My review of the Fiat Abarth

So a friend of mine was one of the few lucky folks to pick up one of these cars. He picked up on the 21st of April in Maine. We had an autocross in Vermont yesterday the 29th. He took the opportunity to put the car through it's paces. He was nice enough to toss me the keys, when he arrived at my place on Saturday. Since I live about two miles from Vermont's legendary route 17(Appalachian gap). It seemed only natural to give that road a try. Fit an finish was very good. Seats were just right for me(5'8" 175lbs), perfectly bolstered. All the controls were in the right place. The dash instruments is a little hi tech for my tastes, but functional. The exhaust note was surprisingly throaty. How did it drive? Darn well. It was comfy in town, yet when it could let it's hair down on the twisties, it really shined. It is stiffly sprung, and very neutral around corners. Really hammer it and it will understeer a little bit, but not much. I think a stickier tire, might make it just about as perfect as a fwd car can be. Even with the oem tire is was darn good. Route 17 has some broken up pavement in spots in corners, and the car handled that well enough. The stiff suspension, with short wheelbase meant you could get the rear to step out slightly in those situations. Power on boost is quite fun, hard to believe it's only a 1.4 liter, given it's size gets up and goes in a hurry. Overwhelmingly positive driving experience. Looking under the hood, I'm guessing Fiat uses a shoehorn to fit all of that in there. If you are Andre the giant, Don't expect your hands to fit in there.

Sadly he was in my run group during the autocross, so I wasn't able to get any video. However, I think he got some in car, that I'll link up when he posts it. The car started the day at 500 miles on the odo, so I don't think he was fully pushing it at the event. A very cold day, where tires had trouble getting up to temp(there was snow on the side of the course to give you an idea). He put in very respectable times on the oem tires. One thing that was immediately noticeable was it's size on course. It's small size alone must earned it a half second discount on course. I would love to see it on course with a set of R compounds, as I think it would be nasty.

And neither that nice Italian lady nor Charlie Sheen made any sort of appearance.

Nice write up... I've been hearing that SCCA will not allow these cars to actually compete in sanctioned events due to the ride height.

Regardless..... I'm thinking of picking one up this winter, after the initial run comes..

sachilles wrote: And neither that nice Italian lady nor Charlie Sheen made any sort of appearance.

And that was a PLUS!

M3Loco wrote: Nice write up... I've been hearing that SCCA will not allow these cars to actually compete in sanctioned events due to the ride height. Regardless..... I'm thinking of picking one up this winter, after the initial run comes..

I think it is only the normal 500.

Great write up. It is the only new car I really want that I will ever be able to afford.

Truth be told, it was the best handling(fwd) oem car I've had the pleasure to drive(and better than most modified fwd cars).

In reply to sachilles:

Glad to hear it. Here's the Fiat Arbath I'd like. In fact I've even considered doing a replica.

K I'll take this one.

sachilles wrote: Truth be told, it was the best handling oem car I've had the pleasure to drive(and better than most modified fwd cars).

So, better than a 1993 Civic Si hatch? But not better than an Integra Type R?

That's pretty reasonable then IMO.

I want one of these more than a FRS as a daily driver. The spiritual successor the the Sprint/Firefly Turbo if I ever saw one.

sachilles wrote: And that nice Italian lady didn't make any sort of appearance.

Aww, you mean she doesn't come with the car?

HiTempguy wrote:

sachilles wrote: Truth be told, it was the best handling oem car I've had the pleasure to drive(and better than most modified fwd cars).

So, better than a 1993 Civic Si hatch? But not better than an Integra Type R? That's pretty reasonable then IMO. I want one of these more than a FRS as a daily driver. The spiritual successor the the Sprint/Firefly Turbo if I ever saw one.

I guess I can't honestly say I've driven an integra type R, but have been in a gsr with similar equipment. Better than any gen civic si. Better than my modified morris mini race car(though I can be blamed for that). Very easy to drive.

I think if someone were to pull out all the heavy weight daily driver stuff in a race car build, it would really see a large benefit from it.

HiTempguy wrote:

sachilles wrote: Truth be told, it was the best handling oem car I've had the pleasure to drive(and better than most modified fwd cars).

So, better than a 1993 Civic Si hatch? But not better than an Integra Type R? That's pretty reasonable then IMO. I want one of these more than a FRS as a daily driver. The spiritual successor the the Sprint/Firefly Turbo if I ever saw one.

I guess I can't honestly say I've driven an integra type R, but have been in a gsr with similar equipment. Better than any gen civic si. Better than my modified morris mini race car(though I can be blamed for that). Very easy to drive.

I think if someone were to pull out all the heavy weight daily driver stuff in a race car build, it would really see a large benefit from it.

She's Romanian.

M3Loco wrote: Nice write up... I've been hearing that SCCA will not allow these cars to actually compete in sanctioned events due to the ride height.

There have been grumblings on fiat racing mailing lists that the COG information was submitted multiple times to the SCCA and well before any deadlines but the SCCA SEB won't acknowledge it.

It might be oversight but it might also be another instance in the long history of the SCCA screwing over fiat/abarth. " />

Bob Sharp banned Abarths from the SCCA sedan classes in 1970 because they were too competitive and within a year all those cars were shipped to south america.

I can't seem to find any digital copies of the "Don't let them ban them" literature that was so prolific. Cool pics on them.

http://youtu.be/cksVKTnVHek

In-car footage.

In reply to TR8owner:

Knock yourself out, not running but been on sale a long time. But you can get it under asking.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/cto/2982814469.html

Blimey, is that thing still for sale?

ditchdigger wrote: It might be oversight but it might also be another instance in the long history of the SCCA screwing over fiat/abarth.

heh.. just look at how they still treat the X 1/9. Guess they still have a British Car bias

OK that video made me want one even more. Damn responsibilty

93EXCivic wrote:

M3Loco wrote: Nice write up... I've been hearing that SCCA will not allow these cars to actually compete in sanctioned events due to the ride height.

I think it is only the normal 500.

They are carrying it over to the Abarth as well. The following was published in May's FasTrack:

"Stock

#6732, Fiat Abarth classing. At this time there is not sufficient information to overcome concerns about this model with regard to the provisions of Section 3.1, regarding rollover risk. The Abarth does not have a published SSF or rollover rating, and its average track is less than its overall height."

In typical fashion, while they will not allow it to run in Stock class a bone stock 500 CAN compete in Street Touring:

"Street Touring

Fiat 500 (2012) STF (#7568)"

Go figure...

How did/ do they treat the 850

May explain the cool reception the frankenfiat got

the SCCA just does not like awesome...

In reply to N Sperlo:

She would probably kill you, but what a way to go!

In reply to JKleiner:

The reason is that Stock can use R tires. The fear is that the 500 would be too tippy with stick rubber. The SCCA is comfortable with the 500 on non-R tires. I believe the 500 is also ok for Street Prepared because, to be competitive, an SP car wouldl have suspension mods which could make the car less prone to rollover. However, there is no rule stating that a modified suspension. I have to go a double check Fast Track on SP eligibility.

chuckles wrote: She's Romanian.

So?

"Che cosa guardi, eh?" (repeated twice) "Mi stai spogliando con gli occhi?" "Non puoi farne a meno, poverino?" "Ti batte il cuore? Ti gira la testa?" "Sei perso pensando che sarò tua per sempre?"

My wife actually lets me watch the commercial repeatedly. She speaks Italian and loves to hear it spoken.

And Mike's 500 Abarth on Sunday was pure 4 cylinder sex for the ears!!!!!!!