Video: 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth

As in 'Ah, what happened to that little Fiat?' Well, it got a turbo-charged 4-cylinder engine, a hunker-downed suspension and some revised body work, and the sum of the parts is a bit of fun. But there still are some issues with body roll and visibility. We'll show you why. The Abarth was named for Carl Abarth, a racing enthusiast and Fiat tuner five decades ago. It's got some functional changes up front here. There's five openings that actually funnel air to the engine's inner cooler. They sit bellow Abarth's scorpion logo. Which is a scorpion because Fiat says Carl Abarth was a Scorpio. The Abarth doesn't actually work as well as the city cars, the regular 500, and that's because its re-tailored steering ratio with fewer turns lock to lock, among other mechanical changes, contribute to a twenty-three percent overall increase in your turning circle. That means it's an SUV-like, 37.6 feet now. Not so great when you're trying to make those three-point turns. Get back in a straight line, and the Abarth's 1.4 liter turbo 4-cylinder is a bit of fun. It flats a lung at idle and never really sounds that good, even when you're hard on the gas. But it makes 160 horsepower and 170 pounds-feet of torque. The torque plateaus from 2500 to 4000 RPM, Fiat says. So, it comes on strong at that point, and sticks around all the way up to higher revs. This is an area where the 101 horsepower Fiat 500 kind of tails off. There's a sport button on the dashboard that gives maximum torque and you can really feel the extra power as your reigning through the gears. Still we wonder why Fiat gave this car a five-speed manual instead of a six-speed manual transmission. The extra gear might help acceleration off the line, which does feel pretty modest. The sport tune suspension and 17-inch wheels in our test car lend the same firm ride as in the regular 500 but it's not as punishing as the sport suspension in a Mini Cooper S. Check out our video of the regular 500 for impressions of the interior. The Abarth adds things like leather wrapping here over the gauges, and sportier one piece seats. But, it still has some of the same issues. There's thick B pillars and they kind of get in your way as you're glancing over your left shoulder to see cars in the next lane. Also, the seat belts are kind of far back, and there's no assistant device that moves them closer to you. The 500 Abarth starts at about $22,000, which is about $4500 more than a 500 Sport. Convenience features are about the same, so most of those changes are performance related, and that's a pretty steep price increase, given that the Abarth now plays near the same field as a Mazda Speed 3, a Ford Focus ST, or a Volkswagen GTI. Make sure you're OK with all of those issues, and the price tag before you let the turbo win you over. (music) For more car-related news go to Cars.com, or our blog, Kickingtires.net