Once I was past the dreaded turbo-lag region, I was falling in love with the performance this engine has to offer. Getting to 100 km/h from standstill took me just 10.15 seconds, although I am sure that the car is quite capable of doing the same in less than 10 seconds if it came with traction control. Anyway, the name of the game here is performance and the Punto Evo Abarth offers it in abundance. I saw the speedo needle head to 210 km/h before the traffic ahead slowed me down. Converting that to true speed I got a figure of 199 km/h, which is pretty amazing for a hot hatch. However, when it came to roll-ons I was a bit disappointed as it takes a long time to travel from 40 to 120 km/h in fourth and fifth gears, once again thanks to the turbo-lag. But with a sprint timing of 10.15 seconds and a true top speed of 199 km/h, I reckon that when it comes to performance, the Punto Evo Abarth truly shines as a hot hatch.
It’s not just the performance that enthralled me, the handling of this powered up Punto was also high on my mind. Overlooking the awkward driving position, I was able to enjoy this Italian’s handling on the twisty roads dotting the countryside near Pune. The steering is quick and responsive, always keeping you informed about the front wheels’ activity. I loved the precision with which it turned the front wheels, always pointing the nose in the direction I wanted it to. However, I would have loved it even more if it had some more weight added to it.
The suspension, on the other hand, was almost perfectly set up. Slightly firmer than the stock car but not too stiff, it handled our roads with ease. However, the thuds were clearly audible. On bad roads, the firmer set-up does make the car feel a bit nervous, thus hampering the ride quality a bit. However, on smooth roads it feels much better. In the twisties, I loved the way the car was hugging those corners. All I was doing was pointing the nose into the corner playing with the throttle and brake and, voilà, it was through without getting or making me nervous. Stability was good throughout.
There was just enough traction from the 195/ 55 R16 Apollo rubber and I did feel the need for a little bit more traction as there were moments when the car was understeering when pushed hard. But most of the times it behaved in a very civil way, keeping to the selected line. Brakes, too, were impressive; after all, the Punto Evo Abarth comes with discs on all four corners, providing more than ample anchoring power.
After spending an entire afternoon with this beauty, I can say that it is one hell of a car. It has all the right ingredients of a hot hatch and it has a gorgeous design to go with that. Moreover, it has a very raw character mostly because it is a powerful hatch, which comes only with ABS and two airbags for added safety. There is no traction control or stability control right now but considering the way we Indians drive, I hope that FIAT would add these necessary safety features to the Punto Evo Abarth because it is an awesome car to drive hard and you need those safety aids to stay in one piece.
We expect FIAT to price the Punto Evo Abarth below Rs 10 lakh, which will make it a truly desirable car to own. We also wish that the aforementioned issues are taken care of by the time the car is launched.
