SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
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We race toward the sun in a 2013 Fiat 500C Abarth

Outside pics by author and interior by Quickpic

Posted: 12 March 2013

Published in Weekend Witness Motoring on Saturday March 16, 2013

Because it’s fun

Buckle up. Fire it up. Switch the radio off. Listen. A deep, mechanical rasp from the twin pipes of the diminutive Fiat Abarth 500C promises adventure. Ease the slick-shifting stick on top of the almost truck-like central tower into first. Quick look around; Sport mode selected? Check. Torque Transfer Control (the electronic LSD) engaged? Check.

Give it gas and ease the clutch out. Revs build fast. Change up and give it more. It pulls seamlessly; like a freight train. The red needle on the inner concentric dial spins easily to 6000 rpm. Another gear and give it horns. By the time it reaches 6000 in fourth, you are playing with Officer Aggro’s patience. He is looking for you. As you approach terminal velocity in fifth, he is ready to bung you in the rattle and toss the key; but you probably won’t care, because you’re having so much fun.

On days when you just need to get to work and back however, or do the shopping, there’s another mode. Deselect TTC and push the Sport button again to turn the excitement off. The steering loses some, but not all, its urgency and throttle response becomes milder and more linear. There is no longer a belt in the kidneys as the needle passes 2000 rpm; rather a steady progression as speed builds gently. It’s almost tame up to about 3500 – then things get urgent again as the dial spins past 4000 and up to its redline. It feels as though you’re in a quick, naturally aspirated 2.0-litre; but that’s impossible because it is still the tiny, turbocharged 1400 you got into earlier. It’s like Jekyll and Hyde.

In case you gained the impression that this cabriolet is just a little box with too much energy for its own good, please pay attention. The Fiat 500C Abarth has earned its safety stripes, or five EuroNCAP stars, thanks to solid construction, seven airbags, big disc brakes front and rear with ABS, EBD and BA, ESP and the TTC mentioned earlier. It’s well equipped too, with air conditioning, radio and CD kit with plugs and Bluetooth, powered windows and mirrors, fog lamps at both ends, rear parking sensors and leather upholstery.

Before losing sight of what this car is; a cabriolet with a powered version of the fabric roof that made Topolino famous, let’s look at it. The top’s double-layered, fits well, doesn’t leak, balloon or let the wind whistle through and it looks good. Because it doesn’t stash in the caboose, you don’t lose valuable space when it’s folded down. That’s just as well because the boot is really small and when you open its little lid to put something inside, it feels as if you’re posting an old-fashioned letter to Uncle Luigino back in the old country.

The top is pulled back and forth by cables reeled in and out by an electric motor controlled by switches above the windscreen. It has three positions; open for front passengers only, open for all four, or fully open and folded just above the boot lid. Like most sunroofs, it has certain limitations. Partly open for two or four to enjoy, it provides gentle breezes up to about 70 km/h, when it develops a rustling sound as the wind plays with the pop-up deflector.

By the time you reach 110, buffeting is bearable but the noise set up by the wind drowns out your music or any attempt at conversation. Fully opened, things are a lot better but it still wouldn’t be pleasant to use beyond the legal limit. Rather think of it as a plain Topolino with its roof open and drive it like an Abarth when everything’s buttoned up tight.

Briefly; It’s small, potent, revives your sense of adventure, is completely different from all those bland techno-drones out there and it sounds good. It has history too.

Test unit courtesy of Chrysler/Fiat SA press fleet

To read the review of the hard-topped Abarth 500, click here

The numbers
Price: R260 250
Engine: 1368 cc, MultiAir, turbocharged four-cylinder
Power: 99 kW at 5000 rpm
Torque: 206 Nm at 3000 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 8,1seconds
Maximum speed: 205 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: 7,3 l/100 km
Tank: 35 litres
Warranty and Maintenance plan: 3 years/100 000 km
Specialist Abarth dealers in: Johannesburg, Pretoria, Umhlanga and Cape Town

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

My reviews and launch reports appear on Thursdays in the Wheels supplement to The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles each month, most months of the year (except over the festive season) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police.

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