The Fiat 500 is a funky very little urban runabout. The Fiat 500 Abarth is a different car solely. It is however total of pleasurable and funk, but it ups the ante with a punchy turbocharged four-cylinder engine, a soulful exhaust note, and a tossable demeanor.
The Fiat 500 Abarth debuted in The usa for the 2012 design year (alongside with a properly-known Tremendous Bowl commercial that we are going to share below with no more comment). It didn’t see many changes over the class of its seven-year operate, and we were unhappy when it was pulled from the U.S. again in 2019. Fortunately, ample were bought that they are straightforward to locate on the applied market place.
Why the Fiat 500 Abarth?
It’s a heck of a whole lot of enjoyable to travel. It is not super quick, but there is plenty of power to put a smile on your encounter. Following all, 160 horsepower and 170 pound-ft of torque (models with automatic transmissions provided up 157 hp and 183 lb-ft) feels sound with just in excess of 2,500 lbs to haul all over.
Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of the Abarth’s driving encounter is its burbly exhaust take note. Here’s how we described it back again in 2019:
“The little turbo 1.4-liter 4-cylinder has a gnarly burble at idle that wouldn’t seem out of area in a muscle mass car. It only receives better when you get started cruising all-around. The burble gets to be a raging howl, and shifting ideal at redline results in a whiplike crack. It’s intoxicating.”
That was real then, and it’s nonetheless genuine right now.
Furthermore, even though we’ll get back again to pricing later, it’s fairly low-cost for a sporty minimal car or truck.
Which Fiat 500 Abarth to pick out?
You’ve acquired two key decisions to make. Very first, automated or manual. Next, fastened roof or sliding canvas best. We’re suckers for clutch pedals, so we’d be tough pressed to advise the automated in excess of the change-for-you version, but actually the 6-pace vehicle is not all that lousy.
The roof is more durable to quantify — it’s not at all like a traditional droptop, in its place sporting a canvas panel that slides back again like a massive sunroof. We’d counsel looking at each variations and exam driving them at city and highway speeds and ideally even in varying weather conditions, in advance of creating a selection.
The product 12 months does not make any difference all that much, besides that pre-2016 editions did not have any sort of infotainment system at all. The past four product years’ minor 5-inch unit is not accurately up to modern day-day specifications, anyway.
Anticipate to shell out below $10,000 for an early 500 Abarth with a affordable variety of miles. Later on models of course price tag extra, but even in modern at the moment inflated made use of marketplace you should be equipped to locate a wonderful example with minimal miles for all around $20,000.
Our utilized motor vehicle listings can be practical to uncover a great offer in the vicinity of you. Narrow the offerings down by a radius all-around your ZIP code, and shell out attention to the deal rating on just about every listing to see how a car compares with other folks in a very similar region.
What else to take into consideration?
The 500 Abarth’s most evident competitor is the Mini Cooper S or John Cooper Operates. Equally a compact European hatchbacks with good electrical power from their minor turbocharged four-cylinder engines and confined each day usability. Neither is regarded for its dependability, while, so if which is a significant purchasing final decision we’d recommend getting a near search at the Honda Civic Si or potentially the Ford Fiesta ST. The Volkswagen GTI may perhaps be the quintessential very hot hatchback, but it really is also greater and a lot more useful than the 500 Abarth.
If you are thinking about working with a Fiat 500 Abarth as small extra than a second-auto plaything, there are a good deal of choices to take into consideration. The Mazda Miata is a given, but $20,000 can also score an more mature Italian (which include the Alfa Romeo Spider or Fiat’s very own 124 in first or reborn sort) or British sportscar (but be confident to preserve some added dough for repair work).
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