickly we went around that corner. It’s deceptive, this car. The tremendous grip from those wide tyres, the absolute lack of body roll and its big-car feel lull you into thinking you aren’t doing anything heroic, when you actually are.

Should you get carried away by the car’s seemingly endless grip, the Abarth has disc brakes all around and a very clever Torque Transfer Control system (TTC). It works like an electronic limited slip differential. The TTC system allocates power to the front wheel with more grip, and brakes the other one to kill wheelspin, without interrupting the engine’s power delivery.

This last bit is important. It means that you won’t feel the system interfering when you’re having fun. It means you can throw the car at bends with relative abandon, knowing the electronics will sort things out. Within reason, of course.

Grouses? The steering wheel. It’s too big and it’s too artificial. The Sport mode adds weight to the wheel, but it still misses out on feel. The price. At Rs 16.8 lakh (estimated), it’ll be more expensive than the Fiat 500 Multi-Jet. Actually it’s not that bad, considering the Abarth is so much more fun. Fiat should bring this car to India, but there’s that big headache of homologation.

So why is this car on this page?

Against expectations, Fiat has already sold every one of the 45 ‘regular’ 500s it brought to India.

Maybe there are enough crazy souls out there to buy an Abarth 500. If you ask me, this is the 500. It’s a fun-to-drive car and you feel good to sit in. So come on Fiat . . . be wicked. Or better still, bring us the even wilder 160bhp 500 Abarth esseesse.

Abarth’s birth

Abarth is to Fiat what AMG is to Mercedes-Benz and M is to BMW. Founded by Austrian Karl Abarth (who became known as Carlo after he moved to Turin, Italy) in 1949, the company specialised in tuning Fiats, particularly the rear-engined 600s.

The cars began winning races. So many that Fiat would pay Abarth everytime one of its cars came first or second. Abarth’s successes led him to develop prototype racing cars of his own. The races came to an end when in 1971, Fiat bought over Abarth, using the name for various high performance models over the years. The latest of which are the Punto Abarth and the 500 Abarth.

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