The Return of the King: Abarth
For too long the scorpion has hidden behind its rock. But Abarth – one of Italy's most treasured sports cars – is back, and the sting is more potent at ever.
Looking for a sports car with true Italian pedigree, made by a company with a trophy cabinet fit to bursting? Ferrari, Lambo and Alfa will certainly fit the bill but there is another option. The venomous Abarth Fiat’s are back. Stifle the snigger before you choke, Gentry is serious.
Founded in Turin in 1949 by Carlo Abarth, the sporting success began in the 50’s but really came to prominence in the 60’s with victories over its Italian cousin Ferrari and German rivals Porsche in many rally, hill climb and track races. When the tyre smoke had settled and the company was sold to Fiat in 1971, Abarth had achieved one hundred and thirteen international records and seen its cars take victory over seven thousand times.
Abarth became the muscular arm of the old Fiat firm in seventies, customising standard models and turning them into drool-worthy high performance animals. The most famous being the Autobianchi A112 Abarth – a Mini with an Italian heart. From that moment on, Abarth forever became synonymous with making eye-watering superminis, The tuning continued for the next two decades but the Abarth name became more and more obscure until the average man on the street had never heard of them in the nineties and early-noughties. Now, the wait is over, and this cocksure Italian motor is back on our roads. Its comeback took the form of last year’s Abarth Punto .
They took this cheap and rather dull city run-around and injected a healthy dose of venom. They managed to squeeze an extra 60 bhp out of the nippy 1.4 litre engine – that equates to 178 crazy horses. With a top speed of 134 mph it’s not exactly going to smoke a Ferrari on the quarter mile but it will give a Golf GTI a run for its money. And all that for a price of 14 grand!
And you’re buying into the unshakeable cool of Abarth. We’ve all seen the new Fiat 500 and secretly wanted one. Its cute face and classic curves are a real wonder. But with the Abarth scorpion slapped on the front end, things get serious. For such a small car, the power is simply awesome. A whopping 158 bhp throbs away under the bonnet in the SS Turbo version, reaching speeds of over 130. It’s almost as much fun as you can have on four wheels. So, in the age of recession and global warming, a time when Mercs and BMWs are depreciating at the same alarming rate as the ice-caps are melting, you can still by an pure-bred Italian sports car without burning a hole in your wallet or the Ozone.
Mr. Oliver Bewers
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As a petrolhead I’m glad to see the Abarth badge back, but talk about an OTT commentary! This article has all the hallmarks of one written by a Fiat marketing rep or a trendy lightweight ‘lifestyle’ journo as opposed to one written by someone knowledgable in the motoring press who have not been anywhere near so ‘gushing’ toward the new cars (especially the Punto – talking of the which, as for it giving a Golf GTI “a run for it’s money”… I don’t think so somehow either in the turns or on a straight would it be a close contest).
The current Abarth’s = sporty, semi-fast Fiat’s. Nothing more, nothing less. They are not good enough to compete with the best right now. And don’t mention aloud the Stilo Abarth – it was a total embarrassement of a hot hatch.
** Btw, you have your facts wrong in this article. The 178 bhp Abarth is not the standard model. It relates to the “Essesse” upgrade which puts another £3500 on top of the standard models £14k price bringing it up to £17500 – which is the same price near enough as a standard Honda Civic Type R or Focus ST 1. Both of which will crush the Punto’s performance and handling – not looking such good value now is it?
As a souped up Fiat it comes complete with all the same problems of reliability and build quality that plague normal Fiats. Italian Alessandro Volta created the battery cell, so it’s odd that dodgy electrics are still the biggest source of problems affecting Italian cars rather than mechanical ones.
As for depreciation, well only a French car and the Zimbabwean national currency will devalue quicker!
Don’t misunderstand me, the Abarth’s released so far are not turkeys, and I do have a soft spot for Fiat and Italy (in particular the Fiat hometown of Turin where I go to watch Juventus from time to time). But sorry, no current Abarth is remotely in the same league as Renaultsport, GTI, Cooper S, Type R et al. And consequently no self-respecting car enthusiast would have written such a glowing piece on the scorpions return, as quite simply it has not yet been earned.