Review - 2012 Abarth 500 - In the Snow!

Abarth 500 - US Version
Story and Photos by Matthew Eddy

Abarth 500 Logo.

I got to drive the Abarth (pronounced ahh-bart, or ahh-bath depending on who you talk to) 500 for 235 miles over 4 days in both sun and snow.  During that time I had 2 people ask if it was a Porsche, which amused me because this doesn’t look anything like any Porsche that has ever existed.  At least 3 people give me the thumbs up, and one guy told me I am going to get a lot of chicks with this car.  To be honest, I am not sure this would be the most powerful chick magnet, but it is sharp looking; at least from the side.  The face of the car has a very distinct European style that will only appeal to a minority of drivers. 



Abarth 500



Abarth is a factory tuner for Fiat similar to Chrysler’s SRT or Ford’s SVT group and they took a Fiat 500 and made it a bit sportier.  Of course, when I hear “sport car” I want to see some numbers; 160hp, 170 ft/lbs of torque in a car that weights 2535 pounds.  That is a good start, and for once the US market is getting a European car is that is more powerful than its European counterpart which only has 133hp.  It’s easy to see that the car is going to be quick and with its small wheel base, it will be nimble.  Besides the extra horses, Abarth lowered the car 1”, stiffened up the suspension, tweaked the front facia a bit and slapped a bunch of scorpion badges all over.  Actually the car doesn’t say “Fiat” anywhere on it. 

Like most cars these days the Abarth has Electronic Stability Control and Sport mode. Both of which can be turned on and off. When in Sport mode, the throttle response is sharpened up and you can call upon all 160 horses.  The ESC, in my snow driving experience, was probably designed for the Fiat 500 and was easily overpowered by the extra power.    It won’t perform the magic that EVO’s or GTR’s traction control can achieve by helping the driver negotiate a turn that they had over driven.  I was able to get wheel spin in 1^st or 2^nd when with the ESC on and it didn’t seem to be able to rein it in when I was hard on the throttle.  Also, from a stop, there were times I thought the ESC would stall the car because it bogged down the car so much.  It probably didn’t help that I am used to driving a Subaru and was a bit to aggressive with the throttle from a stop so when I was a little lighter on the throttle and feathered the clutch a bit more the Abarth was able to take off from a stop a lot more gracefully.  Overall the ESC was handy to have in the snow when you are driving sensibly, but it’s not very sophisticated and really only seems to try and control throttle induced wheel spin.  So don’t expect it to save you if you tear into a corner to fast.  Here is a video of me driving in the snow and playing with the ESC: http://youtu.be/IiQXgJRh2pE

Abarth 500 in the Snow at Night.



Abarth Wheel in Snow



In Sport Mode is activated by a button on the center console, and its pretty much just on or off.  When activated the throttle response is very noticeably sharper with the boost kicking in sooner and with more punch.  Perfect for when you are merging on to the freeway or need to pass some Sunday driver sleeping in the left lane.  Otherwise you can gust cruise around in normal mode to help conserve some fuel since that is probably part of the reason you would buy a small car.   

What is nice about the Abarth and the Fiat 500 in general is that if you are the Jolly Green Giant, you will find the car to be quite spacious.  Unless you are closer to seven feet tall you shouldn’t have any problems fitting into this car.  I am an even six feet tall and I had about 6” of head room.  So this car has plenty of room for you, a helmet and even a roll cage if you decide to race it. 

Besides being quick, my favorite feature of the car is the exhaust.  It sounds more like a muscle car than a little four banger with a turbo bolted to it.  I am now convinced that Italians inherently know how to tune an exhaust like no other.  It growls and gurgles like a V8; to bad it isn’t louder!  At freeway speeds it’s drowned out by road and wind noise because it’s just not that loud.  Here is a short video I shot so you can hear the exhaust note for yourself:  http://youtu.be/2Cy4ybqFlZo



Abarth Engine Bay - the turbo can be seen at the bottom of the image, its under and to the left the the silver heat sheild.



On regular roads the car felt pretty good even though the suspension is significantly stiffer than the Fiat 500.  As to be expected with any short wheelbase car on uneven pavement like we have all over the Detroit area, the ride can be pretty bumpy.  If you are shopping for any subcompact car, you won’t be able to avoid this issue  and I didn’t find it to be a problem.  This car would make a fun and comfortable commuter.  



Abarth 500 - Sporty Pedals



Abarth 500 - Seats - nice red detailing.

Performance & Handling

I wouldn’t call the Abarth fast, that label is reserved for cars whose 0-60 times are sub 5 seconds but it is definitely quick.  Though I haven’t see any official figures I am estimating it in the high 6 second range; probably a little slower than the Mini S comparing the power to weight ratios.  At a stop, in first gear, you can very easily get the front wheels spinning.   Actually, for me it was kind of hard to resist not doing it every time but that’s probably because I am like a kid with a new toy when I was driving this car.

The steering effort is firm and communicative.  As expected the car will tend to understeer, but that is to be expected from a FWD and manufactures will tune that into the car since its considered safer.  I don’t think it will take much to get it to be a bit more oversteery; different alignment and a larger rear sway bar should do the trick.  A few practice slaloms I tried the car felt very responsive with slight understeer developing toward the end.  Under hard corning the car was well balanced front to back but I was worried that the narrow track of the car and its height may make it prone to tipping.  I did see a picture of a 500 on two wheels through a corner and I think that made me a bit overly paranoid.  Plus I know I would never hear the end of it if I rolled the car, so I was aggressive, but didn’t push it to the limit under hard cornering. 

Overall the driving experience was very enjoyable and is a fun car to drive.  The performance of the car is such that I think you could surprise a few people with how quick it is.  I know I surprised a friend of mine when I spun the wheels launching it from a stop. 

Though is possible to nit pick any car, especially at this price point, the car has, only one major flaw; seating position.  My first thought when I got into the car was that I felt like I was getting into a van with captains chairs.  It even has a fold down arm rest!  This is great for commuting, but I was expecting a sports car.  I want to feel like I am getting into the cockpit of a F-16.  It felt so tall that I was at eye level with other drivers in full sized cars.  Some people might like this since the car, from the driver’s seat, doesn’t feel small.  However, I was just imagining this car just tipping over under hard cornering.  So much so that I would lean well over the passenger seat if I was really ripping through a corner.  Also, with this very vertical seating position I found my left leg was getting a cramp in my shin.  Basically, it was comfortable, but it didn’t feel sports car like and I had a hard time imagining myself taking this to a track. 



Abarth 500 - Steering Wheel and Dash Detail.







Abarth 500 Interior.





My only other complaint is the transmission wasn’t very smooth.  Sometimes I had to find 5^th, and I got a crunch from the transmission when I was putting the car into reverse.  It wasn’t horrible, but a smoother tranny would improve the driving experience. 

I should also note that the back seats are really only usable for children.  There isn’t enough leg room or headroom for adults to sit back there comfortably.  If you are buying a subcompact then you probably already know that the backseats are decorative, or at the very least a convenient padded shelf to place luggage and weren’t actually expecting to seat people back there except in emergencies.  The trunk, on the other hand, is actually larger than you would expect.  You can probably hold at least one body if packed properly.

Looking at the car in a vacuum (not comparing it to any other cars), it is fun, quick, agile, looks good, and the exhaust sounds great.  This would make a great commuter and at around $22,700, the price it’s a fair amount less than other available turbocharged cars.   The problem is that the Abarth isn’t the only car in its class and it’s direct competition is the Mini Cooper S and some might also say the Mazda MX-5 Miata.  Originally I though I should compare it to a Ford Fiesta, Mazda2, Honda Fit and a few others but really none of them have a comparable model that comes close to the power of the Abarth.  So those cars aside, how does it compare to the Miata and the Mini? 

First off it beats them both in price.  The base MX-5 starts at about $23,500, and the Cooper S is at least $24,000, but you are probably looking at closer to $27,000 when comparably equipped for either car. In terms of fuel economy, the Abarth and the Cooper S are fairly similar.  I haven’t seen any official figures for the Abarth, but I am estimating that it will be approximately 30mpg on the highway compared to the Mini’s 32. Personally I got an average of 26mpg over 235 miles of combined city/highway driving but I was driving the least economical way possible so that doesn’t really is a fair assessment.  Where the Mini edges out the Abarth is the feel; the Mini feels sportier, the seating position is better and it has 181hp giving it a better power to weight ratio.   

If I had the money, I would buy a Mini over the Abarth especially if you plan to do some autoX or track days.  If you are serious about getting into motorsports than the MX5 would be the best choice since its rear wheel drive and has 167hp from a naturally aspirated engine.  But, if you like the looks of the Abarth and want a car that is kind of unique then take one for a test drive.  They are fun, sporty, comfortable, and would make a fun daily driver.

Track Car for the Novice

It’s easy to find a lot of articles about which car is the best track car, but they are usually measuring which car can turn the fastest lap time.  That is really good for experienced drivers, but what about the best track car if you are a first timer?  I thought it would be good to do a write up on what the best novice track car would be.  If you are interested in really honing your skills so that you can drive a car at or near its limit on a track or would like to get into racing, then please sit down with an open mind and let me explain my philosophy before you just peruse the list to see where your car falls.

Whenever I talk to someone about tracking a car they always assume that a car needs to be modified.   Why?  I guess many assume that when taking a car out onto the track it should be prepped for the track with power and suspension mods, but most cars that you would want to take to the track will be just fine in the stock form.  Adding power and suspension modification only adds another layer of complexity and obscures the skills a novice driver should be focusing on.  Watching track and race videos can be very deceiving since you really don’t get a good feel for how fast those corners seem to come at you, how hard to turn, and then there are the walls, the little bumps, and the slip angle of the tires.  A friend of mine summed it up in one word: scary.  It’s a fun scary, but you won’t really know what I mean until you have done it.  Even now you are probably thinking “I am going to tear the track up!”  Basically if you really want to be a skilled driver then put on the training wheels.  It seems that every hobby I have pursued, there are the foundational skill sets that when mastered will make it easier to concentrate on practicing the advanced skills.  So with this in mind, I have a few suggestions on what is the best way to learn to drive a car at speed on a track.  Of course, always be safe.  You aren’t going to become a great driver if you crash and burn.

Try AutoX (pronounced auto-cross) first.  Not glamorous, but it is fun.  One benefit is that the courses are set up to try and limit the possibility of you wrecking your car if you spin or otherwise make a fool of yourself.  But really the best part of autoxing is that you can get a feel for the car in a relatively safe setting.  Don’t make excuses that the events are “confusing with all those cones” or some BS like that.  Try it.  When you do, really push the car.  Try and make it spin.  Try and brake really late and hard.  Practice threshold braking.  Feel how hard you can corner.  What does the car do when you take it into a corner to fast?  What happens when you give it to much throttle in the middle of the corner?  There shouldn’t be any hard obstacles or people out there to hit if you totally push wide in a corner or spin.  When I make new significant modifications to my car I like to thrash it around at an autoX first just to see how the car feels and it gives me more confidence when I got to the track that if I do spin I have some idea what I need to do to recover.

I will assume that you probably already have a car, and that is the car you intend to track.  However, if you don’t have a car yet or want to buy another car, I have compiled this list of cars from Ideal to Terrible.  Now I wish that I could have driven all these cars, but I haven’t so some of this is based on the tech sheets or second hand knowledge but I wanted to list most of the popular models.  It’s important to note that one assumption I made with this list is that the cars are NOT MODIFIED or have minor modifications such as intake, exhaust, sway bar change maybe some newer slightly adjustable suspension.  So no turbo upgrades, no coilovers, no aero.

Ideal Cars - These cars will all share common characteristics; front engine, rear wheel drive, low powered. Why these characteristics?  Most high powered race cars are going to be rear wheel drive and since those cars are going to be prone to oversteer, you should learn to control it and use it.  Sure a lot of high power cars are going to be mid-engine, but mid-engine cars can be difficult to learn in because when they start to spin, they spin fast where a front engine car has more progressive oversteer, that’s easier to detect, correct for, and recover from.  Now, the most important part is you want a low power car so that you can concentrate on fundamental driver skills such as racing lines, smooth down shifts and car control without having to do it at 100+ mph.  Trust me, like I said earlier, it may seem like the faster the better, but once you actually do it, it’s better to start slow, learn the fundamentals and then step it up to the fast cars.  Remember, training wheels before the ten speed.

Mazda Miata (base model, no forced induction)
Mazda RX-7 (old models that aren’t turbocharged)
Toyota Corrolla (83-87 AE86, RWD car)
Pontiac Solstice (no turbo or supercharger)
Saturn Sky (non-tubro of course)
Nissan 240SX, 300Z
Porsche 944 (non turbo)

Good Cars - These cars are fun and will help the novice driver learn to drive a track, but may not have handling characteristics that emulate the typical race car or higher end sports cars.

Honda Civic, Accord, Fit, CRX
Dodge Neon (DOHC or SOHC versions, not the SRT4)
Acura Integra (not the Type-R)
Nissan Sentra (normal or SE-R)
VW Golf, Scirocco, Corrado, GTI (no VR6 or turbos)
Ford Focus, Escort, Fiesta
Chevy Cobalt (not the SS of course)
Subaru 2.5RS, Legacy, regular Impreza
Mini Cooper

Marginal Cars – These cars are rated as such mostly because they are a little fast to make the Ideal or Good list, though a couple mid-engine cars made the marginal list since they have well tuned suspension or low power so that they aren’t to much of a handful.

Ford Mustang
Chevy Cobalt SS
BMWs
Dodge SRT-4, Challenger, Charger
VW R32, VR6’s
Toyota Supra (Mark 2&3), MR2 Spyder (’00-’05)
Nissan 300ZX (non-turbo)
AudiA4, TT
Porsche Cayman, Boxter, 944 Turbo
Fiat X1/9
Nissan 350Z & 370Z

Mazda RX-8

A Little Scary – Handling characteristics are tricky or speed is just getting to fast to make them a good novice car. For instance, the mid-engine layout has some very solid advantages, but they also can be very “snappy”, meaning that when the tail end breaks loose and starts to spin, it will do so quickly and the driver needs to be very attuned to the car to be able to catch it.

Chevy Corvette, Camaro
Toyota MR2, Supra (Mark 4)
Lotus Elise
Subaru WRX or STI
Mitsubishi EVOs
Porsche 911 (non-turbo)
Nissan GT-R

Terrible – Keep in mind this is for a novice driver.  Don’t misinterpret this list; all of these cars make great track cars but not if you are trying to learn.  Basically, take all the super cars and lump them into this class, but here are some particularly difficult to drive:

Porsche 911 (especially the older ones)
Dodge Viper
Ariel Atom

Why I Won't Buy A GT-R!

They haven't built a new car here, they've built a new yard stick. 

-Jeremy Clarkson, Top Gear, season 11, ep 4

Would I buy a GT-R?

There is a whole sack full of words that can be used to describe this car; words like awesome, brilliant, superb, cool.  It is most certainly a very competent car that is amazing not just for its driving capabilities but also the price.  There is only one other car that I would classify as a super car that wasn’t also super priced, and that was the early generations of the Dodge Viper.  Of course, affordable is a relative term, but in this regard I mean that this car is within the grasp of the middle class, of which I belong.  So if I returned by bottles and cans, and stopped eating out so much, I could buy one.  One huge benefit of the GT-R over the Viper is that with all of its gee-whiz gadgets, and magical traction control, it won’t kill you if you make a mistake.  It is almost like the Mitsubishi EVO 10, except better looking, a ton more power, and electronically controlled suspension.  The concepts between the two are the same; take a car with an extra helping of horsepower, plop it onto an all wheel drive power train, then tie it together with sensors and computers and then turn it loose.  For the driver, the car offers thrills that are hardly matched since you can push the cars right up to the very edge of their limits and then dance there all day long.  Not that you can’t exceed its’ capabilities, I have seen to many Youtube videos of EVO drivers stuffing their cars into walls. But to wreck the car they committed some very grievous errors.  Compare this to the Viper, all you have to do it look at the corner wrong, and the car will punish you.  It is to easy to give the engine just a little to much air coming out of a turn and suddenly the wheels spin, the car spins and your head spins just before you hit the wall.  Don’t misunderstand me, I am not criticizing the Viper, and I am exaggerating a bit, but the Viper requires more from the driver and because of that, a driver, especially a less experienced one, would be more timid to explore the cars limits. 

If you haven’t heard the specs by now, then you have been living in a cave, and if you have been living in a cave here is a quick summary of its stats.  This car is strapping a hand assembled 3.8L six shooter, with twin turbos that push a minimum of 480 horses to all four wheels.  I say minimum because the engine is hand assembled and there is some variation among the cars; some testing at well over 500 from the factory.  0-60 time is around 3.5 seconds, and with the new launch control (the first iteration of the launch control would apparently destroy transmissions after 5 or 6 launches) it may even do it as quickly as 3.1 seconds.  Large 6-piston Brembo calipers are ready to grab the 15” two piece drilled and slotted rotors, and bring the stout 3800 lb car to a stop in 104 feet when traveling at 60 mph. The transmission is a 6 speed semi-auto paddle shifter deal with dual clutches, feeding the 50/50 power to the front and rear wheels when at low speeds or accelerating hard, but normally it will feed 70% of the power or more to the rear wheels.  This is all well and good but the stats I am more interested in are lap times.  Nissan claims a lap time of 7:26 around “the Ring” (Nurburgring, if you don’t know what it is, look it up) on stock tires, which is very impressive.  On the Top Gear test track, the car posted a time of 1:19.7 which is .7 seconds slower than an Enzo and in front of the likes of the Carrera GT, C6 ZR-1, and the Audi V10 R8; all cars that are priced well above $100,000.

Quick List; 4 Reason to Buy the Car:

One, the car is stupid fast.  480 horse power!  0-60 in 3.5 seconds!  Come on!

Two, you can drive the car quite tamely on the street as a daily driver.  The leg room in the back isn’t enormous, but it is functional.  It also has a trunk you can put groceries into.  It is all wheel drive, so in snow, wet weather or other low traction scenarios the car will be fun; I mean safer.  Four wheel power slides in a parking lot covered in fresh snow is one of my favorites!  So, getting back on subject, you could buy the car to drive to work and on weekends take to the track to play.

Three, for the weekend warrior, this car offers a lot of thrills.  You don’t have to be a Mario Andretti or Lewis Hamilton to be able to drive the car at 9/10ths it capability since all these little computers and sensors will help keep you pointed in the right direction even if you try to take a corner too fast. 

Four, it is not a common car.  Here in Michigan it would be more common to see a Ferrari Modena then a GT-R.  Many people may not agree with me on this, but I want a car that is at least some what unique. 

What it comes down to, is the car worth it?  With a price tag of $80,000 USD, car far surpasses anything else out there in terms of speed, corning capability, practicality and thrill, so it seems like the car is perfect.  Now that I have sung the cars praises and given you four reasons to buy is there any reason NOT to buy it?  I thought it would be interesting to contrast the four reasons to buy the car with 4 reasons not to buy the car but I could only think of one; it is not a driver’s car.  It is a fun car on the track and it is definitely a new yard stick in performance and price, but the car is too good!  Really, too good?  Does that just sounds like the words of an irrational hater?  What I mean is that it doesn’t challenge the driver.  When I was at an open track day (in NASA speak, I was at an HPDE), the running joke was that you can just program in your lap time and then hit the “go” button.  A car that is “too good” is a car that does all the hard thinking for you.  Miss the braking point and turn into the corner carrying a little extra speed and the car steps in to figure out how to save your sorry butt.  The novice drive continues on down the track thinking he is godly as he passes the Vette and the Ferrari not realizing that if he did that in any other car he would have spun or taken an off-roading adventure.  If you like the thrill of the track and you want something fast that won’t try to kill you, this is the perfect car.  If you a very experienced driver and are looking for something you can drive to the track, spank Porsches and Ferraris, then this car is for you.  But, if you are a road racing beginner and you want to become the best driver you can then DO NOT buy this car.  It won’t teach you.  You would eventually get to the point where you could drive this car close to its limits, but once you got into something with more teeth, you will find yourself wrapped around a tree or in the wall.  A Miata, Solstice/Sky (non turbo), RX-7 (non turbo), an old E30 (mid-late eighties BMW 3-series) or anything comparable, would be a far better teacher, and much cheaper.  The GT-R is an amazing car, and I would love to own one, but only if I can also have a good drivers car.