Motoring Review

PLATINUM

PLATINUM

POCKET ROCKET

What makes the perfect city car? By Maarten Hoffmann

That’s a question that has been asked for many years and always with an assortment of answers.

For me it is size, turning circle, cost of body parts for all those dinks and scratches that will inevitably arise, fuel consumption, capacity (i.e., how many kids, bags of groceries you can get in?), and the all-important factor –fun!

Look no further than the Abarth 595. The 500 we all know but the addition of the word Abarth maybe not so much. Abarth is an Italian tuning house, launched by Carlo Abarth in 1949. It began its association with Fiat in 1952, essentially tuning its engines to enable Fiat to boast some high performance models – much like AMG for Mercedes, and M-Sport for BMW. Fiat purchased Abarth in 1971 and it is now regarded as their racing department.

The fi rst 500 Abarth was introduced in 1964 and, as if they needed it, helped the slightly deranged Italians drivers to go even faster around their tiny town streets. In 2008, Fiat re-launched the model and, as you can see on the streets where you live, it is selling very well.

As you know, my preference is very fast V8s or V12s; lots of noise, 0-60 in under three seconds, and topping out at over 200 mph. I know l’m a dinosaur and, to be frank, l don’t give a hoot but it begs the question as to why l love this car so much. We have the Mini Cooper S, Ford Fiesta ST, VW UP GTl and a few more besides and they are all good, fast little cars but the Fiat has something the others do not – character. And bundles of it.

It comes in an array of crazy colours, and a few understated ones. You can customise with stripes and patterns, it has lots of muscular touches such as the bumpers, a rear spoiler, a rear diffuser, funky wheels and more besides – and did l mention character?

The Fiesta ST is bigger and only a tad more on price, but for me, it fails to make me smile; fails to make me want to get in and drive. I got in the Abarth and drove to Bath and back for an offspring’s University visit and blimey, it really is quick and great fun. It also has a noise that is quite addictive – not quite a McLaren roar of course but a very satisfying deep growl that will always make you feel as if you are

TECH STUFF

MODEL TESTED: 595C 1.4 T-Jet ENGINE: 1.4-litre, 4 cylinder POWER: 165 bhp SPEED: 0-62 7.3 secs TOP: 134 mph ECONOMY: 40.9 mpg combined PRICE FROM: £23,475 AS TESTED: £24,875

❛❛ The Abarth has something the others do not – character. And bundles of it ❜❜

which l find a joy - it’s car and driver. It works well on the motorway but it is not really a M-way car as it essentially comes into its own in town and on B-roads.

The interior is a tad aged and little changed since its inception in 2008 but nothing to really annoy. The lovely Sabelt buckets seats are great but there is no height adjust so tall drivers will feel a tad cramped. However, l’m 6’1” and really didn’t have an issue.

The back seats are really for kids and small adults and the boot is only 185-litres but then this is a small town car so what do you expect? Go to Waitrose, two bags in the boot and the rest on the back seats and off you go.

My need for speed can be ignored if so desired as with the scorpion button off, it is a sedate and so very easy to drive, park and manoeuvre. It’s fast, can be furious and simple to drive but the key is fun. Life can be a pain in the derriere so why not have some fun when you get into your car?

Make it about the journey and not the destination.

going faster than you are, and you can even get a bit of pop and bang on the overrun.

There are almost too many models to mention but l will try: 595, 695, Competizione, Turismo, Biposto, Turbo T, esseesse, Tributo Ferrari and there’s a convertible – Gawd, there’s probably more but who’s got the time? So, let’s look at the Competizione with its quad-exit ‘Record Monza’ exhaust system.

The ride is quite hard, but then it has been lowered and carries a sports suspension and can unsettle itself on mid-corner bumps. But the trade-off is the scorpion button (sport) that immediately doubles the weight of the steering.

Get too lively on the ‘go’ pedal and you will receive some tyre scrabble as those little front tyres fight for grip but get it just right – and the thing fires off the line like a scalded cat with a rocket up its chuff. It loves to go through the gears and you can even re-visit the toe/ heel action on the changes to get the most out of it.

There’s no sixth gear so it works hard on the motorway over 70mph, and there are no active safety features,

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