Monday 25th February 2013

Abarth offers custom bling

News just in from Italy! Shame it's almost completely unintelligible...

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We’ve just had a rather excitable press release in from Abarth. And it’s chock full of such vaguely incoherent marketing buzz phrases as ‘new heritage’ and ‘custom attitude’. The trouble is, we’re not entirely sure what it’s actually on about.

Vents ahoy for last year's Fuoriserie...

Oh wait; here it is. Abarth is making a bit of noise about its ‘fuoriserie’ customisation programme. This was first shown off at the Paris motor show late last year by unveiling a rather sudden (not to mention decidedly dubious) 695, tarted up with all manner of options available through the programme. Note, for example, the bonnet treatment – why choose between a NACA duct or a vent when you can have both?

To complement the programme, and hot on the heels of previous 695 models like the Maserati and Ferrari editions, Abarth has opted to release four ‘pre-modified’ 695 packages that are ... well, as they put it, “like tattoos on your skin, indelible and personal, unique feelings, accessories inspired by the Abarth brand, with an eye for innovation, technology and the latest trends.” Er... if you say so, chaps.  

Ooh... yellow bits...

Two of the packages, Record and Scorpione, hark back to previous Abarth liveries, while the other two – Hype and Black Diamond – are more style-oriented. Some, as you can tell from our pictures, are rather more convincing than others. All, however, are endowed with the 695’s 180hp 1.4-litre MultiAir turbo and robotised manual gearbox, as well as 305mm Brembo four-piston brakes and Koni FSD dampers. Inside, meanwhile, and depending on the package you choose, you can have a selection of tasty goodies such as Sabelt seats, splashes of carbon fibre, and even scorpion badges sprayed liberally around the place.

So beneath the rather over-the-top tat and marketing waffle, these new Abarths should be reasonably enjoyable things to drive. Assuming that gearbox doesn’t spoil things too much. Here’s hoping; after all, it’d be a shame if the Abarth name was diminished to peddle a set of spangly add-ons.

[mrclav]

Oh Lord. I can see a whole world of pain arriving with a whole slew of shockingly attired cars - if someone buys that blue and yellow abomination in the UK, may the Gods of resale have mercy on their souls.

Edited by mrclav on Monday 25th February 13:59

[crostonian]

Apart from the terrible faux bonnet vents these look quite tricky, shame they don't seem to offer a height adjustable driver seat as no matter how hard I try I just can't get comfy, so unfortunately they are off my list.

Edited by crostonian on Monday 25th February 14:12

[suffolk009]

Those names rather remind me of "Blue Steel".

[will261058]

mrclav said:

Oh Lord. I can see a whole world of pain arriving with a whole slew of shockingly attired cars - if someone buys that blue and yellow abomination in the UK, may the Gods of resale have mercy on their souls.

Edited by mrclav on Monday 25th February 13:59

I think they deserve all they get at resale (or dont get!)

[Zato]

Drove a 500 SS with Konis at the weekend and it was a very good little car. For a quick blast as much fun as more expensive metal.

[TomTVR500]

I think anyone that is even tempted to spend money on one of these should be shot at dawn!

[RacingBlue]

My word.

[tomv1to]

Its nice that they are offering the 180bhp power upgrade so you don't need to buy one of the limited edition ferrari or maserati models to get it. Its also nice that it looks like you wont have to use the flippy paddle gear box either.

Unfortunately I can't see these being much cheaper than the ferrari and maserati equivelants, plus, the weakest part of the 500 is that manual gear box.

Still it looks like the level of customisation that is available for the Abarth 500 is unrivalled by other manufacturers, provided of course you can pay for it.

[Alfa159Ti]

I actually really like all of those.

[jimbro1000]

[quote]Here’s hoping; after all, it’d be a shame if the Abarth name was diminished to peddle a set of spangly add-ons.
[/quote]
Because of course Fiat would *never* do that to Abarth.... honest

TBH though with a little restraint you have a nice unique design that is not a million miles from the sort of customisation we had from the likes of TVR. Was that a bad thing? (in some cases it could be argued but most of the time it all worked out)

The problem is going to be how much they expect the in-cognicenti to pay for such things - £1000 a seat? no problem sir...
The 695 is already price hiked as far as the market can bear from what I've seen so this could just be a futile attempt at extracting a little more.

Still don't get why the auto-gearbox is standard, with exception everyone I've spoken to that has tried it came to the same conclusion - it's crap and completely spoils the car. The tributo cars were supposed to be better but feedback says otherwise - it really is about time Fiat got their act together on this front, everything else on the A500s is so much better than they've done in the past, why can't they get that one last detail right?

[Garlick]

Alfa159Ti said:

I actually really like all of those.

Did you miss this one?

[crostonian]

It's only the bonnet vents that spoil it for me, guess that is just a press pic that's showing all the options, personally I like the colour scheme and it does have some relevance to the brand

[405dogvan]

I really like 500s but it's clear that their popularity is waning and they're desperate to sell a few to bling-happy tourists...

I think they might have been better-off sorting out some of the quality issues which have caused a few people to throw theirs back and buy something else entirely...

[redroadster]

Seats look good, and the rest looks...........pish.

[chrisironside]

Number one is nice, the other two... unpleasant.

[moanthebairns]

Garlick said:

Alfa159Ti said:

I actually really like all of those.

Did you miss this one?

that looks quality.

it would match my rossi beanie.

[Bencolem]

redroadster said:

Seats look good, and the rest looks...........pish.

Really? Look like child seats to me...

[Carnnoisseur]

Alfa159Ti said:

I actually really like all of those.

So do I (safety in numbers, as we are about to be shot down)

[007 VXR]

Carnnoisseur said:

Alfa159Ti said:

I actually really like all of those.

So do I (safety in numbers, as we are about to be shot down)

+1
Its not that back

[Lagerlout]

The bonnet vents are not fake. The left one is a proper NACA duct that directly feeds the turbo as in the Assetto Corse race cars and the right vent is an exit vent for the turbo heat. These actually do work so not cosmetic add ons.