FIAT India recently launched the Abarth 595 Competizione in India and we went to BIC for a spin in it
FIAT’s cute little 500 is a fun city car, however, when FIAT handed it over to the crazy bunch at Abarth, FIAT’s in-house tuning firm, they turned it into a little fire-breathing monster. They went ahead and threw in a 1.4-litre in-line four-cylinder turbocharged motor that is the mother to 160 horses and 230 Nm of torque. And if that weren’t enough, they attached the ‘Record Monza Exhaust’ to it to produce intoxicating sound that leaves you awestruck. They even revamped the interior, transforming the cabin into a racy looking cockpit with a black theme, red trimming, racing seats, a huge digital instrument console, flat-bottom steering wheel and a turbo-boost gauge.
The 595 launched in India is only available with an automated manual transmission, which is a lazy box as it takes its own sweet time to shift. Anyway, we drove it at the famous Buddh International Circuit and it was an amazing experience. The 1.4-litre T-Jet engine is a peppy unit, although it lacks proper bottom-end power. But once the engine crosses the 2,000-RPM mark, it starts to get going. Once the engine reaches 3,000 RPM, it charges ahead in a hurry and that is because all of that 230 Nm is unleashed, providing enough thrust to slap an ear-to-ear grin on your face.
Keep that throttle nailed to the floor, while upshifting using the flappy-paddles on the steering, and you see the figures on the digital speedo run towards the claimed top speed of 210 km/h. It can be a while before you see that figure but it gathers speed quite rapidly when the gearbox is in manual mode. Anyway, 3,000–5,500 RPM is the sweet spot and this is where you can have maximum fun.
