Abarth 595 Competizione: Review

A fast car for the fashion set or a true hot hatch hero? PH takes a drive to find out

You can usually call how a car will play on PistonHeads. This one though? Dunno. All will be revealed as the comments start coming in but right now it's hard to predict if this is a PH-worthy car deserving of a big thumbs up or more likely to provoke sniggering.

Here's your traditional Abarth as inspiration...

You need brass ones to carry off the optional two-tone paintwork of this example, that's for sure. And some determination to navigate your way through the endless variations of Abarth-fettled 500 Fiat has created over the years to try and figure out where this one fits. Wikipedia counts 20-plus, branded hook-ups including Gucci, Ferrari, Diesel (as in the clothing brand, not the fuel), Barbie, Felipe Massa, Maserati, Aria and more.

Abarth versions figure heavily in this mix too but the three stages you really need to know about are regular Abarth 500 with 135hp (140hp with the MTA automated manual) upgradeable to 160hp with optional EsseEsse pack, 595 versions with the same 160hp and the more spangly 695 variants like the Tributo Ferrari and Maserati edition. These use the same Garrett GT1446 turbo as the Assetto Corse race cars in place of the standard IHI in the 500 and 595s and are good for 180hp in road trim but are only available with the MTA transmission. Or were, until we were shown the dog 'boxed and plastic windowed 695 Biposto at Geneva.

...translated into its 21st Century equivalent

Still with us?
The 595 is available in Turismo and Competizione versions and rekindles a badge first seen 50 years ago, the original first shown at the 1963 Turin Motor Show. Inevitably this has inspired yet another limited edition, badged 595 50th Anniversary Edition but running in 695 spec with 180hp and the MTA/Abarth Competizione gearbox. The one you see here, however, is a 'regular' 160hp 595 Competizione with the 160hp tune, five-speed manual and a typically fulsome smattering of scorpion logos. There's even one lurking under the filler flap.

Before we get too bogged down let's extract ourselves from this mire of special editions and spec options and try and get a handle on the car itself. You'll inevitably compare the Abarth to the Mini and if you're accustomed to the latter's low-slung driving position you'll feel like you're sitting in a high chair in the Abarth, even in the sporty Sabelt seats. Frankly the driving position is pretty appalling for a six-footer, the wheel seemingly buried in the dash demanding a bolt-upright seat to set the reach sufficiently close for arm twirling but leaving your legs splayed and knees up round your ears. Which is about as attractive as it sounds.

20hp down on the 695s but gutsy enough

Talking the torque
It does its best to distract you from this by being desperately eager to please in almost caricature exaggeration of every aspect of the driving experience. The farty Record Monza exhaust - points deducted for the excess of pipes - sounds suitably gruff and emits the odd bang and pop on occasion, the 1.4-litre engine boosts hard and would appear to have 160 very strong horses in its stable and the damping is firm enough to have you wincing about town but actually very finely judged.

The springy steering gets springier with the pressing of the Sport button but the anonymous TTC (Torque Transfer Control) one buried among the heater controls actually has more bearing on the handling. You can't turn the ESP off but TTC engages a more aggressive 'e-diff' setting and encourages a more proactive mindset for the stability control that's more about helping you getting the power down than intervening at every given opportunity like it does in the standard mode. Again, it's a synthesised impression of a 'proper' drivetrain rather than the real thing but a decently convincing one for most tastes.

Farty (standard) Record Monza exhaust isn't shy

Good clean fun
And you know what? The Abarth is just good fun. It does make you drive like a bit of a tit, admittedly, but there's a knockabout charm at heart that just about wins you over. It's not a patch on a Fiesta ST as a driving machine and at £18K basic and £21K as tested 160hp is some way behind the class average for a proper hot hatch. But you're most of the way there to a £30K-plus 695 special like the Tributo Ferrari and get to shift the gears yourself, which according to those with experience of the Competizione gearbox is a good thing.

It'd be easy to write this car off as style over substance but there is some of the latter in the package, the damping among the more telling features that this is more than just a collection of designer label bits. Somebody who knew what they were doing set this up, even if they were a bit vindictive about the results on the city streets 500s were born to shred.

Priced against the brand new Mini Cooper S - 2.0 litres, 192hp and newest-latest cachet for the fashion set - the Abarth faces an uphill struggle. And while the two retro remoulds follow parallel paths it's the Mini's inevitable ubiquity that claws back a few points for the Abarth, which manages to just about carry off sounding a bit more exotic.

ABARTH 595 COMPETIZIONE
Engine: 1,368cc 4-cyl turbo
Transmission: 5-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Power (hp): 160@5,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 170@3,000rpm (Sport Mode)
0-62mph: 7.4 sec
Top speed: 130mph
Weight: 1,035kg
MPG: 54.3mpg (NEDC combined)
CO2: 155g/km
Price: £18,905 (£21,290 as tested, comprising £950 for Circuit Grey/Officia Red paint, £170 for 10-spoke 17-inch wheels, £265 for Interscope sound system and £1,000 for Sabelt seats)

[Photos: Antony Fraser, sources: Wikipedia]

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