Abarth 500e review

• Overview
• What is it?
• OK, A HOT-HATCH NEEDS GOOD NUMBERS, SO GIVE ME SOME.
• YES BUT IS IT ACTUALLY FUN?
• WHAT IS IT THAT MUTATES A FIAT 500 INTO AN ABARTH?
• SHOULDN’T AN ABARTH BE NOISY?
• CAN YOU GET A CABRIO?
• What's the verdict?
• Driving
• What is it like to drive?
• WHAT ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE?
• Interior
• What is it like on the inside?
• Buying
• What should I be paying?

Overview

What is it?

Welcome to the first electric hot hatch. We’d define that as the souped-up version of an existing electric hatch. The souping-up tickboxes are extra power, a stiffer suspension, spoilers, and a jazzier cabin. Since this is no longer the 1990s, we won’t insist on red seat belts.

So if it’s the first electric hot-hatch, it mustn’t have rivals? Don’t be silly. Every car has to face alternative calls on your money. The Mini Cooper S e, Honda e, Peugeot e-208 are roughly similar in size and power but lack either battery range (Mini and Honda) or sporty bent (Peugeot). The Cupra Born and Renault Megane are lively, but bigger and dearer and not quite such party animals as the Abarth.

The Abarth is based on the Fiat 500 electric, just like when Carlo Abarth himself began emboldening Fiat 500s back in the late 1950s. That brings a super-compact electric hatchback, front-wheel drive and design that’s a retro-modernised version of those 1950s themes.

They even gave it a sound generator designed to mimic a petrol engine. This was shaped with input from Abarth’s rabidly active and loyal fanbase, as a means of keeping those petrolheads on side.

OK, A HOT-HATCH NEEDS GOOD NUMBERS, SO GIVE ME SOME.

Abarth says the 0-62 time is 7.0 seconds, thanks to a 155bhp motor. That’s what you might call toasty rather than searing performance. But of course the instant response of an electric motor does make up for an apparent shortfall in the figures.

The manufacturer says the battery pack holds 42.2kWh, but that’s a gross figure. The net number, the energy you can use from indicated 100 per cent to 0 per cent, is the one most manufacturers quote because it’s what actually matters from the point of view of range and recharging cost. For the Abarth that net number is 37.3kWh useable. Which isn’t big compared with the Peugeot e-208 which has recently risen to 51kWh net.

Range then is a comparatively meagre 164 miles WLTP. And that’s for the one on 17-inch wheels, as the 18s cost seven miles WLTP. A cabrio roof costs another seven miles.

Driving the 18-inch-wheeled hatch on mixed roads with little regard for energy saving, we used up 60 per cent of the battery in 80 miles, which extrapolates to 132 miles range compared with its WLTP of 157.

Driving it on track, we got the equivalent of 50 miles. But then, that’s 20-30 laps which is most of a track day. Albeit power does get limited as state of charge drops into the lower quarters.

An advantage of small batteries is they’re light. This one is 295kg, and the overall weight of the car is 1,410kg – chunky for a supermini but light for an EV. That helps agility.

YES BUT IS IT ACTUALLY FUN?

It is. No, not the riot that some hot hatches are. But it goes smartly and corners convincingly. It’s agile and engaging in bends, happy to gently squirm the tail on lift-off. The steering is accurate too. Click the driving tab for details.

It rides tautly but doesn’t doesn’t crash or judder. So it’s on the liveable end of the spectrum. Much more than a petrol Abarth, which is frantic, noisy, unruly and uncomfortable – but just occasionally, more fun.

WHAT IS IT THAT MUTATES A FIAT 500 INTO AN ABARTH?

It’s actually the same motor, a permanent-magnet job, but given more juice by upgrades to the inverter and battery wiring. Another six per cent effective torque at the wheels comes from lowering the ratio of the single-speed drive.

The suspension is stiffer, and the steering more weighty. The rear brakes are stronger. Bigger tyres are special to the car. Usual hot-hatchery then.

No great surprises for the design either. More assertive bumpers and air dams, a rear diffuser, no actual improvement in aero efficiency. Plus some pretty sudden colour options.

Inside there’s bolstered seats and, on the Turismo trim, Alcantara by the acre. The designers say the angular shapes are drawn from the Abarth scorpion’s claws. And that the textures come from digital graphics. They did that because while Abarths with engines appeal to petrolheads, electric Abarths appeal to gamers too.

The loss in range versus the Fiat 500 – even at the matched speed of the WLTP cycle – stems from the faster-spinning motor, higher-resistance tyres and extra aero and cooling drag.

SHOULDN’T AN ABARTH BE NOISY?

Ah yes, and so is this. You can turn on an ‘exhaust’ sound generator. Really. There’s a waterproof, mudproof speaker under the back of the car, and it makes an outward sound modelled on the optional Record Monza exhaust of the petrol Abarth 695. Prod the throttle at a standstill and it even makes a revvy noise. The noises continue as you drive, rising and falling in pitch and intensity with accelerator or brake pressure, so they alter as you sweep through bends.

Daft? Brilliant? A bit of both in truth. In town it must rather irritate people it passes, as it’s at the legal volume limit for a petrol car. But on a twisty road it really does help you gauge speed into and through corners.

I’m not sure why they couldn’t have just piped the sound into the cabin speakers rather than beaming it outward. Guess that’s the cheek of the thing.

CAN YOU GET A CABRIO?

You can. Just as with the Fiat 500, the roll-back canvas roof is on the menu. It’s an agreeable thing for warm days when the drive is gentle. To call it a cabrio is a bit of a stretch, mind. Giant sunroof more like. Still, it’s not too turbulent with the roof back, and is quiet and snug when closed.

The Cabrio’s bodywork is less rigid than the hatch, which has consequences for the driver – click to the driving section of this review for details.

It’s cramped and short in range, so can’t do the job of a bigger petrol hatch. It never applied for that job anyway.
But it’s nicely at home on B-roads or suburbs, using its small size and nifty responses to great advantage. And when you’re not driving it like your backside’s on fire, it’s quiet and pretty civilised. It’s little more expensive than a Mini Electric, but goes further.

Even if it’s not for you, we can celebrate it because it shows that the coming of the age of electricity doesn’t mean the ending of the age of the hot hatch.

Continue reading: Driving

Driving

What is it like to drive?

We’ve tried it on track, town, bumpy backroads and motorways. It’s at home in most circs.

In tight turns it resists understeer and accelerates its way out much more promptly than a petrol car that’s gone off-boost. In mid-speed curves, the front-to rear balance lets you edge the tail out by lifting. It’s easy to manage and very endearing.

The steering (or rather, the interaction between steering, front and rear roll rates, initial damping and suspension geometry, because with any car those are among the many factors affecting “steering”) is nicely judged. It holds the centre well on a motorway. Then it peels into a curve promptly but not twitchily. Deep into the corner, it’s proportional and agile.

The ride’s pretty good for a sporty car too. The base Fiat 500 isn’t over-endowed with suspension travel so can sometimes bounce a bit, but the Abarth by being tauter suffers less. it doesn’t much crash into potholes or suffer from shuddering aftershocks either.

The Cabrio definitely wobbles a little, through its steering column and body twist. It undermines the sense of engineering integrity you get in the hatch. There’s slight compensation though, as this flex imparts a little more feel for the chassis’ efforts.

WHAT ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE?

Two drive modes – Scorpion Track and Scorpion Street – give you the full 155bhp and 173lb ft, while Turismo constrains it to 136bhp and 162lb ft. Not much of a cut.

Obviously none of those numbers will scare the Civic Type Rs of this world. But the instant, no-lag, seamless response of an electric motor goes some way to making up. At least at low speed. Outside-lane manoeuvres take planning.

The different modes have different lift-off behaviour too. Track more or less coasts, leaving the regeneration part to the top of the brake pedal. Street moves to one-pedal drive, so the car slows noticeably when you lift, which is why that’s the one for the more interactive cornering.

The sound generator is definitely more than a novelty, adding a bit more interaction to up-and-down driving. It’s a drone at cruising speeds though. Just like a real Abarth exhaust.

This is a car you drive yourself. It’s got a dumb cruise control and simple lane-departure assist, rather than radar cruise and lane centring.

Previous: Overview

Continue reading: Interior

Interior

What is it like on the inside?

The seat is fairly high (it adjusts, if pointlessly) but the pedals and steering wheel address you comfortably. And the huge seat clenches your body, without depriving you of cushioning.

Ahead, the instrument pack cycles through a good choice of layouts. Trip computer, stereo and navigation can all find a home there, but Top Gear mostly used a nice round combi-clock showing speed, power use and regeneration.

The centre 10.25-inch touchscreen is comprehensive and again easy to set up to your personal priorities. It runs a 320-watt JBL branded audio as standard.

Those smart graphics, plus neat rows of finger-friendly switches for climate and transmission, raise the apparent level of quality as well as usability. So we won’t bang on about the hard plastics on the console, dash and doors. The Turismo trim adds a cushioned Alcantara strip on the dash, which lifts it some more.

Those big front seats burgle space from the rear. If an average adult male is driving, no-one older than about 10 is going to be able to sit properly in the back. Only two seat belts back there anyway. It’s a coupe. Not much room in the boot either.

Previous: Driving

Continue reading: Buying

Buying

What should I be paying?

The Abarth range starts in price where the Fiat range tops out. The Abarth 500 hatch is £34,195.

The Turismo trim adds a whole lotta Alcantara, 18-inch wheels, a glass roof on the hatch, park sensors and reversing camera (should be standard across the range frankly). That’s a £4,000 uplift.

Meanwhile the Cabrio, with an electrically driven roof, is £3,000 on either version.

UK deliveries begin in summer.

We saw 3.4 miles/kWh in lively driving, so running costs shouldn’t be bad. A quick 0-80 per cent charge is 35 minutes, peaking at 85kW. The on-board charger is 11kW, allowing 0-100 per cent in four and a quarter hours if you have access to three-phase, or five and a half hours at the more usual 7kW.

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Continue reading: Specs & Prices

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