Spent a very enjoyable few hours blatting across the North Yorkshire Moors last week in the newest hot hatch from Abarth. If you’ve not heard of the brand it’s the in-house performance division of Fiat, but is a separate company. If you buy the Fiat 500C Abarth (above), you’re buying an Abarth 500C and that’s what it says on the V5 log book. The car is the hot version of the convertible 500 and features the same 1.4-litre turbocharged powerplant, though the engine management system has been retuned to offer another 5bhp, boosting it to 140bhp. You’re looking at 0-62mph in 8.1 seconds so it’s a proper pocket rocket. The short wheelbase means this car was never going to have the smoothest ride, but the Abarth team have done a good job making it as sporty as possible without being crashy. New on this model is a paddleshift gearchange on the automatic transmission – there’s no manual version yet – and it works really well. I also got the chance to drive the car on a private test track, and it didn’t disappoint there either. At £17,500 the Abarth 500C isn’t cheap, but you’re getting a premium performance product that marks you out from the crowd.
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