Fiat 500 Abarth (2008) CAR review and video

Can the Fiat 500 Abarth live up to the hype? Now we've driven it, we have the answer. In the last year, no car launched anywhere has had the same impact on the buying public as the Fiat 500. It seems we just can’t get enough of its retro bubbliness, cheery smile and Italian chic.

But if you feel a little patronised by the unashamed plundering of the Fiat back catalogue, perhaps the new hot version, the 500 Abarth, will change your mind. It’s still working to the same template of rehashing past successes, but it's claimed to be bang up to date in performance and driving dynamics. It mixes pukka design with pin-sharp performance. In theory, at least...

So is Fiat serious about the 500 Abarth hot hatch?

Deadly serious. Or should that be, in the words of the Abarth mantra, ‘small but deadly’ serious. Where for years Fiat hasn’t really known what to do with the legendary Abarth name, now it has set it up as a stand-alone tuning arm producing its own models, with their own areas and salespeople in selected Fiat showrooms.

Abarth has taken the cute little 500 and injected some venom. The turbocharged 1.4-litre 16 valve T-Jet produces 135bhp, while most of the mechanicals on the car have been uprated: a roll bar at the rear, stiffer springs and dampers, Brembo disc brakes all round (ventilated at the front), ride height lowered by around 15mm and bigger, stickier rubber on either funky 16- or 17-inch rims.

And the styling? This is one chunky looking supermini...

And it’s not just the bits that make it go faster that have had the Abarth treatment. This little car is awash with new branding and restyling. All the Fiat badges have been chucked out, replaced by that iconic scorpion, while a few more Abarth logos have been added for good luck on the rear flanks, door mats and exhaust.

Then there’s the new boggle-eyed front which houses the intercoolers and radiator, and of course, looks uncannily like the Abarth 695 racer of the 1960s, while there are deeper side skirts, a large rear spoiler that gives the 500 a shape to press it to the road, and a new rear bumper with two very menancing pipes and rather redundant-looking diffuser.

Click 'Next' to read how the Fiat 500 Abarth drives on the road

Click here to watch the Fiat 500 Abarth on video, exterior and interior views.