Fiat 500 Abarth

86 cubic inches. That's it, just 86 tiny little cubic inches make up the angry little Fiat's engine. Go to a local gas station and you'll likely find a super big gulp cup with more volume than this car displaces. What you won't likely find at the gas station is very many Fiat 500's.  When kept out of boost these cars are great on gas, which is good because it has a microscopic gas tank. In my case, however, the little Italian spent quite a lot of time in boost howling through its unmuffled vocal chords like a roaring tiger. That isn't even an exaggeration, go listen to a video of a tiger growling, the sound is eerily similar.

Sitting in the Abarth you feel much higher off the ground than you would expect from a relatively small car. The car doesn't provide the same sensation of your typical hot hatch, more like a small SUV that someone shrunk down ever dimension except height. The car is just as quirky as its competitor the, the Mini Cooper S, but not quite as charming. The buttons on the dash are big and cheap looking, and with the strange hard plastic dash pad the car literally looks like one of those Jitterbug cell phones people used to buy for their grandparents. I found the only button I was concerned with relatively quickly though, the sport button. Fiat claims that engaging sport mode will boost torque to 170 foot pounds, which if I'm honest isn't a lot. It isn't like anyone ever got in a car like this and thought "Yikes, its a bit damp out, I better limit the torques to 150 to avoid loosing control in my front wheel drive car!" There is a distinct sensation that the car was originally designed to constantly be in sport mode. It's almost as if Fiat designers intended only one driving mode, then management threw a fit and required a more economically friendly driving mode to boost MPG's. Pop the microscopic hood to look at the microscopic engine and you'll wonder if Fiat started with an engine and built the car around it, because there is no wasted space at all.

Hopping on the interstate was an absolute blast, the car loves boost, and even though there is quite a lot of throw in the shifter, the operation of it feels great. First, second, and third are up in no time, and that muscular howl puts many factory v8's to shame. At speed the car feels very neutral, but still a little bit top heavy during quick lane changes to pass. Plenty of torque is available in any gear, a rare gift in the turbo 4 world. Honestly this car was shaping up to be a real slam dunk, but then it happened: A slightly off camber sharp turn. After driving countless hot hatches and quick front wheel drive cars, I had gotten used to off throttle oversteer and other terrifying attributes of a properly fun front wheel drive setup. This, however, wasn't anything like that. After that corner I have no doubt in my mind that I could flip this car with a simple Scandinavian flick. Have you ever seen the Top Gear episode where Richard tries to get sideways in his van and ends up on the roof faster you can blink? How about the one where Jeremy flips the Reliant Robin more times than Charlie from Two and a Half Men has been to the doctor for an STD test? Of course you have. Well, that's what the Abarth feels like mid corner. The car is FAR too narrow, and much too tall to be driven the way it wants to be driven. Its truly scary in a way that completely turned me off from the car. Excessive oversteer is fun and usually controllable, torque steer is fun and controllable, but flipping a car off its wheels is rarely fun, and never controllable.

So there you have it: under the cute and cuddly looks, the Fiat 500 Abarth roars like a tiger and it certainly goes like a tiger. The problem lies when you finally build up the confidence to let it out of its cage, because it will undoubtedly kill you.