2012 Fiat 500 Abarth

2012 Fiat 500 Abarth 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth
First Drive Review

For all the reborn 500’s success elsewhere—Fiat says more than 500,000 have been sold worldwide—and for all the anticipation preceding its 2011 arrival in U.S. showrooms, we hold this truth to be self-evident: The 500 Abarth is the Cinquecento we’ve really been waiting for.

The base 500 three-door has been joined by a pseudo-convertible (the 500C) and the luxed-up Gucci edition, but those share the same 1.4-liter SOHC 16-valve four. And that’s been the element that’s kept the Cinquecento limp. At 101 hp and 98 lb-ft of torque, its output is, uh, modest, producing acceleration that can be described—kindly—as deliberate (zero to 60 mph in 9.9 seconds in our testing). Add the optional six-speed automatic transmission, and deliberate diminishes to glacial.

We’re happy to say the 500 Abarth picks up the pace substantially, tempering the car’s cuteness quotient with a measure of mean and adding track-day agility to its dynamic résumé. The net result is a scrappy little hot hatch that seems ready to challenge the Mini John Cooper Works on pretty even terms.

Power Portrait

Force-fed by a Honeywell turbo, the little four delivers dramatic gains versus its naturally aspirated counterpart. At max boost—18 psi—horsepower soars to 160 at 5500 rpm (114 hp per liter), and torque hits its 170 lb-ft peak at 2500 rpm and stays there to 4000. EPA fuel economy checks in at a respectable 28 mpg city and 34 highway.

It’s worth noting that the Euro version of the 500 Abarth is rated for only 133 hp and that it doesn’t utilize Fiat’s innovative MultiAir induction system. It’s also interesting that the U.S. version of the engine is built at Chrysler’s engine plant in Dundee, Michigan. The finished engines are shipped to a factory in Toluca, Mexico, for installation in North American 500s.

To accommodate these big power upticks—58 percent more hp, 73 percent more torque—the Abarth’d version of the 1.4-liter is predictably more robust than the garden-variety base engine. The forged-steel crank revolves in beefier bearings, the connecting rods are also forged steel, and the pistons are cast aluminum with oil jets bathing their undersides to enhance cooling.

The engine utilizes an aluminum cylinder head and a cast-aluminum oil pan, and the block is cast iron. The engineering team defends this by citing the need for heavy-duty material to handle the higher output. However, the milquetoast naturally aspirated 1.4 also has a cast-iron block.

Cinque-Velocità

The Abarth sends power to the front wheels via a five-speed manual gearbox that also has been upgraded to handle the extra power. Unlike the naturally aspirated 500, there’s no automatic option, which is fine by us. We may see one later, if/when there’s an Abarth version of the upcoming five-door 500L. In addition to beefier internals, the five-speed is equipped with a slightly taller final drive, most likely for improved fuel economy. Right now we are estimating a 0-to-60-mph time of 6.8 seconds; stay tuned for actual testing numbers in the near future.

We’d like the setup better if the gearbox had six speeds rather than five, but the engineers say that wasn’t in the cards due to size constraints—there isn’t enough space to package six cogs hefty enough to handle the extra thrust. We suspect cost might have had something to do with it, too.

Similarly, a limited-slip differential is absent from the options list. The Abarth does, however, include an electronic, brake-based take on a limited-slip to keep wheelspin in check. In addition, larger, equal-length half-shafts are used in the pursuit of avoiding torque steer. Judging by our first drive, we feel they were successful, although we wonder if the Abarth still might be a little quicker exiting corners with a mechanical LSD.

Sospensione

As you’d expect, there’s more authority in the underpinnings. The front spring rates are up 40 percent, and Koni dual-valve dampers replace the standard twin-tube units. The rear suspension still employs a twist-beam axle, but it too has been substantially stiffened (40 percent), with higher (20 percent) coil-spring rates and a 22-mm anti-roll bar. Static ride height has been reduced, negative front camber goes from 0.6 to 1.5 degrees (enhancing turn-in), and the electric power steering is quicker, just 2.3 turns lock-to-lock.

Impressive braking power is supplied by 11.1-inch vented discs in front (an inch bigger diameter than the 500 Sport) and 9.4-inch solid discs at the rear. They’re squeezed by single-piston calipers painted a very racy rosso.

The standard wheels are 16-by-6.5-inch aluminum alloy wearing 195/45 Pirelli Cinturato P7 all-season tires. The optional upgrade ($1000) is a set of 17-by-7.0-inch forged aluminum wheels with Pirelli P Zero Nero three-season rubber, and all the cars presented at our preview were so equipped.