has going for it is its styling. That isn't to say the rest of the car
isn't worth writing home about – quite the contrary, actually – but if
there's one driving factor that makes you want to run to the
,
it's how it looks. You'll read a vast variety of opinions across this
great big Interweb about the 500 Abarth's driving dynamics, interior
refinement and value, but you'll be hard-pressed to find one critic who
considers the Abarth anything less than
Smart, then, that the Chrysler Group chose to employ European goddess supermodel
starring the 500 Abarth, ending the 60-second commercial with the phrase, "You'll never forget the first time you see one."
So three months after we first met the North American-spec 500 Abarth in person at the
,
we finally got the chance to see if our lust for the cute little
Italian runs more than skin-deep. On Fiat's invitation we hit the roads –
and track – around Las Vegas to see exactly how powerful the scorpion's
sting really is.
Dimensionally, the 500 Abarth is nearly the same as the Sport model on
which it's based, save the fact that the front fascia has been pushed
out by 2.7 inches (to make room for the larger engine) and that the
whole car sits 15 millimeters lower to the ground. Cosmetic changes up
front include a blacked-out grille with integrated fog lamps, as well as
larger air intakes to better cool the turbocharged engine. Around back,
a larger liftgate-mounted spoiler has been added to provide better
downforce, and there's a new two-piece fascia with dual exhaust tips and
a big ol' diffuser in the middle.
Standard rolling stock is a set of smoke-finished 16-inch alloy wheels
wrapped in 195/45-series Pirelli Cinturato P7 all-season rubber, but if
you're smart, you'll skip the standard wheel-and-tire package and
upgrade to the 17-inch kit. Here you get decidedly more attractive
12-spoke wheels, rendered in either a dark alloy or bright white finish
like the ones on our test car (which we really, really like, by the way)
wrapped in stickier 205/40-series Pirelli P-Zero Nero three-season
tires. We found these shoes provided plenty of grip while tossing the
Abarth around Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas, but on the track,
we'd really like some proper summer performance tires for maximum grip
in the corners.
While we unabashedly love the Abarth's exterior, it's too bad we can't
say the same thing about the interior, where the car is already showing
signs of its age. Remember, the 500 may have been launched in the United
States as a 2011 model, but the car has been around in Europe since
2007, as evidenced by the fact that a lot of the plastics and switchgear
feel decidedly last-generation, or at least discount.
Specific interior changes for the Abarth include a turbo boost gauge in
the instrument panel, as well as a thicker, leather-wrapped steering
wheel with a flat bottom for better hand-to-helm interaction while
tossing the hot hatch about. We wish the wheel were smaller in diameter,
but our big gripe here are that there's no telescope function to the
steering column, and in a sort of typical Italian fashion, the wheel
itself is mounted on an inward slant so the top is further from the
driver than the bottom.
It's hard to get a comfortable seating position because of this, and
drivers with longer legs and shorter arms will feel like they're
reaching too far while sitting too close to the pedals. What's more, the
high-riding feeling of the standard 500 carries over, and while there's
a manual vertical adjustment feature for the driver's seat, we kept
trying to force the lever down past its lowest setting since we commonly
felt like we were sitting way too high off the ground for a sporting
car.
Abarth models come with cloth sport seats as standard kit, though
leather seating surfaces are optional. There's no nifty
infotainment/navigation screen to be had, but Fiat does offer an
optional TomTom unit that can be mounted to the dash just to the right
of the gauge cluster. The manual shift knob is also now wrapped in
leather and there are aluminum pedal covers, but that aside, there isn't
much to separate this car from the base 500. The plastics on the door
and center console feel cheap, and little details like the chrome rings
around the window switches and the general feel of the buttons aren't
great. Strangely, even though the two companies have only recently
partnered up, there's just so much in this Fiat that reminds us of the
Old Chrysler. You know, Dodge Caliber Chrysler.
But we shouldn't be too hard on the interior. After all, the 500 Abarth's main competitor is the
Mini Cooper S,
which is an ergonomic mess inside, despite the fact that we've had many
years to get used to all of the funny toggle switches and over-sized
dinner plate speedometer. The Mini no doubt has a bit more space for
passengers and cargo, but we're still torn as to which cabin we'd rather
sit in, especially on longer trips. Hot hatches are all about dynamics,
though, so we'll forgive the Fiat's lackluster interior and get down to
what's really important: driving.
The 500 Abarth is powered by Fiat's 1.4-liter MultiAir turbocharged
inline four-cylinder engine, which delivers 160 horsepower and 170
pound-feet of maximum torque. You have to engage Sport mode to get the
full 170, otherwise the car will default to only delivering 150 lb-ft of
twist. Sport mode also alters the steering and throttle response, and
trust us, you'll want to push this button each and every time you start
the car.
Off the line in Sport mode there's a huge amount of power available
right at initial throttle tip-in, though it quickly fades away as you
keep your right foot down. More annoyingly, the clutch pedal offers very
little feedback, and it's tough to accurately feel the engagement point
for first gear when pulling away from a stop. In most cases, this means
you'll be revving the hell out of the little four-banger before setting
off, but in some cases, while you're getting used to it, you may just
stall. A five-speed manual transmission is the only available
cog-swapper, and while a sixth gear would be nice (engineers told us
that there simply wasn't room to package an additional gear),
performance and fuel economy don't really suffer as a result. Be nice,
and you'll manage 28/34 miles per gallon (city/highway).
Fiat claims that the 500 Abarth will sprint to 60 miles per hour in 7.2
seconds, 0.6 seconds behind a Cooper S. Keep in mind, the Mini may have
21 more horsepower and seven more pound-feet of torque, but it's also
135 pounds heavier. A lot of this can be chalked up to the fact that
while both the Fiat and the Mini deliver peak horsepower at 5,500 RPM,
the Cooper's torque peaks from 1,700 to 4,500 RPM, while the 500's peak
twist is only available from 2,600 to 4,100 RPM. You really need to dig
into the Fiat to pull out the most power (hello, turbo lag), whereas
with the Mini, it's ready to go more often.
Before we get into the actual handling dynamics, we have to talk about
the most surprising part of the Abarth experience: its exhaust. The
little hatch has a loud, deep, throaty growl that sounds classically
Italian and even a bit
Lamborghini-esque
when you really wind it up. It grumbles and gargles at idle, with our
co-driver pointing out that it almost sounds like a tractor at times –
downright agricultural – and while cruising on the highway, it's quiet
and reserved. If the styling is our favorite thing about the Abarth, the
exhaust is easily our runner-up. Hear for yourself in our Short Cut
video below.
Fiat engineers improved upon the 500 Sport's suspension by adding a
unique front MacPherson setup with 40 percent stiffer springs and better
lower control arms. Out back there's a twist-beam setup with a
40-percent more torsionally rigid rear axle, 20-percent stiffer springs
and a 22-millimeter Abarth-specific solid stabilizer bar. All that
technical mumbo-jumbo means the Fiat was impeccably well-behaved during
our drive from the Las Vegas strip out to Spring Mountain Motorsports
Ranch in Pahrump, Nevada. Despite its small wheelbase, the suspension
isn't overly crashy on city streets or broken pavement, and the ride
quality is firm yet comfortable while cruising on the highway. Because
the chassis isn't as rigid as other track-focused hatches, there's a bit
of body roll in the bends, but we can live with that one caveat if it
allows the suspension to be so smooth.
The steering setup, however, is a bit of an issue. In its standard mode,
the Abarth's steering suffers from the same problem as the base 500:
being slow to respond and not offering much feedback, especially
on-center, despite having a 10-percent quicker steering ratio (15.1:1,
up from 16.3:1 in the 500 Sport). You'd think that pressing the Sport
button would solve this, but all it really does is make the steering
feel artificially heavy, still lacking enough feedback to really make it
engaging. It's not terrible, and the Abarth's small size and
well-sorted suspension still made it tossable along the roads near Red
Rock Canyon, but we know that a Cooper S wouldn't take nearly as much
steering effort to drive enthusiastically while still returning a
similar – if not higher – level of fun.
On the track, things get really interesting. For best results, we spent
most of our laps in second and third gear, revving above 4,000 RPM, only
shifting into fourth on the front and back straights. And while it's
easy to drive the Abarth hard, the 64/36 front/rear weight distribution
causes a couple of problems. We commonly hit speeds as high as 90 or 95
mph on the long back straight, and when hitting the brakes to prepare
for the next turn, the front end would load up and the little Fiat's
butt would wiggle a bit. That heavy front end also means there's
noticeable understeer while cornering, and the twist-beam rear
suspension will allow the back end to get squirrely at times, but it's
all completely safe. You'd really have to try hard to lose control, and
the overall experience is more along the lines of hooliganism than
precision.
Once again, the natural comparison here is to that of the hot hatch
stalwart Mini Cooper S, which Fiat had on hand for us to take on
competitive drives. While we weren't able to drive the Mini on the
track, our extensive experience with the Cooper S leads us to believe
that we'd be able to pull off quicker lap times simply due to the better
steering, better power delivery and more sophisticated multi-link rear
suspension.
The 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth goes on sale at the end of March, with first
deliveries starting in early April. The cost of entry: $22,000, not
including $700 for destination. Check every option box and you'll sit
just below the $27,000 mark. That seems hefty at first glance, but
consider that a similarly equipped Cooper S costs nearly $4,000 more,
and the Mini's price can go even higher if you option for things like
navigation and the cold weather package, not to mention the seemingly
endless styling decisions. While that might make the Abarth seem like a
bargain, consider also that the Mini's higher price accurately reflects
how much better it is to drive. A base
Acura TSX starts at $29,810 and a base
BMW 3 Series costs about $5,000 more. Those are very different cars, but they're still entertaining, and not surprisingly, we'd take the
BMW every single time.
But we still want the Abarth. So much. On the drive home from Spring
Mountain that afternoon, we stopped at a gas station and spent the
better part of ten minutes just staring at the thing, examining its
lines, dissecting its design, and talking about what little tweaks we'd
make once we plunked down our hard-earned cash for one. Does it make
mistakes? Many. But then again, even Ms. Menghia must stumble in her
high heels from time to time.
