Latest news with #CarloAbarth
Auto Express
24-06-2025
- Automotive
- Auto Express
Used Abarth 500 (2009-2024) buyer's guide: fast and fun if you can find the right one
There's nothing quite like an Abarth 500, in that this is a car with character that's fun to drive, raucous and fast. But compared with most of its rivals, it's cramped, and thanks to its unyielding suspension it's also uncomfortable. Depending on which exhaust system is fitted, it can also be extremely noisy. The Abarth 500 is definitely a car for enthusiasts who are willing to accept compromise, plus it looks brilliant and is sure to be a classic in years to come. The key is to buy an example that's been cherished and specified when new with some choice options. Do this and you'll have a keeper that, as long as it's reliable, will have you grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Advertisement - Article continues below Back in the sixties, Britain's roads were teeming with Minis, and there was the Cooper for those who wanted a hot edition. In Italy it was the Fiat 500 that put the nation on wheels, and the sporting version was the Abarth, courtesy of independent tuner Carlo Abarth. A few Abarth-tuned Fiat 500s reached the UK in the Swinging Sixties, but it wasn't until Fiat had acquired the company and launched it as a separate brand in 2008 that it became truly familiar to UK buyers. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below View Ibiza View Kuga View A-Class Abarth's first cars here were the Punto and 500 hatchbacks, with the latter morphing into the 595 and much rarer 695 in subsequent years. For simplicity throughout this guide we'll simply call all Abarth 500 derivatives the '500', unless we're referring to a specific model. The Abarth 500 reached the UK in spring 2009, with a 135bhp turbocharged 1.4-litre engine. Initially only a hatchback was available, but from July 2008 the 500C convertible went on sale, with a roll-back cloth roof and the same 135bhp 1.4-litre powerplant as the hard-top version. At first all 500Cs came with a semi-automatic gearbox, but from June 2011 a five-speed manual transmission was available (a common bugbear with owners is that it's not a six-speed transmission). Then the 160bhp 1.4-litre 595 Turismo and Competizione arrived in August 2012, with manual or automatic transmissions. The 595 Competizione was given a power boost to 178bhp in May 2015. Advertisement - Article continues below Fresh instrumentation was introduced in June 2014, while a standard touchscreen improved connectivity from spring 2019. The range was streamlined from December 2022, with buyers picking from the 163bhp 595 Turismo or Competizione versions, or the 178bhp 695 Competizione. These were offered in hatchback or convertible forms. Despite an incredibly long production run, there have been no major developments in the range. All models have a turbocharged 1.4-litre petrol engine, so it's a question of choosing your preferred bodystyle, colour, power output and equipment levels. But your choices are still bewildering because there were so many limited-run models, options and iterations that pinning down the detail of anything other than a standard car can be tricky. That also goes for kit levels, technical specification and power output, yet in most cases there will be either 160bhp or 178bhp on tap, although a 138bhp engine was available. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below The Turismo is less hardcore than the Competizione, but neither version is especially comfortable on UK roads, due to the firm suspension. This can be really unyielding if combined with big wheels. You can find your perfect used Abarth 595 or used Abarth 695 with our Find A Car service. If you're looking for a pint-sized hot hatch that isn't an Abarth, the Volkswagen up! GTi should be at the top of your list, because it's brilliant to drive. But with prices starting at a hefty £13,000 for a 2020 example, you'll need deep pockets to buy one. Bigger and consequently a bit more practical is the MINI Cooper S, which (uniquely in this group) is also available in full convertible form. Advertisement - Article continues below The Ford Fiesta ST is another brilliant small hatch that is plentiful on the used market and is cheap to buy; it's also more usable than the Abarth because it's bigger. The Suzuki Swift Sport is a low-key model that's fun to drive and reliable, while the Hyundai i20 N is another great hot hatch, but strong residuals make it pricey. Suspension Tired suspension is common; dampers, lower front ball joints and bushes wear quickly. Repairs aren't costly. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below Packs At launch the Esseesse pack offered 160bhp, better brakes and modified suspension. A 178bhp Esseesse joined the range in 2019. Breakages One of the biggest gripes is with the build quality, so check for loose or missing fittings, plus rattles that can't be tracked down. Hardcore option The 187bhp hardcore two-seat 695 Biposto from 2014 wasn't a limited edition, but with a £32k-£50k price tag when new, it's very rare. Reliability Abarth-specific reliability data is hard to come by, but the Fiat 500's is easier to track down. Last year the 500 came 49th out of 50 cars in our Driver Power survey, and 48th for reliability. It previously came 54th out of 75 for reliability, in our 2021 poll. That's not too reassuring, but using a good specialist can make all the difference. As soon as you sit inside an Abarth you know that it's not just a humdrum small hatch. The seats are the most obvious clue to the 500's sporting intentions, and (depending on model) there are also aluminium pedals, Alcantara and brushed alloy trim. Advertisement - Article continues below But the seats are set too high to feel truly sporting, and the lack of reach adjustment for the steering wheel is a bugbear. Also, for a halo model, the quality of some of the materials is disappointing. There's not a lot of rear-seat legroom and that isn't because there's a decent amount of boot capacity. Just 185 litres can be stowed, with the 500C getting an incredibly tight oven door-like opening. There's no shortage of Abarths available via a private sale. The 595 is by far the most common derivative, in its various forms, while the 595C is much rarer. Prices rise for the rare and sought-after specials, such as the Biposto, Maserati and Tributo Ferrari. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below Check the price of an Abarth 500 with our free car valuation tool... The interval for the Abarth 500 is every 12 months or 9,000 miles, with services alternating between Minor and Major, at £199 and £304 respectively. You'll have to fork out another £70 every two years for fresh brake fluid, but the really big bill comes every six years or 75,000 miles, when the cambelt has to be replaced. All Abarths have one of these, and a fresh water pump has to be fitted at the same time, pushing the bill up to £850 or so. It's also recommended that the air-con is regassed every three years, at around £75. Maintenance plans are available for all Abarths apart from the 695 Biposto. The standard warranty lasts for three years, but this can be extended for an extra cost. Eleven recalls over such a long production span isn't as worrying as you might think, especially because many campaigns affected just a few cars. But some glitches were potentially serious, including the first in September 2010, where a bolt in the steering column could work loose, leading to steering failure. The next recall came a month later, because the wrong airbag could go off in the event of a crash. Recall three was also because of steering failure, then came two campaigns due to wiring chafing, another because the door panels could cause injury in the event of a side impact, while seatbelt glitches led to a seventh action. Other potential problems included lighting failure, seats breaking loose in a collision, automatic-gearbox glitches and more steering issues. Abarth doesn't sell many cars in the UK, so it doesn't figure in our Driver Power surveys, not even the Brands poll. But Fiat is listed, and this year it came a disappointing 31st out of 32 makers. More encouraging are the owners' opinions featured on Of the eight reviews posted, seven have five stars, but the eighth has just one star, thanks to disappointing reliability and poor customer care. Did you know you can sell your car with Auto Express? Get the highest bid from our network of over 5,500 dealers and we'll do the rest. Click here to try Auto Express Sell My Car now ... Citroen recall sees owners told to stop driving 'immediately' Citroen recall sees owners told to stop driving 'immediately' A 'Stop-drive' order has been issued by Citroen following a fatality that may have been caused by a faulty Takata airbag Car Deal of the Day: a potent 335bhp Volkswagen ID.7 GTX for a rock bottom price Car Deal of the Day: a potent 335bhp Volkswagen ID.7 GTX for a rock bottom price GTX Plus gives some extra punch to an already excellent electric saloon. It's our Deal of the Day for 20 June. New Skoda L&K 130 shows us what a Superb pick-up truck looks like New Skoda L&K 130 shows us what a Superb pick-up truck looks like Skoda's 10th 'Student Car' is a plug-in hybrid that would be an ideal support vehicle for the Tour de France
Telegraph
31-03-2025
- Automotive
- Telegraph
Abarth 600e review: This new hot hatchback is great fun to drive – but there's a catch
Up on the Castello di Montaldo above Turin the raincloud is so thick it's hard to see out of the car; my impression of this go-faster Abarth version of the Fiat 600e family crossover appeared to be clouded from the off. Fiat is claiming inspiration from the Abarth-tuned versions of the Fiat 600 (Seicento) of 1955, Dante Giacosa's precursor to the better known 500, which proved incredibly popular, being built in 10 countries and badged among others as a Seat, NSU, Jagst and Zastava, which was the last to go out of production in 1985. Unfortunately the new Abarth is nothing of the kind and looked more like the derided 2004 Chrysler Crossfire, particularly in its rear styling. This new hot hatchback is based on the Perfo e-CMP platform already used in the Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce; it faces strong competition from Ford's forthcoming electric Puma, the VW ID.3 GTX, Seat Born VZ and MG 4 XPower, all considerably rapid electric cars but suffering familiar flaws; weight, along with the need to charge more frequently if you use the available performance. The range The company was founded in 1949 on Carlo Abarth's talent for breathing fire into small Fiats; the 600e, which musters 276bhp in £39,875 limited edition top-model Scorpionissima form, is the most powerful Abarth thus far. It's capable of 0-62mph in only 5.85sec and 124mph. But it is also the heaviest Abarth ever, at 1,624kg for the standard car and 1,640kg for the Scorpionissma. The latter also has an annoying exterior speaker so that pedestrians can appreciate your passing, or not… The maximum range isn't fantastic, with a WLTP figure of 207 miles; wider tyre options, cold weather, hills and spirited driving will reduce this considerably. Efficiency is quoted at 3.4 miles per kWh, although during the test I could only achieve 2.6 m/kWh, the available range dropping to 132 miles. The slightly more staid and cheaper £36,975 Turismo has 237bhp, a 0-62mph time of 6.2sec and a 120mph top speed, with similar efficiency and range as the Scorpionissima. DC fast charging on both is up to 100kW, which in theory is capable of providing a 10-80 per cent recharge in only 26 minutes. In practice, however, you'd struggle to find a charger performing at its full capacity. Both share the same front-drive powertrain, with a wider track than the standard, Fiat-badged 600e. Both have a separately excited AC electric motor with an uprated battery cooling system and an identical peak torque output of 254lb ft. Go-faster bits They also have the same Torsen (torque sensing) mechanical limited-slip differential used on the Alfa Junior. It has an aggressive locking of 36 per cent under hard acceleration and 34 per cent under braking, the aim being to tie the front wheels together when required to reduce wheelspin, improving handling by helping to pull the nose through corners. MacPherson strut front and twist-beam rear suspension is cheap and cheerful class ubiquity, also used on the Alfa Junior. It is 41 per cent stiffer than that of the regular Fiat 600e, a firmer front anti-roll bar and the addition of a similar strut at the rear giving 140 per cent more anti-roll stiffness. The dampers are uprated and the ride height is 25mm lower than the Fiat. The brakes, too, are uprated, with 380mm front discs and four-piston monobloc calipers. Generally this suspension configuration can do one of two things: control wheel movement and deflection when the accelerator is lifted, or provide a decent ride quality, but not at the same time. I asked Abarth marketing manager Francesco Morosini about the 600e's set-up and he admits that the Abarth is unashamedly biased towards racing circuit use, so much so that the development team were able to raise the power output of the motor in the Scorpionissma version from 240bhp to 280bhp. He also says that the aggressive locking action on the differential would not be possible without careful integration of the Electronic Stability System and the diff. 'Because of the dynamic set-up, the ESP would have been affected without great care in configuration,' he says. At the wheel this translates as less of a go-kart feeling, in the interests of a faster lap time. Morosini says while he admires that trait in the Alfa and Mini, it isn't the fastest way for the Abarthisti. Styling tweaks inside and out It's wider than the Alfa Romeo Junior on which it is based. The body has plenty of badges bearing Abarth's scorpion logo, spoilers and aggressive wheel designs. No one could accuse the standard 600e as being overendowed with equipment and design virtuosity inside, so Abarth will have started with one arm in a sling. It's not badly put together, but there are a lot of hard plastics in the facia and it feels far from premium, despite a colony of scorpions decorating every surface. There's a single, multi-function, circular digital dial in front of the driver displaying an occasionally bewildering amount of information, including the basics of speed, range and battery state of charge. A rather basic but over-complex central touchscreen has a set of piano-key buttons for heating and ventilation underneath. For once, the steering wheel buttons are fairly simple and useful. The drive modes are Turismo, Street and Track, the last one sharpening everything, giving the full 280bhp, bypassing the regenerative braking so the system is purely mechanical and activating the speaker at the back of the car. On the road I finally got a proper drive on English roads in Suffolk recently, thankfully with no rain or fog. While Track mode is the one you need on a twisting road, Turismo is the default option; its restricted power and top speed conserve precious range, the light steering making urban progress relaxing. But this is a sporting machine and from the off you can feel the thoroughbred nature of the major controls. It's brisk at even light applications of the accelerator, blistering if you are pressing on in Track mode, while the power delivery feels more linear and less switch-like than the Abarth 500e. The steering doesn't have the slightly over-assisted turn in of rivals, more the feel and weight build of Fords of yore. There's progression and accuracy, and an innate understanding of where the car will end up almost before you've turned the wheel. Through corners the anti-roll holds up the body, but only over the worst bumps does the car feel uncomfortable, while despite the pronounced differential action tugging at the steering wheel, it feels secure and stable. Considering the accomplished level of the car's dynamics, I was quite impressed with the ride quality. It's actually a pretty hard-core machine. As intended, that tight differential pulls the car through corners and while you can tighten the line by lifting the accelerator, that will diminish the extraordinary amount of momentum you can carry into a bend. It's the type of car that's fun to drive on a public road, but cries out to be taken to a trackday. The brakes have a lot less regeneration than the 500e's and no one-pedal mode and, as a result, they feel strong and progressive, with a nice grab at the top of the pedal's travel. The Telegraph verdict Fun? Yes, but… If you drive fast you're going to be looking for a charger sooner that you might have expected. Morosini concedes the point, but says that the team has fulfilled the brief of providing 'the most simple and affordable way of going fast'. Don't you just love the Italians… He says that if they had provided greater range by fitting a larger battery the 600e would not be as enjoyable to drive and that's true. He also says that the battery will charge from 20 to 80 per cent in 20 minutes, which is also true, so you'll have to take your fun on small doses between chargers. Do you like coffee? Prepare to be drinking a lot of it. The facts On test: Abarth 600e Scorpionissma limited edition Body style: five-door performance crossover On sale: now How much? from £36,975 (£39,875 as tested) How fast? 124mph, 0-62mph in 5.9 sec How economical? 3.7mpkWh (WLTP Combined), 2.6m/kWh on test Electric powertrain: 54kWh gross (51kWh net) lithium-ion NMC battery, front-wheel drive via a Torsen geared limited-slip differential Electric range: 207 miles (WLTP) on standard tyres/199 miles on Michelin sport tyres, 132 miles on test Maximum power/torque: 280bhp/254lb ft CO2 emissions: 0g/km (tailpipe), 33g/km (CO2 equivalent well-to-wheel) VED: £10 first year, then £195 (from 1 April 2025) Warranty: 3 years/unlimited mileage, 8 years/100,000 miles on battery The rivals Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce, from £42,295 Swap the Scorpion bandage for Alfa's Cross and Snake and you get this. The hardware is the same as the Abarth's (read 124mph, 0-62mph in 5.9sec and 207 miles of range), but the set-up is different; more immediate, more chuckable, but ultimately more of a handful on a racing circuit track. A highly enjoyable road car, but cramped in the back, expensive and with a limited range. Cupra Born VZ, from £44,570 With 326bhp, rear-wheel drive and a 79kWh battery pack, the VZ's range is 372 miles and, with a 185kW fast-charge speed, a 10-80 per cent recharge is achievable in 30mins. The top speed is 124mph, with 0-62mph in 5.7sec. It's heavy (two tonnes) which affects the steering feel and feedback, but the titivated suspension gives handling with a pleasing front-end grippiness – and it's a lot of fun.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Abarth 600e review: This new hot hatchback is great fun to drive – but there's a catch
Up on the Castello di Montaldo above Turin the raincloud is so thick it's hard to see out of the car; my impression of this go-faster Abarth version of the Fiat 600e family crossover appeared to be clouded from the off. Fiat is claiming inspiration from the Abarth-tuned versions of the Fiat 600 (Seicento) of 1955, Dante Giacosa's precursor to the better known 500, which proved incredibly popular, being built in 10 countries and badged among others as a Seat, NSU, Jagst and Zastava, which was the last to go out of production in 1985. Unfortunately the new Abarth is nothing of the kind and looked more like the derided 2004 Chrysler Crossfire, particularly in its rear styling. This new hot hatchback is based on the Perfo e-CMP platform already used in the Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce; it faces strong competition from Ford's forthcoming electric Puma, the VW ID.3 GTX, Seat Born VZ and MG 4 XPower, all considerably rapid electric cars but suffering familiar flaws; weight, along with the need to charge more frequently if you use the available performance. The company was founded in 1949 on Carlo Abarth's talent for breathing fire into small Fiats; the 600e, which musters 276bhp in £39,875 limited edition top-model Scorpionissima form, is the most powerful Abarth thus far. It's capable of 0-62mph in only 5.85sec and 124mph. But it is also the heaviest Abarth ever, at 1,624kg for the standard car and 1,640kg for the Scorpionissma. The latter also has an annoying exterior speaker so that pedestrians can appreciate your passing, or not… The maximum range isn't fantastic, with a WLTP figure of 207 miles; wider tyre options, cold weather, hills and spirited driving will reduce this considerably. Efficiency is quoted at 3.4 miles per kWh, although during the test I could only achieve 2.6 m/kWh, the available range dropping to 132 miles. The slightly more staid and cheaper £36,975 Turismo has 237bhp, a 0-62mph time of 6.2sec and a 120mph top speed, with similar efficiency and range as the Scorpionissima. DC fast charging on both is up to 100kW, which in theory is capable of providing a 10-80 per cent recharge in only 26 minutes. In practice, however, you'd struggle to find a charger performing at its full capacity. Both share the same front-drive powertrain, with a wider track than the standard, Fiat-badged 600e. Both have a separately excited AC electric motor with an uprated battery cooling system and an identical peak torque output of 254lb ft. They also have the same Torsen (torque sensing) mechanical limited-slip differential used on the Alfa Junior. It has an aggressive locking of 36 per cent under hard acceleration and 34 per cent under braking, the aim being to tie the front wheels together when required to reduce wheelspin, improving handling by helping to pull the nose through corners. MacPherson strut front and twist-beam rear suspension is cheap and cheerful class ubiquity, also used on the Alfa Junior. It is 41 per cent stiffer than that of the regular Fiat 600e, a firmer front anti-roll bar and the addition of a similar strut at the rear giving 140 per cent more anti-roll stiffness. The dampers are uprated and the ride height is 25mm lower than the Fiat. The brakes, too, are uprated, with 380mm front discs and four-piston monobloc calipers. Generally this suspension configuration can do one of two things: control wheel movement and deflection when the accelerator is lifted, or provide a decent ride quality, but not at the same time. I asked Abarth marketing manager Francesco Morosini about the 600e's set-up and he admits that the Abarth is unashamedly biased towards racing circuit use, so much so that the development team were able to raise the power output of the motor in the Scorpionissma version from 240bhp to 280bhp. He also says that the aggressive locking action on the differential would not be possible without careful integration of the Electronic Stability System and the diff. 'Because of the dynamic set-up, the ESP would have been affected without great care in configuration,' he says. At the wheel this translates as less of a go-kart feeling, in the interests of a faster lap time. Morosini says while he admires that trait in the Alfa and Mini, it isn't the fastest way for the Abarthisti. It's wider than the Alfa Romeo Junior on which it is based. The body has plenty of badges bearing Abarth's scorpion logo, spoilers and aggressive wheel designs. No one could accuse the standard 600e as being overendowed with equipment and design virtuosity inside, so Abarth will have started with one arm in a sling. It's not badly put together, but there are a lot of hard plastics in the facia and it feels far from premium, despite a colony of scorpions decorating every surface. There's a single, multi-function, circular digital dial in front of the driver displaying an occasionally bewildering amount of information, including the basics of speed, range and battery state of charge. A rather basic but over-complex central touchscreen has a set of piano-key buttons for heating and ventilation underneath. For once, the steering wheel buttons are fairly simple and useful. The drive modes are Turismo, Street and Track, the last one sharpening everything, giving the full 280bhp, bypassing the regenerative braking so the system is purely mechanical and activating the speaker at the back of the car. I finally got a proper drive on English roads in Suffolk recently, thankfully with no rain or fog. While Track mode is the one you need on a twisting road, Turismo is the default option; its restricted power and top speed conserve precious range, the light steering making urban progress relaxing. But this is a sporting machine and from the off you can feel the thoroughbred nature of the major controls. It's brisk at even light applications of the accelerator, blistering if you are pressing on in Track mode, while the power delivery feels more linear and less switch-like than the Abarth 500e. The steering doesn't have the slightly over-assisted turn in of rivals, more the feel and weight build of Fords of yore. There's progression and accuracy, and an innate understanding of where the car will end up almost before you've turned the wheel. Through corners the anti-roll holds up the body, but only over the worst bumps does the car feel uncomfortable, while despite the pronounced differential action tugging at the steering wheel, it feels secure and stable. Considering the accomplished level of the car's dynamics, I was quite impressed with the ride quality. It's actually a pretty hard-core machine. As intended, that tight differential pulls the car through corners and while you can tighten the line by lifting the accelerator, that will diminish the extraordinary amount of momentum you can carry into a bend. It's the type of car that's fun to drive on a public road, but cries out to be taken to a trackday. The brakes have a lot less regeneration than the 500e's and no one-pedal mode and, as a result, they feel strong and progressive, with a nice grab at the top of the pedal's travel. Fun? Yes, but… If you drive fast you're going to be looking for a charger sooner that you might have expected. Morosini concedes the point, but says that the team has fulfilled the brief of providing 'the most simple and affordable way of going fast'. Don't you just love the Italians… He says that if they had provided greater range by fitting a larger battery the 600e would not be as enjoyable to drive and that's true. He also says that the battery will charge from 20 to 80 per cent in 20 minutes, which is also true, so you'll have to take your fun on small doses between chargers. Do you like coffee? Prepare to be drinking a lot of it. On test: Abarth 600e Scorpionissma limited edition Body style: five-door performance crossover On sale: now How much? from £36,975 (£39,875 as tested) How fast? 124mph, 0-62mph in 5.9 sec How economical? 3.7mpkWh (WLTP Combined), 2.6m/kWh on test Electric powertrain: 54kWh gross (51kWh net) lithium-ion NMC battery, front-wheel drive via a Torsen geared limited-slip differential Electric range: 207 miles (WLTP) on standard tyres/199 miles on Michelin sport tyres, 132 miles on test Maximum power/torque: 280bhp/254lb ft CO2 emissions: 0g/km (tailpipe), 33g/km (CO2 equivalent well-to-wheel) VED: £10 first year, then £195 (from 1 April 2025) Warranty: 3 years/unlimited mileage, 8 years/100,000 miles on battery Swap the Scorpion bandage for Alfa's Cross and Snake and you get this. The hardware is the same as the Abarth's (read 124mph, 0-62mph in 5.9sec and 207 miles of range), but the set-up is different; more immediate, more chuckable, but ultimately more of a handful on a racing circuit track. A highly enjoyable road car, but cramped in the back, expensive and with a limited range. With 326bhp, rear-wheel drive and a 79kWh battery pack, the VZ's range is 372 miles and, with a 185kW fast-charge speed, a 10-80 per cent recharge is achievable in 30mins. The top speed is 124mph, with 0-62mph in 5.7sec. It's heavy (two tonnes) which affects the steering feel and feedback, but the titivated suspension gives handling with a pleasing front-end grippiness – and it's a lot of fun. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
