Category: Hot Hatchbacks 
Price Range: £8,700 to £13,605
Storming turbo performance, muscular looks, added traction from electronic diff.
Not cheap, flawed driving position, throttle response poor when not in 'sport' mode.
The most appealing warm hatch money can buy.
On paper and in the flesh the muscular Fiat 500 Abarth makes for an appetising prospect.
Its squat, wide proportions, sharpened chin spoiler and fizzing twin exhausts are a statement of intent and, refreshingly, it's not all show: Abarth has endowed the 500 with some serious performance.
Instead of the usual big-engine-in-small-body approach, Abarth has fitted the 500 with a turbocharged 1.4. This churns out a healthy 133bhp, helping the Abarth sprint to 62mph in a respectable 7.9 seconds and onto a 128mph top speed.
But that's not the real story - it's the muscular mid-range performance and 152lb-ft torque peak that makes the diminutive 500 Abarth a real B-road weapon.
If that's not enough, you can up the game even further by spending £2,500 on the 'Esseesse' upgrade, which swells the power to a blistering 158bhp and shaves half a second off the 0-62mph time. Abarth even goes to the trouble of upsizing the wheels and adding bigger brakes to cope.
